Senior Digital Communications Specialist

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic, and environmental justice in relation to public policymaking and is currently searching for a Senior Digital Communications Specialist — ideally to begin immediately, and by no later than March 1, 2021.

Location: CCPA National Office (Ottawa, Ontario)*
Type: Full-time, unionized position with benefits
Salary: $86,416 per annum, minimum

* Temporarily, given the pandemic situation, all CCPA staff are currently working from home.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Senior Digital Communications Specialist is an experienced digital communicator with a strong social justice bent. They are a team player with a firm grasp of public engagement, with digital campaigning know-how, and strong writing and editing skills.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Engagement (approx. 40%, normally) — The Senior Digital Communications Specialist will help CCPA maintain, grow and diversify its community of supporters, share the organization’s story online in compelling ways, and strengthen the impact of our interactions. Specifically, they will:

• Write, design, test and optimize email fundraising and engagement campaigns for the national office and, as required, for provincial offices, to meet organizational goals.
• Collaborate with other members of the communications and development departments to produce and execute multi-channel outreach and fundraising campaigns.
• Create and maintain ladders of engagement for the CCPA’s key target audiences and ensure supporters are successfully moving up the ladder. 
• Provide analysis of campaign data and produce short-term and long-term trend and success reports.
• Research and experiment with new calls-to-action and campaign tactics, to expand our engagement, fundraising, and mobilization activities.
• Shape and implement public campaigns and fundraising appeals.
• Liaise with members of the development department to ensure an integrated approach to donor engagement.
• Respond to public and supporter online inquiries.
• Lead new initiatives to more effectively engage with CCPA donors online.
• Manage national social media/online following, and respond to online inquiries, as needed.

Communications (approx. 40%, normally) — The Senior Digital Communications Specialist will help shape CCPA’s communications efforts and public voice, create and curate content for our digital platforms, and evaluate the impact of our efforts online. Specifically, they will:

• Write, edit and publish content for social media channels and websites.
• Monitor key online conversations happening in Canadian public policy and among civil society.
• Maintain brand reputation online by moderating comments on organizational posts, and monitoring mentions and tags across social media platforms.
• Monitor and evaluate key metrics for assessing online success, and provide regular results reports with recommendations.

Technical and Administrative (approx. 20%, normally) — The Senior Digital Communications Specialist will administer the organization’s digital platforms, assess trends and changes in online tools, technology and digital culture, and establish best practices in order to achieve CCPA’s communications and research objectives. Specifically, they will:

• Manage and update CCPA’s national online infrastructure (all websites, e-newsletters and lists, social media channels, Google Ads, etc.).
• Liaise with CCPA’s web developer, and other related contractors.
• Monitor, assess and integrate new online tools, and strategies and best practices, where relevant.
• Provide guidance and training to staff in using online tools effectively, and troubleshoot when necessary.
• Conduct quality assurance across all digital platforms (e.g., testing landing pages, forms, etc.), ensuring that all content is error-free and fixing bugs when necessary.

From time to time, the Senior Digital Communications Specialist will also be assigned other related responsibilities and duties.

REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum of five years of experience in a communications position with a strong digital campaign or engagement focus.
• A professional and personable writing style and demonstrated commitment to upholding an organizational voice.
• A keen understanding of email campaigns, and how to structure an email campaign schedule that will encourage consistent open and click-through rates.
• Experience writing across platforms for a variety of audiences, including organizational email.
• Familiarity with MailChimp, including best practices for mailing list segmentation, customer journey creation, and tagging.
• Experience managing organizational social media channels with very large followings (10,000+).
• Experience in website management, working with content management systems (e.g., Drupal, WordPress, Craft CMS), and familiarity with HTML and CSS.
• Experience working with web analytics and reporting tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, Meltwater).
• Demonstrated experience with digital content production (copywriting, design, photo editing, etc.), tailored to different audiences and across multiple platforms.
• Ability to work effectively in a busy environment under multiple deadlines.
• High level of attention to detail and accuracy, and ability to manage multiple projects/tasks concurrently.
• English language fluency.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.

ASSETS

• Knowledge of non-profit, social justice, and labour organizations and issues.
• Graphic design (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite), video editing, podcasting, and/or other multimedia skills.
• The ability to write website code in common scripting languages (e.g. Javascript, PHP).
• French language proficiency.

HOW TO APPLY

• The deadline to apply is the end of the day on Sunday, January 24, 2021.
• Applications should be sent via email to [email protected] with subject line “Application: Senior Digital Communications Specialist”.
• Please include (1) a letter of interest and (2) a resume/CV.
• Links to your relevant recent works/samples are welcome.
• Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

CCPA is committed to developing an inclusive and equitable workplace and we strongly encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply. In accordance with the collective agreement between CCPA and Unifor Local 567, applications from internal candidates, if any, will be considered first.