ROLE OVERVIEW

The Digital Manager is a leadership role within the Communications Department responsible for setting the organization’s digital strategy and leading a cross-functional team to execute it effectively. The manager oversees the planning, production, and distribution of digital content across platforms and partnerships, ensuring that the team’s work is aligned with the organization’s strategic goals and brand voice.

The manager leads through others, providing the direction, support, and coordination needed for the digital team to consistently produce high-quality work.

The manager works with significant autonomy while fostering collaboration across the department and the organization as a whole. The role requires strong judgment in balancing strategic priorities, team capacity, shifting deadlines, and timely opportunities, as well as the ability to support staff with varying areas and levels of expertise.

This position reports to the Communications Director and currently supervises a small team.

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas works with communities, at the State Capitol, and in the courts to protect and advance civil rights and civil liberties for every Texan, no exceptions. From Amarillo to Brownsville and Beaumont to El Paso, we believe in a Texas that works for all of us — a Texas where each person has an equal say in the decisions that shape our future and everyone can build a good life.

The ACLU of Texas is both a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization. The ACLU of Texas operates professional offices in Houston, Austin, Dallas, El Paso, and Brownsville, Texas.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Team Leadership

• Partner with Communications Department leadership to establish strategic priorities, develop and manage budgets, and coordinate work across teams.
• Manage and develop a cross-functional digital team by setting priorities, clarifying roles and expectations, delegating work, allocating resources, providing feedback and coaching, and addressing barriers to strong performance.
• Provide direct strategic, editorial, or production support for complex, time-sensitive, or high-priority projects when additional leadership capacity or subject-matter expertise is needed.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as required.

Digital Strategy and Execution

• Translate advocacy goals into actionable, creative digital strategies and plans.
• Lead the execution of digital campaigns, tailoring tactics for specific audiences and optimizing content for specific channels.
• Manage the end-to-end production pipeline for digital assets—including social media, web content, broadcast emails, multimedia, promotional items, and paid advertising—by establishing schedules, assigning ownership, coordinating reviews, and ensuring timely delivery.
• Serve as the final “publication-ready” editor of digital content, ensuring accuracy, clarity, and adherence to AP style and approved messaging.
• Establish and maintain creative and editorial guidelines, review practices, and feedback processes that support consistent quality across the digital team and external partners.

Partnerships and Collaboration

• Build and maintain strong relationships with organizational partners, stakeholders, and coalitions to support effective digital communications.
• Vet, onboard, contract, and manage freelancers and vendors, providing clear scopes and feedback.
• Plan and coordinate digital communications for in-person events, webinars, and virtual events, including promotion, audience engagement, live coverage, and follow-up content.

Digital Innovation

• Analyze and report on digital performance, translating analytics and insights into actionable recommendations for content, channel, and campaign strategy.
• Stay current on emerging digital storytelling approaches, platform and algorithm changes, creative technologies, and audience behaviors.
• Develop and oversee structured experiments to test new formats, tools, platforms, and audience-engagement approaches; assess results and incorporate effective practices into the organization’s digital strategy.

COMPETENCIES

• Leadership: Sets clear direction and expectations, delegates effectively, develops staff, and holds the team accountable for high-quality results. Exercises sound judgment and operates with appropriate autonomy while keeping the supervisor informed and engaged.
• Process Management: Skilled at designing practical processes, organizing interdependent work, clarifying ownership, and using meaningful measures to assess and improve performance.
• Project Management: Translates project goals into clear plans, milestones, roles, and deliverables. Delegates work appropriately to internal collaborators and external vendors, tracks progress using project management tools, anticipates risks, and maintains accountability for timely completion.
• Digital Communications Expertise: Applies strong knowledge of digital strategy, platforms, content production, audience engagement, and performance analytics to guide the team’s work and make sound strategic and editorial decisions. Maintains current knowledge of evolving tools, practices, and audience behaviors.
• Inclusive Collaboration and Trust: Builds shared ownership, approaches colleagues and partners with a constructive and solutions-oriented mindset, and works effectively across different backgrounds, roles, and areas of expertise. Demonstrates integrity, acknowledges mistakes, communicates openly, and fosters an equitable and trusting team environment.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Professional Experience: 5+ years of experience in digital communications, multimedia production, or digital strategy, preferably within a nonprofit or campaign environment.
• Leadership and Management: Demonstrated experience supervising and developing communications professionals, coordinating cross-functional contributors, and managing external contractors.
• Project Management: Demonstrated experience managing complex digital project pipelines, coordinating multiple deadlines, and aligning content calendars and deliverables with broader organizational campaigns and goals.
• Adaptability: Track record of navigating shifting priorities, evolving needs, and complex challenges with initiative and sound judgment.
• Values Alignment: Demonstrated commitment to advancing the ACLU of Texas’ values, mission, and goals, with an understanding of structural racism and interpersonal bias.
• Portfolio of Work: A strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional multimedia storytelling, including video, graphics, and written digital content.
• Travel and Schedule: Ability to travel to Houston quarterly if based elsewhere, travel occasionally throughout Texas, and work non-traditional hours as needed.

WHAT TO EXPECT

We are committed to providing candidates with transparency throughout our hiring process. While timelines may shift slightly based on application volume and scheduling needs, we anticipate the following recruitment schedule for the Digital Manager position:

• Application Deadline: October 31, 2026.
• Application Review: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis through November 6, 2026.
• Interviews: Selected candidates will be invited to participate in interviews between November 1 and November 20, 2026.
• Hiring Decision: We anticipate extending an offer before the Thanksgiving holiday.
• Expected Start Date: January 4, 2027.

Please note that while recruitment activities will begin immediately, the successful candidate will join our team after the year-end holiday period, with a planned start date of January 4, 2027.

COMPENSATION

The salary for this position is $92,000. Excellent benefits include a generous Paid Time Off policy, medical, dental and vision insurance; 401(k) plan with an employer match; life and long-term disability insurance, and generous paid holidays.

APPLY

This job description provides a general but not comprehensive list of the essential responsibilities and qualifications required. It does not represent a contract of employment. The ACLU reserves the right to change the job description and/or posting at any time without advance notice.

The ACLU is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. The ACLU encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, previous criminal conviction and veteran status.