Are you a creative and nimble digital strategist with the drive and expertise to help grassroots social justice organizations run stronger digital campaigns?
Are you both an incredibly helpful team player and an accountable self-starter who’s comfortable working autonomously?
Are you an excellent communicator with an unwavering commitment to social, economic, and racial justice, and an understanding of social change that centers both powerful narratives and ground-up organizing?
If so, please read on!
ABOUT THE ROLE
WMTF is looking for a Senior/Digital Strategist to join our small and growing team.
The role of the Senior/Digital Strategist involves work in two buckets:
The Senior/Digital Strategist serves as a resource for WMTF partner social justice organizations across the country, providing ongoing coaching, training and technical assistance to help them run stronger digital campaigns, and ones that are more closely integrated with their work to organize and inform their base in non-digital spaces.
The Senior/Digital Strategist will manage and execute WMTF’s digital efforts — including managing our (modest) social media program and our Google Grant ads campaigns, updating content on our website, and writing and sending our email newsletters (typically 1-2 emails a month).
Our partners range in size, capacity, and technical sophistication, and their individual needs will change over time. So the exact type of support the Senior/Digital Strategist might provide will vary from day to day, and from organization to organization.
One day the Senior/Digital Strategist might help a local immigrant-rights organization in the Midwest figure out what to do with the new email addresses they collected from the attendees at a large rally. And another day the Senior/Digital Strategist might show a statewide labor organization in Texas how to geo-target digital ads to reach students at a university.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The role comes in two different levels depending on the qualities and experiences candidates bring: Digital Strategist and Senior Digital Strategist.
The Senior Digital Strategist is a more autonomous position that holds the additional responsibilities of strategy development (esp. with respect to holistic digital strategy and not just the digital strategy for a particular campaign) and indirectly managing the work of others (particularly in the context of project management). “Must haves” for both levels of the role are described below.
Supporting Partner Groups (~60% in election years and ~40% at other times)
Provide high-impact technical assistance, coaching and training on an ongoing basis around digital strategy and execution to WMTF partners. For example, this could include support around:
Big-picture digital strategy and creating digital plans.
Integrating digital campaigns with other organizing, field and/or narrative work.
Running digital ad, email, social media, or p2p or broadcast texting campaigns.
Running effective digital advocacy, fundraising and awareness campaigns.
Creating digital budgets and program projections.
Using activism CRMs and online organizing or campaigning tools.
Website or microsite strategy and implementation.
Growing online communities, segmenting lists and reaching targeted audiences.
Creating good digital content (including both digital copywriting and things like scripting videos, taking good pictures, creating social media graphics, etc.).
Programmatic aspects of running a digital program (e.g. email list health and deliverability, digital tool selection, getting verified on Facebook and Instagram, structuring QA checklists and/or approval processes, etc.).
Testing, metrics and analytics.
Understanding digital innovations, trends and best practices.
Anything else related to digital strategy or digital campaign planning, execution or evaluation.
Note: While this role will require a broad understanding of digital strategy and expertise in many of the aspects of digital campaigning, the person in this role is not expected to possess deep expertise in every element of digital campaigning mentioned above.
Make reasonable efforts to help our partners get their digital needs met and their digital questions answered even when the Senior/Digital Strategist cannot provide expert guidance or authoritative answers based on their own personal expertise and experience -– for example, by doing some research and summarizing the results for a partner, soliciting feedback on their behalf from a colleague with the requisite expertise, connecting them to someone else in our network who can help them, curating and sending a list of helpful resources on the topic, etc.
Provide guidance and support to WMTF partners (as above) that is both effective and practical given the size, capacity, budgetary constraints, technical sophistication, etc. of the particular partners who are asking for help and the timelines they are working on.
Identify creative opportunities to use digital strategies or tactics to support or improve the campaigns our partners are running on the ground.
Use WMTF messaging guides to create social media toolkits that can be distributed to partners.
Track changes to the digital landscape (the tools and technology available, the behavior of the platforms, etc.), and identify opportunities for WMTF and our partners to innovate or adopt new best practices.
Managing WMTF’s Digital Presence (~40% in election years & ~60% at other times)
Manage WMTF’s social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok).This includes:
Creating a content calendar, drafting all posts and getting them approved.
Updating Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at least once per day, with weekend and holiday posts written, approved and scheduled in advance.
Updating TikTok roughly twice a month (including writing the script, selecting images, and putting the TikTok video together).
Responding to comments to our posts.
Monitoring the social media accounts of our partners to identify content of theirs that WMTF can reshare or otherwise amplify on our social channels.
Manage WMTF’s email program (currently on Action Network), including maintaining an email calendar and drafting, building and distributing emails to our list. WMTF typically sends 1-2 emails a month, one of which is our monthly newsletter.
Update the WMTF website (built on Squarespace) with content as necessary.
Become deeply familiar with Race Class Narrative research and messaging insights and integrate them into our work.
Coordinate and work with different vendors and contractors on digital projects.
Design and implement a regular reporting process, and otherwise support the process of evaluating the results of digital campaigns and promoting data-driven decision-making.
Project Management (Senior Digital Strategist Only)
Take the lead managing the projects you work on. This will include indirectly managing the work of colleagues, outside vendors and/or partners to ensure:
Internal deadlines for planning, ideation, production/execution and approval are met.
Any logistical issues or potential roadblocks are identified and addressed in a timely manner.
There is clarity within the team working on the project about goals, outcomes, roles, responsibilities and (where appropriate) budgets.
Note: While the project management work will take time and thus impact what Senior Digital Strategist’s work plan looks like for any given day or week, this work will only occur in the context of the two big buckets of work listed above, and will not in itself alter the balance of work between them.
SUCCESS BY THE END OF 2024 LOOKS LIKE
At least 15 partners have improved their ability to implement WMTF’s messaging framework via digital platforms because of training and coaching provided by the digital strategist.
At least three more partners are executing their own digital programs that integrate digital campaigns with their ongoing field or organizing work.
You have become deeply familiar with Race Class Narrative research and messaging insights, and are regularly integrating them into your work.
Our social media channels and our monthly newsletter are consistently being updated/sent at the right cadence (as described in the Responsibilities section), and both our social channels and emails do a good job of educating our audiences about our own work and highlighting the great work our partners are doing.
You have built trust and developed good working relationships with the digital staff at our partner organizations and your colleagues at WMTF.
When reviewing the results of our partner surveys, we see that the staffers at our partner organizations who have come to you for support have consistently found you helpful and found the advice you provided to be both practical and effective.
You are approaching your work in a proactive way. For example, you’ve found some high-impact ways to address common problems or needs that are shared by multiple partner organizations.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
The Senior/Digital Strategist must have…
Broad digital strategy expertise:
You have 3-5+ years of experience using blast email, social media, and other digital tools in an organizational context to engage people and mobilize them to take action.
You can design and lay out basic social media content and resources using programs like Canva, InDesign, Photoshop and/or Illustrator.
You have a basic comfort level using HTML and experience using various CMS and email marketing tools like WordPress, MailChimp, and EveryAction.
You possess expertise in a range of digital tools and tactics, and have a sharp understanding about the different ways they can be leveraged in different campaign contexts (e.g. supporting earned media vs. driving event attendance, rapid response vs. planned campaign arcs, audience acquisition vs. persuasion/awareness, etc.).
You have excellent communications skills and the ability to quickly draft sharp, persuasive and well-messaged copy for a variety of audiences.
Racial justice commitment and skills:
You work to acknowledge and address the impacts of anti-Black racism and other systems of oppression in your work and partnerships.
You create an environment in which people and groups on the margins can engage in our theory of change.
You have the ability to reflect on and describe the impact of your own identities—and those of others—in a given situation, decision, or process and are able to hear, reflect, act on, and learn from feedback re: identity and equity.
You would be excited to work on a powerful multiracial team that has POC leaders, and you have the ability to thrive in majority-POC spaces.
Digital advertising experience:
You’re comfortable running paid social and Google ads campaigns, and have experience managing ad buys (i.e. both making decisions about the ad spend and doing the ad trafficking) with a budget of $1,000+ on these platforms.
You have a head for numbers and the ability to run A/B tests and draw actionable insights from digital metrics and analytics data.
Other:
You have some familiarity with Google Office Suite (Slides, Sheets, Docs) and Slack.
You have field or electoral experience, or curiosity about it and a desire to learn more.
Highly qualified candidates with the “must haves” above and at least 5 years of relevant, progressively responsible experience may be considered for a Senior Digital Strategist role. These candidates should also possess many of the qualifications below.
While not required, it would be nice for the Digital Strategist to have…
Five or more years of experience working in a digital capacity for progressive advocacy organizations, unions and/or electoral campaigns.
Experience as an email campaigner or digital organizer at an organization with a large and/or sophisticated digital program, particularly at a digital-first organization, large membership organization or digital agency.
Meaningful experience with digital testing and optimization beyond A/B testing digital content.
Experience developing and running issue campaigns driven by community organizing and accountable to the constituency being organized.
Experience as a trainer or coach (especially experience involving digital skills, strategic communications or anything else that’s relevant to the organizing, electoral or advocacy space).
Agency experience or experience working with other organizational stakeholders in a coalition (or similar) setting.
More than a passing familiarity with the Race-Class Narrative.
Familiarity with key data toolsets and platforms widely used in the progressive organizing world (e.g. Catalist, TargetSmart, Civis, NGP VAN).
Experience with blast emails tools and online activism CRMs (Salsa Engage, Action Network, ActionKit, NationBuilder, EveryAction, New/Mode, Blue State Digital, etc.)
Significant experience organizing a heavily POC constituency on racial or economic justice issues.
A background that includes active involvement in progressive social movements, particularly those that work to support racial justice, economic justice, gender equity, and/or immigrant rights.
Experience managing graphic designers, coders and/or videographers to produce content on spec, on time and on budget.
Experience managing a $10,000+ digital advertising budget or executing digital advertising campaigns of that size.
We know there are great candidates who might not check all the boxes listed above, or who possess important skills we haven’t thought of as it relates to this position and the organization writ large. If that’s you, please don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The Digital Strategist role is a full-time salaried position with a starting salary of $65,250-$76,080. The Senior Digital Strategist role’s starting salary range is $75,000-$87,670.
This position can be performed remotely within the United States. However, regardless of location, the core work hours for this role will conform to business hours in either the Eastern or Central Time Zones.
In-state and national travel will be required roughly 5-7 times per year. Additional travel will be possible if the Senior/Digital Strategist decides to take advantage of optional conference and training opportunities. Some weekend and evening hours will be required.
Our strong benefits package includes healthcare, dental, and vision, retirement matching, and a generous vacation allowance (including 12/24-1/1 as paid time off).
This position will report to the National Narrative Officer.
Note about job description: This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities are based on organizational needs and may change at any time with or without notice.
Note about salary: In order to counter pay inequality and uphold internal parity, starting salaries are non-negotiable beyond the listed range for new and current employees. Similarly, there are no title negotiations. Staff are eligible for salary increases and promotions during the annual performance evaluation process.
We Make the Future provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, criminal history, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
We believe that marginalized communities must be centered in the work we do and strongly encourage people of color, people from working class backgrounds, women and LGBTQ people to apply. sexual orientation, criminal history, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Questions about this position or the application process (including any requests for reasonable accommodations) can be sent to jobs@wemakethefuture.us.