Director of Social Media

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

About the Role

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, X, and LinkedIn. 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.

Responsibilities

• Strategy & Channel Ownership: Own ADF's organic social media strategy and platform presence (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn), driving follower growth, engagement volume/rate, and brand awareness. 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.
• 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. Think in terms of content systems—identifying opportunities to adapt and distribute content across formats and platforms to maximize reach and relevance.
• 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; share content performance insights across both channels to support unified reporting, and surface high-performing organic content as candidates for paid amplification.
• Coordinate with Communications on rapid response priorities and news developments, keeping the social team's efforts on owned platforms timely and complementary.
• Lead through influence to ensure the Marketing, Creative Services, and Communications teams deliver when you are dependent on their outputs.
• Act as primary liaison for the social media team—establishing and monitoring KPIs, reporting on performance to Marketing leadership, surfacing creative opportunities, and aligning capacity and priorities with cross-functional partners.
• Ensure all social media efforts align with the ministry's strategic and communications objectives.
• 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.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s 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 KPIs 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 in a space relevant to ADF's social presence.

Pay

This salary range is reflective of a position based in Lansdowne, VA. The range is a good-faith estimate, and the actual salary may vary based on the candidate’s experience, skills, qualifications, and office location.

Virginia Salary Range: $103,000—$165,600 USD

Benefits

• 100% covered medical and dental insurance.
• Medical and dependent care reimbursement.
• Paid disability, long-term care, and life insurance.
• 401(k) plan with a 4% company match.
• Paid time off and 12 paid holidays each year.