Communications and Content Associate

Position Overview

The NYC Hospitality Alliance is seeking a creative, resourceful, and highly motivated Communications and Content Associate to help tell the stories of New York City’s restaurant, bar, and nightlife community.

The Communications and Content Associate will support the Alliance’s digital communications and marketing, content creation, podcast promotion, and communications-focused member engagement.

This is an opportunity for an earlier-career communications professional to develop a wide range of skills, build meaningful relationships, and advocate for one of New York City’s most dynamic and important industries.

The ideal candidate is curious, personable, creative, and comfortable taking initiative. They know how to recognize what makes a person, business, or issue interesting and translate it into clear and engaging content. They should be enthusiastic about meeting people, developing new ideas and executing communication initiatives, experimenting with digital formats, and helping the Alliance reach new audiences.

Primary Responsibilities

Content Creation and Storytelling

• Identify compelling stories, people, businesses, and developments from across the Alliance’s membership and the broader hospitality industry.
• Create engaging written, visual, audio, and video content for the Alliance’s social media platforms, website, newsletters, advocacy campaigns, and other communications.
• Design graphics and create and edit short-form video content for social media, digital campaigns, podcast promotion, member storytelling, and other Alliance communications.
• Interview restaurant and bar owners, workers, industry leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders.
• Understand the advocacy and political landscape and help translate policy developments, industry data, member experiences, and organizational initiatives into accessible and compelling content.
• Capture and edit photos and short-form video at member businesses, Alliance programs, press events, meetings, and industry gatherings.
• Develop recurring content concepts and recommend creative new ways to communicate the Alliance’s work.

Podcast and Multimedia Promotion

• Support the production and promotion of the Alliance’s Hospitality & Politics podcast.
• Research prospective guests and help identify strong interview topics, personal stories, and promotional angles.
• Create short-form clips, written takeaways, social posts, graphics, and other content from each episode.
• Coordinate with podcast guests and their teams to encourage cross-promotion and expand the program’s reach.
• Help build relationships among podcast guests, members, industry voices, creators, and other potential communications partners.
• Explore new formats and distribution opportunities for podcast and video content.

Social and Digital Communications

• Assist with the planning and management of the Alliance’s social media presence across platforms.
• Draft and schedule platform-specific posts that reflect the Alliance’s voice and communications priorities.
• Monitor conversations, trends, and emerging formats relevant to restaurants, bars, nightlife, small businesses, New York City, and public policy.
• Engage thoughtfully with members, partners, guests, journalists, and other industry voices online.
• Review content performance and recommend adjustments based on what is resonating with different audiences.
• Support website updates, email communications, digital campaigns, and other communications projects as needed.

Digital Marketing and Audience Engagement

• Support the planning and execution of email marketing campaigns using Mailchimp, including audience segmentation, list creation, scheduling, testing, and follow-up.
• Apply email marketing best practices to improve open rates, engagement, and audience response.
• Help develop automated and targeted email campaigns based on member interests, engagement, and organizational priorities.
• Develop communications strategies to increase participation in Alliance surveys, programs, events, advocacy campaigns, and other initiatives.
• Monitor campaign performance and use analytics to identify opportunities to improve engagement and conversion.
• Support the promotion and marketing of Alliance services, resources, programs, and member benefits.

Member Engagement

• Develop relationships with Alliance members and maintain a pipeline of potential member stories, interviews, profiles, and content opportunities.
• Engage members directly to encourage participation in Alliance surveys, campaigns, events, programs, and other communications initiatives.
• Attend member visits, industry events, press conferences, podcast recordings, and Alliance programs.
• Identify members who may be strong candidates for media interviews, advocacy campaigns, podcast appearances, or other communications opportunities.
• Encourage members and partners to participate in and amplify Alliance communications.
• Help ensure that the diversity of New York City’s restaurant, bar, and nightlife community is reflected in the Alliance’s storytelling.
• Collaborate with colleagues on communications strategies that engage current and prospective members, strengthen member relationships, and support organizational growth.

Qualifications

• Approximately one to three years of relevant professional, internship, freelance, campus media, or comparable experience.
• Strong writing, editing, research, and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated interest in storytelling, digital media, social media, journalism, public affairs, hospitality, or related work.
• Ability to connect comfortably and professionally with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
• Curiosity and an instinct for recognizing what makes a person, business, issue, or moment interesting.
• Resourcefulness, sound judgment, attention to detail, and the ability to move projects forward with appropriate guidance.
• Familiarity with major social media platforms and an understanding that effective content should be adapted for different audiences and formats.
• Familiarity with email marketing and digital marketing concepts, including audience segmentation, list management, campaign performance, and engagement strategies.
• Familiarity with Mailchimp or a comparable email marketing platform.
• Experience creating and editing visual content, including graphics, photography, and short-form video, using tools such as Adobe Express, Canva, CapCut, Adobe Creative Cloud, or comparable platforms.
• Ability to manage multiple assignments and respond to timely communications needs.
• Willingness to attend occasional early-morning, evening, or off-site events when necessary.

Preferred, but Not Required

• Experience with podcast, video, journalism, nonprofit, association, political, government, advocacy, or hospitality communications.
• Familiarity with content-management systems, social scheduling tools, web analytics, or other digital communications platforms.
• Knowledge of New York City’s restaurant, bar, nightlife, media, government, or small-business communities.
• Photography, videography, graphic design, audio-editing, or on-camera interviewing experience.
• Fluency in a language commonly spoken within New York City’s hospitality community.

What This Position Offers

• The opportunity to advocate for New York City’s restaurants, bars, nightlife venues, workers, and neighborhoods.
• Direct exposure to communications, public policy, media, podcast production, member engagement, and organizational strategy.
• Opportunities to meet and work with hospitality leaders, entrepreneurs, journalists, policymakers, advocates, and other influential New Yorkers.
• Meaningful responsibility and the ability to help shape new communications initiatives.
• Mentorship and room to develop a professional portfolio, industry network, and long-term career in communications, public affairs, media, advocacy, or hospitality.

Compensation and Benefits

This is a full-time position based in New York City with an in-person work schedule. The anticipated salary range is $70,000 to $85,000 commensurate with experience. Benefits include Health and Dental Insurance,Simple IRA, and Paid Time Off (PTO): 15 days annually.

How to Apply

Please submit a résumé, a brief cover letter explaining your interest in the position, and two to four relevant work samples. Samples may include social media content, writing, photography, video, audio, graphics, newsletters, published articles, campus work, or self-directed projects.

In your cover letter, please tell us about one restaurant, bar, hospitality professional, community, or industry story that you believe deserves greater attention – and briefly explain how you might tell that story. Please keep your response to approximately 150–250 words.