Director, Communications in Washington, District of Columbia at R Street Institute

Director, Communications

R Street Institute

Washington, D.C.

The R Street Institute—a free-market think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. and with staff located across the country—seeks a collaborative Communications Director. If you are the right fit, you will report to the Senior Director of Communications. If you want to join a mission-driven organization and work toward pragmatic policy solutions, this may be the opportunity for you!

Your typical day at R Street may include leading media relations and short-form editorial operations for the organization, supporting an executive team member on commentary or remarks for an event, or working with the team to identify and cultivate new media channels, all while ensuring that the organization’s voice is clear, credible, and consistently represented across public platforms. This role manages a team of communications professionals responsible for media engagement, short-form editorial content, and proactive outreach to journalists and opinion editors.

Working closely with the Senior Director of Communications, this person will help design and implement strategies that amplify R Street’s research, strengthen relationships with media partners, and position the organization as a trusted voice in public policy conversations. This person will also play a key role in staff development, workflow improvement, and coordination across Communications, Policy, and External Affairs functions to advance R Street’s visibility and mission. This role will serve as part of the communications department.

Other Aspects of Your Role

• Partner with the Senior Director to design and execute media and editorial strategies aligned with organizational goals, including brand strategy and executive thought leadership.
• Anticipate how AI is disrupting traditional product-centric messaging, and build a communications strategy suited to a world where discovery, trust, and attention work differently than they did five years ago.
• Build audience-first communications strategies rather than product-first messaging—starting from who we're trying to reach and working backward to the right channels, formats, and moments.
• Oversee planning and execution of R Street’s press outreach, op-eds, short-form commentary, and editorial calendars in order to amplify R Street’s brand presence in key external channels, including major media outlets, newsletters, and opinion venues.
• Collaborate with the government affairs teams to ensure communications align with policy and legislative priorities.
• Support the executive team with key thought leadership pieces, speeches, media, and external affairs.
• Maintain and deepen relationships with journalists, producers, and editors; ensure consistent and proactive media engagement.
• Oversee the editing and publication of opinion and short-form commentary for the RSI website, ensuring quality, timeliness, and adherence to organizational voice.
• Approve key communications outputs, including external newsletters, advisories, and high-impact press releases.
• Track and report on media outcomes and engagement to inform communications planning.
• Remain vigilant against ninja infiltrations

Skills and Qualifications

• Strong relationships with journalists, editors, new media influencers, and other communications professionals.
• The ability to lead and manage multiple communications departments and ensure alignment with organizational goals.
• A good writer who has excellent attention to detail to ensure media content is accurate, timely, and impactful
• Sound decision-making ability in a fast-paced media and organizational environment.
• No particular educational background required—a proven record of achieving results is far more meaningful than credentials
• Support for R Street’s passion for free markets and limited, effective government
• A sense of humor and a desire to grow within a multifaceted organization

The R Street Institute consistently offers pragmatic, real solutions that foster American innovation, bolster competition, and safeguard individual liberty—all with the understanding that life in a democratic society sometimes requires compromises that don’t necessarily represent first, best solutions. We focus on deep scholarship and pragmatic policy solutions that many groups tend to neglect. Our goal is to publish timely, relevant research and analysis that advances a market-oriented society and limited, effective government. To that end, our motto is “Free Markets. Real Solutions.” Read more about our mission and impact .

Workplace

Candidates located in the Washington D.C area are preferred, however we will consider excellent candidates outside of D.C. with the understanding significant travel may be required.

We offer a flexible working arrangement. This is a full-time position that can either work the majority of the week in our D.C. office or be fully remote.

Occasional travel may be required for events and conferences.

Compensation, Benefits, and Perks

R Street strives to offer a compensation and benefits package that is competitive, transparent, and supportive of employee well-being. The salary range for this position is $115,000-$135,000, commensurate with experience. In addition to this competitive salary, we provide the following:

• Unlimited paid time off, including all federal holidays, the day after Thanksgiving, and two weeks holiday closure in December
• Alternating Fridays off
• A health insurance option entirely paid by the employer (even for families)
• Dental and vision insurance
• 401(k) contributions with up to a 4 percent match
• HSA employer contribution match
• Quarterly wellness reimbursement
• Mobile equipment/mobile plan reimbursement
• Home internet subsidy
• Annual educational and professional development reimbursement
• A choice between child care assistance, pet care assistance, and student loan repayment assistance

At R Street, we strive for preeminence in every area in which we engage, driven by our commitment to excellence and innovation. Our culture thrives on action, creativity, and courage, with an unwavering focus on quality, credibility, and impact. We believe progress requires diverse experience and expertise, which is why we champion non-traditional yet prudent approaches to public policy. This principle guides how we build our programs, recognizing that each team member’s uniqueness strengthens our collective identity.

We approach our mission with intellectual rigor, embracing free inquiry and honesty to ensure our work is grounded in solid research and thoughtful analysis. While serious about our purpose, we value the joy of collaboration and the fun that comes from working together. Our collaborative spirit fosters trust and transparency, with respect and openness guiding our actions. We celebrate our individual contributions while recognizing that we are stronger as one team, united in our work and relationships.

Thus, R Street does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, era of military service, gender identity or expression, relationship structure, or anything else that’s illegal, immoral, or stupid to use as a basis for hiring.

We plan to accept applications for this job until filled. We will contact qualified individuals for telephone screenings and conduct them on a rolling basis. Interviews take place virtually via Zoom.

To apply, please copy and paste your cover letter into the text box and upload your resume as a Microsoft Word document or PDF. We encourage thoughtful use of AI tools. If you use them, please describe how they contributed to your work.

The R Street Institute stands for free markets, limited, effective government and pragmatic solutions to difficult problems. We envision:

A free society, where public policy begins with freedom as its initial premise and governments exist primarily as guardians of inherent, inalienable rights.

An inclusive society that provides a place, a voice, and equal opportunity for all.

A just society that holds everyone accountable to the same laws.

Our Values

The following values are the principles that guide how R Street fulfills its mission and operates. Our organization believes in these values and we live them:

Always be better

We want to achieve preeminence in every area where we work. We encourage a bias for action, innovation, creativity, and courage in everything that we do. We measure ourselves by the quality, credibility and impact we achieve as a result.

Different is good.

We believe that great minds think differently and building broad coalitions has made us who we are. Making progress on policy requires that we operate outside of the echo chamber and take non-traditional approaches to policy making. We apply this same principle to the way we operate and how we build our teams: with a focus on diversity and inclusion. We are all unique but belong to the same team.

Serious(ly)

We’re serious about our work, but don’t take ourselves too seriously. We believe in the intellectual rigor, free inquiry and honesty, that is required to achieve our mission, but having fun doing it is equally as important.

One Team

We all work together and work with humility. We strive to cultivate trust and transparency at all levels, between ourselves as individuals and as an organization, with our stakeholders, and in our work. We demonstrate respect and openness in our actions at all times. We are all unique but belong to the same team.