About UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

At UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, our vision is to lead the most vibrant Jewish community in North America — a community characterized by its diversity, unity, compassion, generosity, and commitment to Jewish values. Together with our philanthropic, volunteer, and professional leadership, we are changing lives.

As one of North America’s leading Jewish non-profits, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto works to preserve and strengthen the quality of Jewish life in Greater Toronto, Israel, and around the world. UJA advances this mission through fundraising, programs, and research guided by our strategic plan, focused on building a resilient, connected, and thriving Jewish community.

About the Opportunity

We are seeking a visionary and mission-driven Vice President of Communications to shape and lead UJA’s storytelling strategy. UJA’s ability to connect, inspire, and mobilize our community has never been more essential.

Reporting to the Senior Vice President, Marketing, Communications & Brand, you will oversee a multidisciplinary team spanning Communications, PR & Media, Digital Content, and Content Operations — with a strong emphasis on writing and storytelling. You will build and implement a unifying communications framework that amplifies UJA’s impact in the Greater Toronto Area, strengthens donor engagement, and fosters pride and belonging across our community.

This is a rare opportunity to harness the power of communications to deepen Jewish identity, inspire giving, and support our community in moments of both celebration and crisis.

Key Responsibilities

Narrative Strategy, Brand & Organizational Voice

• Develop and implement a comprehensive communications strategy that ladders up to UJA’s strategic plan.
• Serve as steward of UJA’s brand, ensuring all communications — from fundraising appeals to community updates — reflect our mission, values, and brand identity.
• Collaborate with the VP of Marketing & Brand to ensure storytelling reinforces UJA’s brand positioning and long-term identity.
• Partner with planning and fundraising colleagues to ensure donor communications are aligned with philanthropic priorities and brand expression.

PR, Media & Crisis Communications

• Lead proactive media strategy, cultivating trusted relationships with local and GTA-based outlets.
• Oversee issues management and crisis communications, ensuring timely, effective responses that support the Jewish community in times of crisis and protect UJA’s reputation.
• Respond strategically to media inquiries, ensuring communications are clear, consistent, and aligned with UJA’s mission and values.

Content Strategy. Creative Oversight & Storytelling Hub

• Direct the Digital Content and Content Operations teams in producing compelling, high-quality written and multimedia content across digital, video, podcast, and social platforms.
• Build a central storytelling hub that captures and shares stories of Jewish pride, belonging, resilience, and impact.
• Support the development and implementation of a new process to gather data and stories from agency partners (who receive UJA funding), ensuring planners and fundraisers have powerful material to demonstrate impact.
• Use data and analytics to measure communications performance and refine strategies for clarity, reach, and engagement.

• Lead the design team to produce high-quality, impactful creative assets that support fundraising, donor engagement, community mobilization, and brand storytelling.

Social Media

• Oversee UJA’s social media presence across platforms, ensuring content reflects UJA’s mission, values, and brand identity while engaging diverse audiences in the GTA Jewish community.
• Direct the development of compelling, written, and visual storytelling tailored for social platforms, highlighting impact, community pride, and donor generosity.
• Collaborate with planning and fundraising colleagues to integrate community impact stories and donor into social media campaigns.
• Leverage social media to reinforce brand communications — showcasing UJA’s professionals, thought leadership, and expertise in research and data-driven decision making.
• Establish clear goals, KPIs, and analytics to measure performance, using insights to refine social media strategies and maximize engagement.
• Monitor trends and conversations relevant to the Jewish community locally and globally, ensuring UJA’s social voice remains timely, trusted, and aligned with community needs.

Fundraising & Stewardship Communications

• Collaborate with planning and fundraising colleagues to develop donor-centered communications that inspire giving.
• Oversee process development and production of stewardship reporting and donor impact storytelling that demonstrates the tangible results of philanthropy.
• Ensure fundraising and stewardship communications integrate seamlessly with UJA’s broader narrative and brand voice.

Event Communications

• Partner with the Events team to shape messaging for flagship events, ensuring they highlight UJA’s mission, inspire pride, and celebrate donor impact.
• Align event communications with campaigns and organizational priorities.

Team Leadership & Capacity Building

• Recruit, mentor, and lead a multidisciplinary team of writers, digital producers, and communications professionals.
• Provide leadership responsibility for a team of five direct reports across communications functions.
• Foster a culture of creativity, accountability, and collaboration.
• Continuously assess team structures and workflows to strengthen agility, writing excellence, and impact.
• Maintain accountability for developing, managing, and reporting on an annual departmental budget, ensuring effective allocation of resources to achieve organizational goals.

Cross-Organizational & External Partnerships

• Collaborate with the VP of Marketing & Brand and with Planners to ensure seamless integration of communications, brand, fundraising, and impact reporting.
• Partner with Government Affairs/CIJA and other stakeholders to ensure consistent and effective messaging.
• Forge partnerships with federations, Jewish organizations, and media outlets in the GTA to amplify reach, strengthen impact, and create shared value.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Media, Public Relations, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Experience: 15+ years of progressive experience in communications, media, or narrative strategy, with at least 5 years in a senior executive role. Experience in donor communications and non-profit fundraising environments is strongly valued.
• Strategic Leadership: Proven success developing and executing comprehensive communications strategies aligned to organizational goals and brand identity.
• Media Expertise: Strong media relationships and demonstrated ability to manage crisis communications that support and unite the community.
• Writing Excellence: Exceptional ability to lead and mentor teams in writing across formats — speeches, donor reports, fundraising campaigns, digital content, and media materials.
• Storytelling Mastery: Deep experience crafting compelling narratives across digital, video, print, and event platforms.
• Donor Orientation: Skilled at creating donor communications that inspire giving, stewardship, and long-term engagement.
• Leadership Skills: Ability to recruit, motivate, and manage high-performing teams.
• Data-Driven Approach: Facility with communications analytics and insights to drive decision-making.
• Mission-Driven: Deep commitment to fostering Jewish pride, belonging, and allyship, and to UJA’s role as a convener and brand leader in the GTA Jewish community.

This is a full-time permanent position. At UJA we support a flexible work scheduleand all of our employees engage in hybrid work. Engagement and connection are key to supporting the best employee experience and we want to ensure that this puts balance and well-being at the forefront of our approach to ways of working. In addition to a rich time off policy, UJA’s offices are closed on all Jewish holy days (yom tov) and we support early office closures to observe the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat).

Qualified applicants are invited to submit a cover letter and resume.
Only those applicants invited for interview will be contacted. Please be advised that all offers of employment are contingent upon the successful completion of professional references and background checks including Social Media Account(s) and a Police Records Check/Vulnerable Sector Screening.

Commitment to Inclusion and Accessibility:

UJA Federation supports a diverse candidateand employment experience. We are proud of our dynamic professional team, which reflects the diversity of the Jewish community and general community alike in Greater Toronto. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applicants from all communities. We encourage you to follow us to get regular updates on open roles. We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible workplace and believe this is essential to ensure that every member of our team can thrive.

We adhere to barrier-free and accessible employment practices in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Should you require Code-protected accommodation through any stage of the recruitment process, please notify usand we will work with you to meet your needs.