Summary of the Director of Social Media job at Alliance Defending Freedom

Make a difference with us! At Alliance Defending Freedom, we believe God has brought you here for His purpose—to stand for truth and defend the God-given right to live and speak it. Together, we protect religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, marriage and family, and parental rights. Review our Statement of Faith to ensure we’re a fit for you.

Locations: Scottsdale, AZ / Lansdowne, VA / Dallas, TX

Team Overview

As Director of Social Media, you are a key member of the Marketing Team responsible for leading ADF's organic social media presence across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn, while also coordinating with our Communications staff on X and rapid response activity. You will set the strategic direction for social content, contribute platform and audience intelligence to ADF's broader content strategy, and manage a small team of in-house staff -- personally stepping in to execute when the moment demands it.

This role requires someone who thinks at the channel level -- deeply fluent in platform behavior, content quality, and audience engagement -- while operating collaboratively within a coordinated structure that includes Creative Services, Communications, and Digital Advertising.

Social media is a primary channel through which ADF advances its mission, builds public awareness, and engages current and prospective ministry friends. This role owns the quality and engagement of that presence.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Channel Ownership:

• Develop and own ADF's organic social media strategy across existing and emerging platforms, with a clear focus on driving engagement volume, engagement rate, and long-term audience growth.
• Manage ADF's presence across primary social platforms – currently Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn -- with a focus on audience growth, content quality, and sustained engagement, while coordinating with Communications, which owns ADF's X presence and rapid response activity, to ensure social and communications efforts are aligned.
• Contribute platform intelligence, audience insights, and content performance data to ADF's broader content strategy, bringing a social-first perspective to decisions about what content gets made, for whom, and why.
• Maintain deep, current knowledge of platform algorithms, content formats, and best practices across major social platforms and apply that knowledge to continuously improve content performance.
• Define channel-specific content approaches that reflect ADF's brand, voice, and mission while meeting the stylistic and behavioral expectations of each platform's audience.
• Establish and monitor KPI for social media, report on performance regularly to Marketing leadership, and use data to drive content decisions.
• Deliver on expected outcomes in social media – number of followers, total engagement, engagement rate, brand awareness.

Content & Creative Execution:

• Direct the planning, creation, and publishing cadence of social media content in collaboration with your direct reports on the social media team and the CEO Social Media team.
• Think in terms of content systems -- identifying opportunities to adapt and distribute content across formats and platforms to maximize reach and relevance.
• Provide creative input and recommendations for social media assets developed in partnership with Creative Services, ensuring content is optimized for platform engagement and consistent with ADF brand standards.
• Personally contribute to content creation and publishing as needed, stepping in to maintain quality and cadence when team capacity requires it.
• Ensure the team maintains an active and consistent community engagement presence -- monitoring comments, responding to followers, and representing ADF's voice across platforms.

Cross-Functional Coordination:

• Partner with Creative Services as a strategic collaborator on content production, providing social audience insights and platform requirements that inform creative decisions and coordinating asset delivery for social distribution.
• Participate in integrated planning with the Digital Advertising team to ensure organic and paid social content are creatively aligned and mutually reinforcing. Share content performance insights across both channels to support unified social reporting, and surface high-performing organic content as candidates for paid amplification when appropriate.
• Coordinate with Communications to stay aligned on X activity, rapid response priorities, and news developments, ensuring the broader social team's efforts on owned platforms are complementary and timely.
• Lead through influence to ensure the marketing, creative services and comms teams deliver for you when you are dependent on them for outputs.
• Act as the primary liaison for the social media team -- reporting on performance, surfacing creative opportunities, and aligning capacity and priorities with Marketing leadership and cross-functional partners.
• Ensure all social media efforts are aligned with the strategic and communications objectives of the ministry.

Team Leadership:

• Lead, supervise, and develop in-house social media staff, providing clear direction, feedback, and professional growth.
• Foster a team culture focused on content excellence, platform fluency, community engagement, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure projects are completed with excellence, on time, within budget, and consistent with ADF brand and messaging standards.
• Meet regularly with your Team Members to discuss their progress and complete performance reviews.
• Approve PTO requests, timecards, and expense reports.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in marketing, communications or journalism.
• 8+ years of experience in social media for a large, complex organization or similar agency experience.
• 3+ years of experience managing a high-performing social media team.
• Deep knowledge of Social Media algorithms and trends for each major social platform, as well as industry standard KPI's and metrics for each platform.
• Expertise in corporate branding and how to execute on brand strategy through social media.
• Advanced knowledge of the marketing funnel and how organic social media plays a role in brand awareness, audience engagement and retention.
• Experience with Sprout Social or other social media management tools.
• Ability to build presentations and present content in a compelling way to large groups.
• Strong project management skills and ability to work under tight deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Non-profit experience.
• You're already following and engaging with ADF's brand across social platforms, or working a space relevant to ADF's social presence.

Pay & Benefits

At Alliance Defending Freedom, we offer a competitive compensation and benefits package to support your well-being and growth. While we do not disclose specific salary ranges, our compensation is competitive with top non-profit law firms. Our benefits include 100% covered medical and dental insurance, medical and dependent care reimbursement, paid disability, long-term care, life insurance, and a 401(k) plan with a 4% company match. We prioritize work-life balance with paid time off and 12 paid holidays each year.

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