About New Heights Communications
Who is New Heights? On paper, we are a woman-owned, mission-driven strategy and communications firm based in Washington, D.C., with staff in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia and Miami. In practice, we are a team that has intentionally built a workplace where our expertise is stronger because our people bring their multifaceted identities to work. Half of us are women of color, some of us are parents (some human-parents, some dog/cat/gecko-parents), and 100% of us are book nerds.
Founded in 2010, we help mission-driven organizations and foundations navigate today’s complex media, narrative, and information landscape – and win, in Congress, on Election Day, in a courtroom, or just in the court of public opinion. We work across media relations, messaging, digital and crisis communications.
You’ll find us working for racial, economic and social justice in the biggest battles in Washington—and across the country. These days, that means fighting for accountable government, immigrant justice, voting rights and democracy, a fair economy, and robust public transit. And that’s just the start.
We’re passionate, creative, and fun – and we like each other as much as we like the causes we serve. The most common reflection from a new hire? “Everyone’s been so kind and helpful!” If that sounds appealing – or if you just want in for one of our “Unhinged Powerpoint Lunches,” keep reading.
Great communications strategies are only as good as their execution.
At New Heights, our Senior Associates are the people who make sure the work actually happens. They keep client teams organized and moving, turn a big-picture strategy into a press pitch or an op-ed or a week’s worth of social content, spot opportunities in the news (and in the feed), and make sure the reporter who said “circle back Thursday” actually gets circled back with on Thursday.
This Senior Associate will sit right where our earned media and digital work meet. Our digital practice is growing fast, but earned media is still the heart of what we do. We need someone who doesn’t see those as two separate jobs.
Here’s what we mean. A client’s new poll drops, and you know which reporter should get the exclusive and which post will carry it once the story is live. A story lands, and you know how to turn it into content that reaches people who would never have read the original. A post takes off, and you recognize it as a pitch waiting to happen. Social isn’t where press hits go to get recycled, and press isn’t a box to check before the “real” digital campaign. Each one feeds the other, and the best work is built that way from the start.
We’re looking for someone with about three years of communications experience across both media relations and social media who is ready to take real ownership of the day-to-day work. You’ll likely work across four or five client accounts (a mix of earned, digital and integrated teams), alongside a Director or Vice President who sets the broader strategy. Your job is to understand that strategy well enough to run with it: managing deliverables and deadlines, pitching reporters, drafting posts and press materials, building content calendars, coordinating with clients and making sure good ideas don’t disappear somewhere between the client call and execution.
Our ideal person is a strong writer, a passionate news consumer, fluent in how the internet actually talks, and a relentless implementer.
You’ll be a core member of several client teams, on both the earned and digital sides of the house, with significant responsibility for managing and executing the day-to-day communications work. You’ll also be one of the people who connects those teams, so that what’s happening in the press shop and what’s happening on social reinforce each other.
You will:
Keep 4–5 client accounts moving. Track deliverables, deadlines, approvals and follow-ups; prepare for client calls; capture next steps; and make sure everyone knows what they own and when it’s due.
Pitch reporters – and get results. Build and maintain media lists, develop pitches, identify the right reporters for a story, conduct targeted outreach and follow up thoughtfully and persistently. You understand that sending the pitch is the beginning of media relations, not the end.
Run day-to-day social. Draft, schedule and potentially publish content across client channels; build and manage content calendars; monitor conversations and engagement; and keep each account’s voice distinct.
Connect earned and digital. Make sure every big moment has a press plan and a social plan that work together. That means pairing a pitch with a social rollout, turning press hits into content that extends their reach, amplifying the reporters and partners who cover our clients, and flagging when something taking off online is worth pitching.
Write across formats. Draft press releases, statements, talking points, op-eds, letters to the editor, media pitches, social copy, threads, short-form video scripts and other communications materials, and learn to move easily between a client’s voice and New Heights’ strategic guidance. You know a press release and a post aren’t the same thing said at different lengths.
Become immersed in the news – and the feed. You don’t just understand what’s happening in our clients’ issue areas; you know what reporters are posting, what’s gaining traction and when a moment is worth jumping on (and when it isn’t). You’ll identify moments when clients should weigh in, and can help the team move quickly enough to get in the story.
Turn strategy into execution. Take the direction coming out of a strategy conversation and translate it into the actual work: who we’re pitching, what we’re writing, what we’re posting, where and when, and what needs to happen next.
Measure what’s working. Pull together social analytics and media coverage, report back to clients in plain English, and use what you learn to make next week’s work better.
Be a day-to-day point of contact for clients. Respond to requests, coordinate materials and approvals, answer the questions you can answer and know when something needs to be elevated to a senior team member.
Manage up. Keep Directors and Vice Presidents informed without requiring them to chase you for updates. Flag problems early, come with possible solutions and know when you can make the call yourself.
Make the work smarter. Bring ideas to your teams. Notice when there’s a better reporter to pitch, a sharper way to frame something, a news hook we haven’t considered, a format or platform we haven’t tried, or a process that could work better.
You may have spent the last few years at a communications firm, juggling press and social for multiple clients. Maybe you worked on a campaign or on the Hill, ran the social accounts, fielded the reporter calls and discovered that you were the person who actually liked keeping the trains running on time. Maybe you’ve been the communications team at a nonprofit (writing the press release in the morning and posting the video in the afternoon) and want to work across more issues, clients and challenges.
Whatever the path, you'll recognize yourself in most of this:
Requirements
You have 3 or more years’ experience, including hands-on work in both media relations and social media, and know how to lead the work, not just wait for assignments.
You get integrated communications. You understand how a news story becomes a social moment and how a social moment becomes a news story, and you’re genuinely excited about building campaigns where the two work together.
You’ve managed social channels for an organization, campaign or client (not just your own), and you know your way around scheduling tools, platform analytics and the difference between what works on LinkedIn and what works on TikTok.
Highly organized – you’re able to keep work across 4-5 accounts moving seamlessly because you’ve set up systems to make it happen.
Passionate about politics and a voracious consumer of news who understands what would be timely and interesting to a reporter, and what will stop someone mid-scroll.
A great teammate who’s low-ego, fun and committed.
You’ve worked in advocacy, government, politics, philanthropy or another mission-driven environment – making the world a better place is core to who you are.
Bonus points if you’ve worked at another PR firm or communications agency where you’ve already juggled multiple clients, have basic design or video editing skills (Canva, CapCut, Adobe, etc.), or are fluent in Spanish.
We'd be glad to hear from you even if you don't tick every box. What matters most is that you're smart, curious, organized and hungry to learn from New Heights’ “teaching hospital.”
Benefits include:
Remote work with monthly get-togethers in Washington, DC, where most of the team lives. For that reason, we prefer a candidate in the DMV area, but aren’t wedded to it.
Sane hours. We try not to bug you, or have our clients bug you, at night or on weekends. That said, it’s election season and news sometimes breaks outside of 9-5.
30 days (6 weeks) paid PTO annually, including 2 weeks of company-wide vacation, plus federal holidays.
401K plan with 4% employer match.
Generous paid family leave.
Employer-paid health insurance.
$1000/yr stipend for professional development opportunities.
Valued member of a team that cares about you and your personal and professional growth and happiness.
To apply to work with us:
Email your resume, two work samples and a cover letter that tells us why you’d be a great fit, to info@newheightscommunications.com. Samples can be a pitch note with resulting media stories, an op-ed you drafted, a social campaign or set of posts you ran, or similar communications materials. We’d love for at least one of them to show off your digital work. Please put “Sr. Associate” in the subject line. New Heights takes diversity, equity and inclusion seriously—our team, our clients and the world are better when served by a diverse team. BIPOC and LGBTQ candidates are especially encouraged to apply.