Chief marketing and communications officer; CMO

Chief marketing and communications officer (CMO)

The American Physical Society (APS) is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to advancing and diffusing the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals and scientific meetings, as well as its education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world.

Position Summary:
The chief marketing and communications officer (CMO) provides visionary leadership for APS’s global marketing and communications strategy. Partnering closely with the CEO and c-suite leaders, the CMO leads the development and execution of APS positioning and messaging, content marketing, and digital engagement strategies. The CMO ensures APS delivers clear, compelling, and consistent communications that amplify the voice of physics worldwide and drive revenue growth across membership, meetings, and publications in support of the Society’s mission and strategic priorities.

The CMO oversees all marketing, external and internal communications, media relations, and related digital strategy. This leader expands APS’s reach and strengthens its brand across the global physics community, ensuring APS’s story inspires action and engagement. The role centers on growing and engaging diverse audiences while deepening relationships with APS members, authors, and customers.

The CMO is responsible for:

• Strategic direction, planning, and performance

• Develop, implement, and evolve an integrated, global, and digital communications, content, and marketing strategy that drives APS business priorities, grows revenue, supports mission, and enhances the Society’s reputation and influence.

• In partnership with C-suite leaders, define and track key performance indicators aligned with APS strategic priorities.

• Translate APS’s enterprise strategic priorities into a clear, integrated marketing and communications vision, supported by a multi-year transformation roadmap and a coordinated campaign planning framework that drives alignment, accountability, and execution across the organization.

• Leverage analytics and customer insight to inform strategy and connect marketing and communications activity to measurable engagement and business outcomes.

• Lead market analysis to identify new products and growth opportunities in partnership with APS business units.

• Monitor emerging trends in marketing, member engagement, and digital strategy, translating insights into innovative, actionable approaches.

Brand and communications leadership

• Lead the development of all internal and external communications products, including websites, newsletters, press materials, social media, marketing campaigns, internal communications, and staff intranet.

• Own and evolve APS’s enterprise positioning and messaging framework to ensure clarity, consistency, and alignment across audiences, channels, and business lines in support of the Society’s mission and strategic priorities.

• Lead and inspire the team to create mission storytelling – translating science and purpose into compelling external narratives.

• Foster strategic partnerships with scientific societies, institutions, agencies, and global organizations to advance shared goals and extend APS’s global reach and visibility.

• Oversee APS crisis communications ensuring alignment with supporting frameworks and decision trees adopted by APS governance and leadership.

Digital engagement and experience

• Set and lead APS’s content strategy, ensuring all digital and other content across APS’s website and social media platforms, publications, meetings, and membership collateral, advances organizational goals, engages global audiences, and reflects APS’s mission and brand voice.

• Establish and oversee content governance and workflow frameworks that define ownership, decision-making, and quality standards across marketing, communications, and web production teams, ensuring a unified and consistent user experience.

• Foster innovation and integration across channels, aligning storytelling, digital experience, and marketing initiatives to deliver…