VP, Brand & Communications

Job description

At Yondr, we believe in the power of presence. Our mission is to create phone-free spaces that deepen human connection and elevate shared experiences. We partner with artists, educators, and visionaries to design environments that put people, not devices, at the center. Yondr’s business segments span numerous industries, primarily across education and live events. Yondr supports schools through cell phone-free programs. Our education programs facilitate the successful implementation of phone-free school environments by providing administrators and teachers with education, training, and development resources, along with all necessary equipment. In addition, Yondr supports top artists in music and comedy by creating phone-free shows, allowing performers and audience members to enjoy live performances without the distraction of phones. **POSITION SUMMARY** The VP, Brand & Communications will own Yondr's brand platform, voice, and external communications across the full business and build the creative, content, and event systems needed to bring that brand to life consistently at scale. This leader will oversee a lean internal team spanning creative and content/social, while drawing on partners across Sales, Education, Artist Relations, and Commercial. The role will also direct external design, editorial, PR, and production partners as needed. Reporting to the SVP of Marketing, the VP will be responsible for translating Yondr's mission, the experience of presence, attention, safety, and freedom, into a brand story that flexes credibly across schools, live events, and commercial partnerships without fragmenting into three separate brands. **ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES** **1. Brand Strategy & Communications** - Own Yondr’s brand platform, positioning, and voice across Education, Artist Relations, and Commercial, building the connective tissue that makes the brand read as one story rather than three. - Own company-wide communications: press and media relations, executive communications, and Yondr’s public point of view on presence, attention, and digital wellbeing. - Personally write and edit the brand’s highest-stakes copy, setting the standard for everything else across web, campaigns, social, and executive communications. - Set and evolve brand guidelines, voice-and-tone standards, and creative systems that scale as the business grows. **2. Creative, Content & Digital Presence** - Create and direct content across the business, including campaigns, brand film, photography, copy, and design, working hands-on alongside internal creatives, agencies, and freelance talent rather than briefing from a distance. - Own social and web presence end to end, from strategy and editorial calendar to writing, shooting, and posting content personally when it counts. - Set and protect the creative quality bar; review and approve brand-facing work from internal teams, agencies, and freelancers before it ships. **3. Experience & Events** - Own the brand experience at live touchpoints, including concerts and festivals, trade shows, school and district events, and partner activations, showing up on-site to run it, not just plan it. - Partner with Sales, Education, and Artist Relations to design and build event and trade show presence (booth, materials, signage, on-site experience) that’s consistent with brand standards and built to convert. - Identify and shape moments (launches, artist partnerships, cultural tie-ins) that give the brand outsized visibility relative to spend. **4. Team & Organizational Leadership** - Build and lead a small internal team (creative, content/social) and manage a roster of external agencies, freelancers, and production partners, staying close enough to the work to jump in when needed. - Own the brand and communications budget; make build-vs-buy calls on internal hires vs. agency/freelance support. - Serve as a key member of the Marketing Leadership Team, partnering with the SVP of Marketing to bring brand and market perspective into broader company strategy. - Act as internal brand guardian across Marketing, Sales, Product, and Education, ensuring brand and message discipline without slowing teams down. **QUALIFICATIONS** **Required Qualifications** - Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience. - 10 to 15+ years in brand, communications, or creative leadership roles, including experience running brand and/or communications for a full business, not just a single product line or campaign. - Direct experience leading and growing a team, and managing agency/freelance partners at scale. - Currently hands-on in the work: actively writing, art-directing, or shaping creative in the last one to two years, not solely managing others who do it. Proven player-coach experience, comfortable executing as needed, not just directing. This is an execution-heavy seat at a lean company, built for a builder, not a pure strategist or figurehead. - A portfolio or body of work demonstrating brand-building, including brand platforms, rebrands, or launches led end to end, with recent samples personally authored or art-directed by the candidate. - Experience in lifestyle, consumer, live entertainment/events, or culture-facing brands is strongly preferred; experience in Education markets or artist/label/venue relationships is a meaningful plus. **Knowledge, Skills & Abilities** - Ability to operate as a true player-coach: setting brand and communications strategy at the leadership-team level, and getting hands-on, as needed, with a headline, a deck, or a booth layout when it matters. - Strong news judgment and media instincts; comfortable as a spokesperson-ready voice for the company. - Proven ability to build one coherent brand story that flexes credibly across very different audiences without diluting it. - Sharp creative judgment and taste; experience briefing and directing designers, writers, and agencies to a high bar, and doing the work personally when the moment calls for it. - Executive presence and communication skills sufficient to represent the brand to senior leadership, the board, press, and external partners. - Comfort with ambiguity and lean resourcing. This is a builder’s seat, not a maintainer’s seat: expect to do real work, not just review it. **Physical Requirements** - Ability to remain stationary for extended periods while working at a computer. - Ability to communicate effectively in person, virtually, and by telephone. - Ability to travel as required to support live events, trade shows, artist/venue meetings, and company activities. - Ability to occasionally lift and move materials weighing up to 25 pounds. **YONDR BENIFITS** - 100% paid medical coverage plan option for employees and access to 15+ plan types, including PPO, HMO and HDHP - Dental and vision and ancillary benefits such as short-term disability, long-term disability and life insurance - Generous PTO for rest and recharge throughout the year - 12 weeks of paid parental leave - 1 week paid holiday break at the end of December, for a company-wide closure + 11 additional nationally recognized holidays - 401(k) offering - Tech tool preference, including choice of PC or Mac. - We are a hybrid company with remote employees. Hybrid employees receive catered lunch twice a week. *Yondr is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its hiring of employees based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.*