Content designer (maternity cover)

About you

You’re a content designer, though you may not have recognized it by that name. You love working in a field so new that you get to help define it. You walk the line between “understands data” and “writes a mean sentence.” You know that there’s no such thing as good content with a bad design.

You’re excited about helping progressive research organizations use knowledge and ideas to make the world a more peaceful, prosperous, just, sustainable and equitable place. You don’t mind that most of your colleagues use the wrong size paper and mispronounce the letter z. You think I’ve never done that before sounds like a feature, not a bug. You are happy to work independently but aren’t afraid to ask for help when you encounter tricky issues—and you’re always willing to help colleagues find solutions when they get stuck.

Your skills and experience

• A bachelor’s degree and at least three years’ experience in journalism, publishing, content marketing, copywriting, new media or a similar field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• At least two year’s experience delivering content for print and/or digital platforms.
• Some experience leading cross-functional content teams (e.g., designers, data visualization specialists, photographers and video editors).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Familiarity with basic data visualization. Experience working with designers on more complex data visualization is extremely desirable, but is not required.
• An understanding of writing for different platforms and channels, including print, web and social media.
• Experience writing copy that complies with organization style guides. Experience developing style guides is desirable, but not required.
• Editing and/or proofreading experiences is especially helpful.
• Experience working with nonprofits or charities—either in-house or with an agency—is helpful but not required. Experience working with policy-, science- or other research-focused organisations is especially useful.
• Professional experience using web content management systems.
• Familiarity with Drupal or WordPress is highly desired, but some experience with a web CMS (e.g. Bolt, ExpressionEngine, Craft) is required.
• Permission to work in the United States and a willingness to join our DC studio in person post-pandemic.

The job

We’re looking for an early- or mid-career content designer to join our team in Washington DC. This is not an entry-level position. It is ideal for someone who has mastered junior-level tasks and is looking to take the next step in their career.

The role is a six-month maternity cover with potential for the right person to stay with the agency longer term.

We are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, and we strongly encourage applications from BIPOC, women, persons with disabilities, and people who identify as LGBTQIA.

Our clients are not like typical agency clients. They aren’t producing content to help them sell a product. Their content is their product. And they give that product away freely. Our content team is engaged to help them make that content as effective as it can be. Sometimes that means writing things. Sometimes it means editing things that have already been written. Sometimes (indeed, often!) it means taking something written for one channel and helping translate it into something appropriate for other channels. That may mean writing words, but it just as often means drafting a video script/storyboard or working with one of our designers to produce an infographic.

You’ll deliver a range of content design services on behalf of the agency, coordinating closely with colleagues working in design, data visualization, branding, client services and new business, as well as other members of the content team.

Ours is a small (but growing) content team. While each member of the team does have particular specialties, the nature of our work requires that everyone is comfortable working across a wide range of content tasks.

Regular responsibilities

• Engaging closely with clients, their internal stakeholders, their target audiences and their existing content to develop targeted, effective and compelling outputs.
• Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of client communications, including website and social media analytics and user interviews—measured against their strategic goals and key performance indicators.
• Working with clients and with our editorial and branding teams to help organizations refine their editorial mission, point of view, messaging, and voice and tone guidelines.
• Editing outputs (for both print and web) produced by authors at client organizations.
• Assisting designers with data visualization projects. Activities could include data interpretation or light (i.e., Excel-based) data manipulation/cleaning.
• Leading cross-functional content teams that may include designers, editors, brand strategists, web developers, and videographers.
• Developing workflow and governance plans for clients.
• Creating sample content and advising clients on the most effective ways to present their content in digital channels.
• Advising clients about effective copywriting strategies, particularly for digital channels.
• Producing (or assisting in the production of) internal marketing activities for the agency, including website and newsletter copy and online events.

General duties

• Working with colleagues to maintain a spirit of creative collaboration across the disciplines working in digital communications and to develop new products and services that the agency can offer its clients.
• Keeping up with and sharing current trends and innovations in content design and production, and learning new skills and contributing to new product development.
• Representing the agency at events, writing blog posts and articles and taking other opportunities to communicate our mission and approach.

About us

We’re a design and digital communications agency focused on ideas that matter. We work with many of the world’s leading charities, NGOs and research organisations. Our main services include publication design, digital design and development, branding, information design, and film and animation.

We are a flexible and fair employer and our values run through everything we do, from the clients we work with to the way we treat our staff.

We are a close-knit, hard-working and ambitious agency with a growing roster of clients around the world. We have an informal all-agency meeting via video conference each week and there’s a calendar of staff events across the year, including a summer picnic and Christmas walk.

We are serious about work-life balance. Full-time employees have generous vacation allowances and we expect everyone to use every day of it. Overtime is rare, voluntary, and compensated with time off later.

We are an international agency, with two studios in the UK—one with stunning views over the City and East End in Whitechapel, and the other on the banks of the Avon in the centre of Bath—and offices in Berlin and Washington DC. Our DC team will remain work-from-home through 2021 but will be returning to a studio post-pandemic.

How to apply

Email your resume and a cover letter to jobs@designbysoapbox.com