CEGA is a hub for research on global development, headquartered at the University of California, Berkeley.
The role
The Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) seeks a full-time Associate Director of Communications and Policy Engagement to lead the Center’s communications and external engagement.
Key roles and responsibilities
- Strategy and Policy – Leveraging insights from senior leadership and consultants, develop and implement a center-wide communication and policy engagement strategy to ensure that CEGA’s research and insights inform policies and programs that aim to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives—and is rooted in a clear sense of purpose, harmonized to achieve goals, and focused on activities that drive impact. Serve as CEGA’s “eyes and ears” to shape what comes out of the center for the right moments, the right people, and the most influence. This involves going beyond simply talking about CEGA’s research; strategically position the work, proactively craft methods to translate it into practical action, and source/integrate insights from key stakeholders into communications and engagement tactics. Develop a focused set of communications and external engagement goals, including updating overarching KPIs, tracking metrics, reporting against “dashboards,” and owning performance management.
- Storytelling, Narrative and Writing – Develop a clearly articulated umbrella story and set of key messages that serve as the scaffolding for all CEGA communications, and craft corresponding factsheets, shared language and editorial pillars/calendars. Act as CEGA’s “internal journalist,” surfacing research results and perspectives, identifying interesting operational challenges, and highlighting people and findings from our ecosystem. Develop and implement strategies for amplifying the voices and stories of LMIC partners in ways that allow them to build their influence and achieve shared goals related to influencing policy. Write, edit, and promote creative, compelling content across all channels (blog, social, email, web, press, decks, and print) and harness the power of strategic communications, narrative, and creative storytelling to engage key audiences.
- Digital Media – Accountable for social media accounts and online engagement. Cultivate a sophisticated online presence by overseeing development of social media content, tracking and evaluating metrics of success, gaining cut-through with visual media (e.g. visual storytelling, digital reports, social media cards, etc.), adapting strategies (e.g. A/B testing, strategically integrating channels, leveraging events, etc.), and growing and improving outreach over time. Manage the CEGA website and corresponding consultant contracts, collaborating directly with them to ensure the website tells our story well. Ensure that information is planned, proactive and coordinated, shared in a way that is accessible, understandable, relevant and timely by regularly using communications to push out content and pull in ideas, and participating in broader conversations relevant to the global development community.
- Build Internal Capacity – Develop a set of processes and rules to integrate communications and engagement into everyday activities, clarify expectations and procedures, put as much of the production process on auto-pilot as possible (including for events), and periodically train CEGA staff. Mentor an events and communications associate and effectively liaise with consultants. Contribute to important CEGA-wide activities, including internal working groups, process documentation, and major events.
- Press – Own CEGA’s media pipeline by building relationships with journalists, pitching stories and driving awareness through landing media placement—sometimes in collaboration with outside partners. Conceptualize and contribute to opinion and other pieces as appropriate.
Experience and skills
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent years experience and/or training. Minimum 7 years of experience in a similar role or function. Success in the Associate Director of Communications role will depend on a range of knowledge, skills, and abilities.
As a candidate for the position, you will need to demonstrate:
- Experience creating, leading, and overseeing inspiring communications content and external engagement to translate research and ideas into real-world action (including influencing policy decisions, program design, changing behavior in organizations or networks).
- Knowledge of economic research and trends in global development and how they relate to CEGA’s work and evidence-informed policymaking more broadly.
- Deep knowledge of CEGA audiences and policy, decision, influence process.
- Track record of building relationships and networks with key partners and stakeholders from one more of CEGA’s external audiences (i.e. policymakers in LMICs, multilateral or bilateral development institutions, implementers, private philanthropy, and business).
- Demonstrated expertise writing about global development, economics, social issues, and social science concepts for non-academic audiences.
- Experience communicating and visualizing quantitative research is strongly desired.
- Effective storytelling, editing and proofreading skills.Track record of owning and refining brand voices.
- Ability to use multiple communications channels—online engagement, events, outreach, media relations, publications—for impact and influence. Demonstrated success working across multi-channel environments with experience in content strategy and leveraging one form of content to improve another.
- Strong organizational skills, attention to detail and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet deadlines.
- Self-starter, able to work independently, and entrepreneurial yet highly collaborative and responsive. Has a “Yes, and” problem solver attitude.
- Maturity, and leadership with the ability to position communications discussions at both the strategic and tactical levels.
- Awareness of and deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Social media fluency including experience growing and managing social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Experience using social media to promote a brand including developing posts, engaging in conversations, managing an editorial calendar and using social media monitoring tools.
- Track record building relationships with journalists and pitching and placing articles.
- Experience managing websites (WordPress preferred) both on the operations side and in thinking strategically about SEO, taxonomy, and user experience.
- Familiarity and experience with the following applications (or similar):
- WordPress
- Medium
- G Suite and Google-related collaborations and productivity apps
- Salesforce or other centralized customer relationship management (CRM) systems
- Google Analytics and Google AdWords
- Hootsuite and/or other social media marketing platforms
- Mailchimp
- Adobe Creative Suite, primarily InDesign
Other useful information
To apply, visit careers.berkeley.edu and search for Job Opening: #21719.
Please submit your cover letter and resume as a single pdf attachment.
This is a full-time, 1-year contract position with possibility of extension.
For information on the comprehensive benefits package offered by the University visit: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html