SPEND - Senior Associate, External Engagement

Strategic Public Education National Data (SPEND) Initiative Modernizing America’s Education Finance Data Infrastructure Senior Associate, External Engagement Location: Remote (U.S.-based required) About the SPEND Initiative Accurate and comparable education finance data is the essential foundation for effective governance and robust research. The Strategic Public Education National Data (SPEND) Initiative is a non-partisan organization and a fiscally sponsored project of Education Resource Strategies (ERS). Our mission is to maintain and modernize the technical pipeline that improves the accuracy, comparability, and timeliness of education finance data. We aim to provide a stable, objective data foundation—a modern data utility that serves the needs of researchers, state and district leaders, and the broader education field. Why Work at SPEND? Make Your Mark on a Growing Organization: You’ll join SPEND early enough to influence how we work, not just execute within systems someone else designed. You will introduce ideas, improve processes, build new approaches, and see your work become part of how the organization operates. Shape How SPEND Reaches the Field: Sharing our work with the field is central to SPEND’s mission. We are looking for someone who brings judgment about audiences, content, channels, and discoverability—and who is comfortable both with recommending what we should do and ensuring follow-through on key activities. Work on a Problem That Matters: Education finance data infrastructure is fragmented, inconsistent, and at risk. SPEND exists to fix that—and this role is how we make sure the right people know it. You’ll have a direct hand in how the field perceives and engages with one of the most consequential data challenges in public education. Learn From and With Our Team: You'll work closely with colleagues who are developing data resources, engaging researchers and policymakers, and thinking through emerging questions in the field. You don’t need to arrive knowing education finance, but you should be curious enough to ask good questions, understand what matters, spot opportunities, and make sound decisions about how SPEND communicates and engages with the field. Enjoy Real Variety in Your Work: If you like jobs with clearly bounded lanes, this probably isn’t one of them. If you enjoy writing and editing, thinking about audiences, improving systems, preparing a convening, solving unexpected problems, and learning something new along the way, you may find the variety exceptionally rewarding. Join a Mission-Focused Team with Institutional Stability: Contribute as a foundational member of a new initiative supported by a multi-year general operating grant and the established operational infrastructure of ERS. Role Overview We are seeking a Senior Associate, External Engagement to help make SPEND’s technical work understandable, accessible, discoverable, and useful to the people who can benefit from it. This is a mid-level, individual contributor role for someone who is skilled at translating substantive, technical, data, or research-based work for external audiences and thinking strategically about how that work reaches the field. SPEND is not selling a product or advancing an advocacy agenda. Our external communications are grounded in technical expertise and objectivity, with the goal of helping researchers, policymakers, state and district leaders, and other audiences find, understand, and use SPEND’s work. As SPEND’s primary knowledge translation professional, you will have significant ownership of day-to-day external content, dissemination, and audience engagement. You will work closely with colleagues across the organization to understand complex ideas, determine what matters for different audiences, and turn substantive work into clear and useful communications products. You will also help strengthen SPEND’s external presence by growing and engaging relevant audiences, improving the discoverability of our resources, staying connected to conversations across education finance and public data, and supporting select working groups, webinars, conferences, and other external engagements. Education finance expertise is not expected or required, but a genuine interest in understanding the substance behind the data is essential. Key Responsibilities 1. Content Development & Editorial Support Translate SPEND's complex research, data, and technical work into clear, accessible content—including explainers, web content, one-pagers, infographics, and presentations—using visual communication where it improves clarity and audience comprehension. Manage SPEND's day-to-day external communications, including email newsletters, social media, presentations, publications, and other digital channels, ensuring all work reflects SPEND's objective, technical voice. Update and maintain SPEND’s style guidance and editorial processes to support clear, consistent, and high-quality external communications. Work with senior staff and subject-matter colleagues to identify what matters for different audiences, then shape, edit, and repurpose substantive work across formats and channels so that SPEND’s data and resources reach relevant audiences over time. 2. Audience Growth & Discoverability Grow SPEND’s organic audience across owned digital channels, emphasizing the cultivation of a highly relevant, engaged audience of field professionals rather than relying on broad media outreach or paid promotion. Track and analyze engagement metrics to understand how people find and use SPEND’s work in order to improve content, distribution, audience-growth strategies, and future resources. Develop and maintain targeted distribution lists, segmenting audiences and tailoring outreach based on the interests and needs of different groups. Implement SEO and generative engine optimization (GEO) best practices to make SPEND’s technical products and web content findable, citable, and useful across traditional search and AI platforms, staying current on changes in search and generative AI to identify new opportunities to improve discoverability. 3. Field Research & Convenings Develop familiarity with the education finance and public-data fields by identifying major organizations and stakeholders; set up targeted information monitoring to stay current on education finance field developments, sector conversations, and opportunities for SPEND to engage. Support the planning and execution of working groups, webinars, conferences, and other convenings by coordinating logistics, preparing participant and presentation materials, developing agendas and run-of-show plans, managing venue and vendor details, and ensuring timely follow-up on action items. You will serve as the primary events coordinator for the organization. Maintain practical operational systems for tracking stakeholder contacts, external conference opportunities, internal communications deadlines, and operational workflows. Address additional communications, coordination, and operational priorities as they arise in a small, collaborative organization. Qualifications Required Professional experience in a research, policy, nonprofit, data, or similar organization, with responsibility for communicating substantive, technical, data, or research-based information to external audiences. Relevant experience should emphasize substantive communication rather than traditional public relations, media relations, marketing, or primarily graphic-design work. Demonstrated interest in or engagement with education policy, data systems, research, or public issues—shown through prior roles, published work, substantive projects, or field knowledge. Strong writing, editing, and proofreading skills, with the ability to communicate complex information clearly and accurately while maintaining high standards for messaging, formatting, and consistency. Experience building or growing digital audiences through owned channels, including audience segmentation, targeted distribution, and an understanding of how different audiences find and engage with content. Working understanding of SEO and GEO, including how AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude surface, cite, and recommend content. Proficiency in Adobe Suite, Microsoft Office Suite, Google Workspace, and related tools, with the ability to independently produce polished presentations, one-pagers, infographics, and other visual materials for routine communications needs. Strong project-management and organizational skills, including the ability to manage concurrent priorities, maintain detailed tracking systems, follow through reliably, and proactively identify questions or issues. Preferred Hands-on experience implementing SEO or GEO practices, including optimizing content or technical formats to improve how web pages, PDFs, and other resources are surfaced and cited by traditional search engines and AI platforms. A track record of growing and engaging audiences through newsletter or email platforms such as Substack, including using engagement data to refine distribution strategy. Proven ability to coordinate conferences, working groups, webinars, or other convenings, including participant communications, materials, logistics, and follow-up. Experience in early-stage organizations, startups, or similar environments where you've built processes and systems from the ground up. Government affairs experience, such as a working knowledge of legislative cycles and budget processes at the federal, state, or district level. Position Requirements Availability: Must be available for core working hours of 10 AM – 5 PM ET to support national and international team collaboration. Travel: Ability to travel approximately 4-6 times per year for in-person team collaboration and external partner engagement. Physical & Environmental: Ability to operate a computer and other office productivity machinery for extended periods; ability to remain in a stationary position for a significant portion of the workday; ability to communicate and exchange information via video conference, phone, and email. Remote Work: Access to a quiet, professional remote work environment with a reliable, high-speed internet connection. Work Authorization: Must be authorized to work for an employer in the United States. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa for new team members at this time. Compensation and Transparency The salary range for this role is $70,000 to $85,000 annually, commensurate with experience. Because we are a fully remote team, geography is not a factor in salary; however, all team members must be U.S.-based. In modeling our commitment to openness and transparency, it's important to note that starting salaries aren't typically at or near the top of this range. This is to create opportunities for team members to earn raises throughout their tenure in the role. ERS equivalent job tier for benefits purposes: Level II Application Process To apply, please submit: Resume Work sample and brief context statement, as described below. A cover letter is not required. Work Sample Please submit a PDF or link to one example of work you have created that communicates substantive, technical, data, research, or policy-related information to an external audience. Examples might include a brief, article, explainer, presentation, newsletter, web page, infographic, report, or similar product. In no more than 150 words, briefly tell us: who the intended audience was; what your role was in creating the piece; and one or two choices you made to help the audience understand or engage with the information. Collaborative work is welcome. Please be clear about which parts you were responsible for. If you are unable to share a work sample because of confidentiality, proprietary information, or other employer restrictions, you may instead briefly describe a comparable piece of work and your role in creating it. Please still address the questions above, including the intended audience, your role in creating the piece, and one or two choices you made to help the audience understand or engage with the information. Note: Clicking the application link below will redirect you to the recruitment portal of our fiscal sponsor, Education Resource Strategies (ERS). To be considered for this position, you must submit your application materials directly through the ERS portal. All correspondence related to this role will come from an email address ending in @ erstrategies.org or @ eduspend.org . Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis beginning immediately. Priority consideration will be given to applications received by September 21, 2026 , though the position will remain open until filled. About Our Fiscal Sponsor: Education Resource Strategies (ERS) ERS is a national non-profit consulting firm that partners with school system leaders to transform how they use resources so that every student can learn and thrive. ERS is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, ancestry, pregnancy, or military service.