Stanford Impact Labs

Stanford Impact Labs is hiring a Strategic Outreach and Engagement Manager to join the Communications & Outreach (C&O) team. The C&O team works to showcase SIL’s approach to investing in collaboratively-designed solutions, build the initiative’s public reputation and brand, establish an institutional tone and standard for public engagement, and demonstrate a tireless commitment to rigorous research and practical partnerships for public impact. C&O efforts also support individual impact lab teams, faculty, fellows, and scholars in achieving their project-specific outreach and communications goals. The C&O team is responsible for all aspects of public-facing strategic communication, outreach, and engagement for SIL.

In this role, you will develop and implement strategic outreach initiatives, produce events, and run point on editorial operations.

This role will support the Director of Strategic Communications and Outreach at a time of significant opportunity and growth for SIL (and its portfolio of impact labs) as the initiative seeks to emerge on a global stage as a proven, practical model for putting social science to work for society. This is a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role on a close-knit, mission-driven team in creating and distributing content and producing events for an innovative space that crosses into sectors, including higher education, philanthropy, government, and the private sector.

This is a 100% FTE, 1-year fixed-term exempt position. This hybrid position is based on the Stanford campus, 2-3 days every week.

If you believe that this opportunity is a match for your knowledge, skills, and abilities, we encourage you to apply. Thank you for considering employment opportunities with the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Specifically, the Strategic Outreach and Engagement Manager will lead the following areas of work:

• Marketing & Promotion: You will co-create and manage a range of C&O projects designed to meet the needs and growth goals of Stanford Impact Labs. These may include but are not limited to campaigns, special editorial projects, email newsletters, networking efforts, collaborations with peer organizations and other Stanford initiatives, multimedia production, and small and large-scale events both on and off campus. You will establish and operationalize best practices from the ideas stage to distribution, audience development, and metrics tracking.

• Event Planning: You will project manage–from inception to execution–a handful of smaller-scale events and a signature annual convening of scholars, practitioners, funders, and policymakers around social science and evidence-based policy. This includes ownership of event production duties, including vendor management, supply procurement, publicity, scheduling, and mitigation planning.

• Editorial Operations: You will be the central manager of the operations and workflows of SIL’s C&O strategies, including end-to-end project management and quality control, some budget planning and oversight, job tracking and trafficking, analysis of audience engagement, and management of visual, multimedia, and brand assets. You will continuously improve and enforce workflows and monitor budgets. You will be responsible for ensuring all content projects move smoothly, efficiently, and effectively from concept to execution.

• Brand Ownership: You will co-create, hone, and manage the voice of Stanford Impact Labs across content, social, and design channels. You will draft web copy and social posts, co-own SIL’s CRM and CMS, and build relationships with communicators and affiliates across the university.

*Other duties may also be assigned.

Education & Experience

Bachelor’s degree and five years of relevant experience, or combination of education and relevant experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

WHO YOU ARE

·        You are a skilled and professional project manager with a sharp editorial eye. You have experience engaging a range of audiences and can expertly manage details, track deadlines, and hold tasks big and small. You’re known for keeping a steady pace!

·        You approach communications & outreach work with an audience-first orientation and care deeply about understanding who you’re reaching (and why) and ensuring that outreach efforts are mutually beneficial. When you publish communications, you think from the perspective of the reader. When you organize events, you take into account what will motivate attendance.  

·        You understand what it takes to plan and produce successful events and feel prepared to lead others in making this happen. You have experience creating, producing, or distributing academic, editorial, or advocacy content for niche audiences. 

·        You have assumed leadership roles and demonstrated skill at building and maintaining relationships with contractors, vendors, and partner organizations. You aren’t afraid to build things from scratch and build the alliances you need along the way.

·        You are flexible, resourceful, and well-organized. You have a proven track record of anticipating issues, developing proactive solutions, and engaging the right stakeholders to support and champion success. You know when to press pause and ask for help and when to take risks.

·        You are motivated by a commitment to outcomes that improve the public good. You pay attention to the many ways racial and social inequities and systems of oppression show up. You have a demonstrated track record of working effectively across lines of difference. You are committed to centering equity and inclusion in programs and practices.

·        You thrive in a dynamic, open, and collaborative work environment. You are at home in a lean start-up environment and possess the ability to stay focused and nimble in the face of rapid change. You believe in collaboration and try to seek out a diversity of views, experiences, and perspectives.

WE WOULD ALSO LOVE

·        Experience managing CRMs (Salesforce), CMSs (Drupal), newsletter platforms (MailChimp), graphic design tools (Canva), and project management applications (Asana, Trello).

Research shows that many applicants who would be successful in a position are reluctant to apply unless they meet every listed requirement. We encourage applications from candidates who do not meet all the listed requirements, but who believe they have the ability to grow and thrive as the Strategic Outreach and Engagement Manager at Stanford Impact Labs.

How to Apply

We will review applications on a rolling basis and encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible. We plan to stop accepting applications on July 14, 2023. Please submit the following through Stanford’s online jobs portal.  

·        A 1-2 page resume highlighting examples of relevant skills and experiences

·        In lieu of a cover letter, please send us responses to the following questions: 

1.   Please describe a time that you created, contributed to, or managed a communications initiative designed to engage a key audience. What motivated your approach? How did you define success? What might you do differently today? (max = 300 words)

2.   Please describe a time when you encountered an obstacle to reaching your target audience. What was the obstacle? How did you address it? What did you learn? (max = 250 words)

3.   Please describe a professional event that you participated in or attended that informed or inspired you in a memorable way. What made it unique? What did you most respond to? (max = 200 words)

The hiring process will involve:

·        A take-home exercise for shortlisted candidates intended to assess some of the core competencies required to succeed in this role, 

·        Two interviews for further shortlisted candidates,

·        A day-long work trial intended to give 1-2 finalist candidates a sense of what working at SIL is like. 

·        We will check references for final candidates only. 

Stanford Impact Labs