About FamilySearch
JOB DESCRIPTION
At FamilySearch, we believe that connecting with family — past, present, and future — brings people a joyful, inspiring, and lasting perspective, and helps them unite their families for eternity through sacred temple covenants. Through authentic, trusted experiences, we help all of God’s children, regardless of faith, strengthen family connections, find their place in their family story, and preserve memories for generations to come. For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we also help them perform ordinance work for deceased relatives and bind their families to God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
About The Role
As a Writing and Communications Specialist, you’ll help tell that story across web, social, email, blog, PR, and campaign channels. We’re looking for a persuasive, purposeful writer who drives understanding, brand connection, and action — someone who thinks across the whole user journey and can carry work from idea to finished, published work.
Your audience spans the world: passionate family history hobbyists and family history beginners; young adults, parents, seniors, and retirees; members of the Church and the general public alike; as well as archivists, government leaders, and professional genealogists. You’ll craft messaging and content that connects each of them to FamilySearch’s purpose and invites them to help connect ancestors across generations.
You’ll partner with teams across FamilySearch’s engagement, engineering, and product divisions as a trusted voice on communications and digital content, supporting major campaigns — including RootsTech, our flagship annual family history event — and day-to-day initiatives. You’ll also help senior leaders develop talking points, presentations, thought pieces, and speeches for outreach to archives, societies, industry friends, and local governments.
Responsibilities
- Shape messaging and tell the story. Turn FamilySearch’s mission and brand into messaging strategy and creative concepts that move audiences from curiosity to connection across web, social, email, PR, and campaigns.
- Write for top-of-funnel and RootsTech. Collaborate with product and engagement teams on copy that introduces newcomers to FamilySearch and family history, and serve as lead copywriter for RootsTech across promotional campaigns, registration and event pages, email, on-site materials, and post-event content.
- Guide the experience through UX writing. Embed with engineering and engagement teams as a creative partner, shaping a product experience that feels coherent with the story that brought people in.
- Coordinate and move work forward. Shepherd projects through creative development, review, approval, and governance — from brief to publication.
- Collaborate across teams. Work with product marketing managers, channel managers, brand managers, UX designers, and product managers to write copy that serves both the user and the brand.
- Keep content discoverable. Apply practical SEO and AI/generative-engine-optimization principles so your work continues to perform across traditional and AI-driven search.
Qualifications
- Several years of marketing/engagement copywriting and content experience across web, social, blog, email, paid ads, and campaigns. Candidates with nonprofit, agency, or advocacy backgrounds and cause-marketing experience are preferred.
- Copywriting skill — persuasive, purposeful copy across web, social, blog, email, landing pages, paid ads, and campaigns, adapting brand voice to each format and audience.
- Messaging strategy — building and applying frameworks (e.g., a core message supported by pillars and proof points ) so communication stays consistent and on-brand.
- Business writing — translating complex concepts, proof points, and data into clear, compelling assets for senior-leader outreach to internal and external stakeholders.
- A global sensibility — writing source copy that adapts naturally across languages and cultures, rather than relying on direct translation.
- Project coordination — comfort shepherding work through creative, review, and governance processes, keeping projects organized from brief to publication.
- Superior written and verbal communication — clear, warm, and persuasive with peers, managers, and senior leaders alike.
- A bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Fluency in Office 365 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, Outlook, OneNote).
- A commitment to writing to the Family History Department’s five Quality Standards — Inspiration, Trust, Kindness, Effectiveness, and Simplicity — and within FamilySearch Brand Standards.
Nice to Have
- Hands-on experience with AI optimization (AIO) and generative engine optimization (GEO), so what we publish can be surfaced, cited, and summarized accurately across AI-driven search and answer engines.
- UX writing experience that accounts for the full user journey — how someone arrives, what they need at each step, and what comes next.
- Practical on-page SEO skills.
- Comfort using large language models and AI assistants to draft, edit, and iterate (within the Church’s approved guidelines) — with the editorial judgment to know when the output is strong, generic, or worth setting aside, and how to take AI-generated copy and transform it into something exceptional through nuance, specificity, storytelling, and awareness of audiences’ values, motivations, and lived experience.
- Experience writing for global audiences across diverse cultures.
- Experience with search or content-optimization platforms (e.g., Conductor, Semrush ), analytics tools (e.g., Adobe Analytics), work-management tools (e.g., Monday.com), or content management systems (e.g., Brightspot ).
Our Standards
You’ll uphold the reputation of FamilySearch International and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with the Family History Department’s five Quality Standards and FamilySearch Brand Standards — including our brand attributes of authentic, joyful, inspiring, and trusted. You understand that brand and Church references follow specific approved guidelines, and you’re able to maintain consistent tone, voice, grammar, and style across platforms and campaigns.
Physical requirements: ability to perform the essential functions of the job, including sitting for long periods and using computer monitors and equipment.
You’ll report to: Manager of the Writing Team
Join Us
At FamilySearch, we don’t just create content — we help people discover, preserve, and share the stories that connect them to their families. In this role, you’ll write the words that welcome people in and carry them through a coherent, meaningful experience, helping us speak to the world with clarity, warmth, and purpose.
About Us
Church employees find joy and satisfaction in using their unique talents and abilities to further the Lord’s work. From the IT professional who develops an app that sends the gospel message worldwide, to the facilities manager who maintains our buildings— giving Church members places to worship, teach, learn, and receive sacred ordinances—our employees seek innovative ways to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world. They are literally working in His kingdom.
Only members of the Church who are worthy of a temple recommend qualify for employment. Apart from this, the Church is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its employment decisions on any basis that would violate U.S. or local law.
Qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, national origin, color, gender, pregnancy, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or other legally protected categories that apply to the Church. The Church will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities.
