Senior Communications Associate at Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP)

About the position 

• The Senior Associate, Communications will lead and coordinate communications efforts in African countries where ITDP is actively involved. This role includes developing graphics, video stories, blogs, and newspaper op-eds, as well as assisting with the design of publications and infographics. The Senior Associate will maintain close communication with ITDP team members across the Africa region, compiling project updates, maintaining ITDP’s social media channels, preparing newsletters, maintaining contact lists, and supporting other regular communications activities. The role will involve spearheading new experiments designed to grow the quantity and quality of reach and engagement across social media platforms. Additionally, the Senior Associate will coordinate and plan activities such as car-free days, workshops, and other events, while collaborating with government officials to influence policy and decision-making. 
• The Senior Associate, Communications will report to the Communications Manager and work closely with ITDP team members across the region. 

 Responsibilities 

• Develop, edit, and design high-quality written and visual materials for a wide variety of media, with a focus on compelling storytelling of ITDP’s mission, programs, and impact. This includes presentations, website content, social media updates, newsletters/emails, video content, proposals and reports, press releases, articles, blog posts, white papers, brochures, and other marketing collateral, speeches, talking points, and internal briefings. 
• Work with the press on informative campaigns on sustainable urban transport, climate, and the environment. 
• Spearhead ITDP’s mission through disseminating content from technical reports through dynamic and interactive content. 
• Assist with the preparation of social media collateral, blogs, and newspaper op-eds. 
• Organize regional workshops, events, and meetings. 
• Design publications and graphics using Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. 
• Send out regular newsletter updates and reports about developments in the Africa region. 
• Create marketing collateral for events as needed (e.g., banners, social media graphics, posters, brochures, etc.)
• Develop, maintain, and implement brand guidelines and templates. 
• Design and implement communications campaigns that inform, inspire, and grow ITDP’s network in support of strategic goals. This includes using social media, editing ITDP’s website(s), and using email marketing tools while reviewing relevant analytics and subscription lists to assess reach and inform future strategy. 
• Support the development and implementation of program-specific and organization-level communications strategies and plans. 
• Support the development and maintenance of knowledge and asset management systems. 
• Support training for staff on ITDP communications policies, guides, templates, and best practices, and serve as an internal resource to support their effective use. 
• Perform any other task as assigned

 Qualifications 

• At least five to seven years of relevant experience, spanning content development/writing, social media, website management and analytics, visual design production, and storytelling. 
• Excellent graphic design skills, with proficiency in Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. 
• Skilled at quickly distilling complex information (both verbal and written) to create convincing and engaging content in a variety of voices and formats. 
• Skilled at editing for voice, clarity, structure, content, purpose, audience, errors, etc. 
• Highly detail-oriented and organized, able to multi-task and manage multiple deadlines. 
• Comfortable and proficient working and collaborating in-person and remotely. 
• Excellent written and editorial skills across multiple formats, including impeccable English grammar and editing skills, and a sharp editorial eye. 
• Professionalism, initiative, sound judgment, and maturity, and a deeply collaborative and empathetic nature, with the confidence and clarity of thinking required to engage senior stakeholders across geographies, cultures, and practice areas. 
• An ear for stories and an eye for design: able to look across a portfolio of work and identify priorities and processes that will help bring new external content to life. 
• Demonstrated experience working directly on, or in coordination with, the component roles of a communications team, and a demonstrated ability to apply skills in a way that strengthens the work of teammates as well as taking the lead on individually driven initiatives. 
• Passion for sustainable urban transport 
• Experience serving as the point person for all matters related to the running of a WordPress website, including liaising with developer teams on fixes, building new pages based on templates, troubleshooting day-to-day issues, and determining when to bring in developer resources for new initiatives and bigger challenges. 
• Past experience sourcing, analyzing, and presenting Comms-related analytics such as social media and website analytics and SEO rankings. 
• Understanding of SEO best practices, and familiarity with SEO optimization tools and processes. 
• Working knowledge of Photoshop, FIGMA, Canva, and willingness to learn about other emerging visual and content-related collaboration tools. 
• Fluency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.