Job Description

As one of the nation’s most trusted and highest-rated nonprofits, the American Kidney Fund fights kidney disease on all fronts for more than 35 million Americans—no other organization has a more comprehensive approach or makes a greater direct impact on patients’ lives. As Director of Email Marketing, you’ll ensure that patients, advocates, and donors receive meaningful, timely, and personalized communications that deepen engagement and support AKF’s mission.

In this role, you will report to the Senior Director of Brand Marketing, supervise the Email Marketing Manager, and serve as a key advisor to the Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM). You’ll lead AKF’s use of the Engaging Networks e-CRM platform and oversee the full lifecycle of email communications—from strategy and segmentation to execution and performance analysis.

Your primary focus will be to develop AKF’s email strategy, with an emphasis on proactive planning, audience engagement, and supporting both fundraising and marketing goals. You’ll develop and execute a comprehensive email roadmap, including automated journeys and targeted campaigns that drive acquisition, retention, advocacy, and donor conversion. Key audiences include patients, corporate partners, healthcare professionals, advocates/ambassadors, and prospective and current donors.

This role requires strong project management skills to oversee a high-volume, fast-paced program across 30+ campaigns with 300+ total emails annually, reaching 130K+ constituents nationwide. You will also contribute to content development, including writing, editing, and securing subject matter expertise for newsletters. This is a highly collaborative role, engaging frequently with stakeholders across AKF to ensure our email program is strategically aligned and consistently delivers the right messaging to the right audiences at the right time.

How You’ll Make an Impact

Success in your first 1-2 years will be demonstrated by:

• Email Strategy. Partner with the Senior Director of Brand Marketing and teams across AKF to create an email strategy that meets campaign goals while aligning marketing and development efforts. Review and prioritize requests, managing send volume and cadence to ensure communications are coordinated and relevant.
• Campaign Execution. Work with the Email Marketing Manager to execute a high volume of email campaigns, providing hands-on support and guidance on prioritization, sequencing, audience segmentation, and targeting.
• e-CRM Optimization. Strengthen AKF’s use of Engaging Networks following a recent migration, partnering with vendors to make full use of features that support segmentation, conditional content, automation, and list management.
• Data Analysis and Reporting. Define, track, and report on key performance metrics to assess engagement and effectiveness. Use insights from performance data and testing to refine strategy and improve program performance over time.

Work Environment, Salary, and Benefits

• This role offers a primarily remote schedule with 1-4 days per month in AKF’s North Bethesda, MD, office. We currently support employees in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Occasional travel may be required (less than 5%).
• The budgeted salary range for this position is $120K – $125K. AKF offers comprehensive benefits, including a matching 403(b) retirement plan, health, dental, vision, and life insurance, short- and long-term disability, flex spending, and generous leave.
• Additional perks include paid underground parking, Metro subsidies, employee-led recognition and social events throughout the year, and shorter workdays on Fridays.
• You are joining a diverse team of open, collaborative, and supportive colleagues who care deeply about our mission, the people we serve, and each other. AKF is financially secure and led by a national board of trustees that is appropriately engaged, experienced, supportive, and appreciative of the team.

Responsibilities

Strategy Development

• Develop and execute a comprehensive email marketing strategy aligned with AKF’s organizational priorities and OCM goals.
• Design an email roadmap that supports engagement journeys for donors, patients, advocates, caregivers, and general subscribers.
• Lead strategic decision-making related to email acquisition, retention, and reactivation.
• Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) including engagement, deliverability, conversion, and retention metrics.
• Provide regular program performance updates and strategic recommendations to senior leadership.

Campaign Management & Execution

• Oversee the planning, development, scheduling, and execution of hundreds of emails annually, ensuring timely and targeted executions.
• Partner with the Email Marketing Manager to produce, test, and optimize email content, including A/B tests.
• Ensure all email templates are ADA compliant, mobile-optimized, and aligned with branding guidelines.
• Collaborate with cross-departmental partners to ensure email campaigns support fundraising, education, advocacy, and brand-building efforts.

Segmentation, Data, & Platform Management

• Lead audience segmentation and targeting strategy within Engaging Networks, including suppression rules, personalization logic, and journey automation.
• Build and manage complex data queries to support program needs.
• Work with data and technology teams to maintain list hygiene, ensure compliance with CAN-SPAM and data privacy requirements, and implement best practices.
• Identify opportunities to improve reporting, analytics, and integration with related systems, including Raiser’s Edge and Classy.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with fundraising, development, education, and advocacy teams to build integrated, multichannel communications strategies.
• Collaborate with Marketing & Communication leads to help shape the organization’s editorial calendar based on email insights and performance.
• Ensure email considerations and opportunities are represented in organization-wide planning conversations.

Team Management & Vendor Oversight

• Supervise, coach, and support the Email Marketing Manager, ensuring skill development and strong performance.
• Manage relationships with external vendors, consultants, and platform partners to support program needs and ensure high operational performance.
• Collaborate with external agencies or partners as needed to enhance program capabilities.

Qualifications

Required

• 5–7 years of experience in email marketing, digital marketing, or CRM management, including hands-on campaign execution and strategy development in a nonprofit environment. 3+ years of supervisory experience.
• Strong understanding of email marketing best practices, including segmentation, deliverability, automation, and list management.
• Experience with e-CRM or email marketing platforms; experience with Engaging Networks strongly preferred.
• Proficiency in HTML for building and editing email templates.
• Experience designing and analyzing A/B or multivariate tests and using performance data to optimize campaigns.
• Experience managing multiple campaigns or projects with competing timelines and priorities.

Preferred

• Experience with donor databases such as Raiser’s Edge or Classy.
• Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Understanding of digital accessibility standards (ADA) and email/web compliance requirements.
• Experience supporting integrated marketing and fundraising campaigns.

About the American Kidney Fund

The American Kidney Fund fights kidney disease on all fronts as the nation’s leading kidney nonprofit—no kidney organization impacts more lives than AKF. We are grateful to our big-hearted donor community that makes all of this work possible. From prevention through post-transplant living, we are proud to be there by the sides of patients through every challenge that comes their way.

AKF’s vision is a world without kidney disease. Until that day comes, we believe that every kidney patient should have access to health care, and every person at risk for kidney disease should be empowered to prevent it. Ninety-six cents of every dollar we spend goes to patients and programs. One of the nation’s highest-rated nonprofit organizations, AKF has held Charity Navigator’s highest 4-star rating for 24 years running and holds the Candid (formerly GuideStar) Platinum Seal of Transparency.

Staffing Advisors is committed to reducing bias in every aspect of the hiring process. We have long recommended a competency-driven approach to hiring. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. We encourage you to apply even if your experience is not a 100% match with the position description; we will consider people from a variety of backgrounds and career experiences.

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