Social Media Specialist

Northwest Maritime is hiring an energetic and inventive Social Media Specialist to lead social channels across an organization built on adventure, education, and community.

You’ll be responsible for all social channels across Northwest Maritime and our collection of activities and projects, telling the story of an organization that not only runs annual races, festivals, and education programs, but also stewards a year-round maritime community both in person and online.

There’s huge creative range and real responsibility in this role as we continue to scale our efforts regionally and nationally. You’ll help represent Northwest Maritime to sponsors, partners, donors, volunteers, media, and participants, and work as an integrated member of the Communications team. Your role will balance storytelling and accuracy, spontaneity and strategy, with heart and snark in equal measures.

This role calls for someone who can work in a flexible environment and be ready to go where the story is, on the water, at events, or behind a desk. Some days will be planned. Many won’t. You’ll be joining us at a fast-moving moment. Your first stretch will include the Race to Alaska, a race that doesn’t care about your schedule or your content calendar. It unfolds in real time and asks a lot of the people documenting it.

If this sounds like your kind of work, you’ll know.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage social media channels, schedule, and content generation for Northwest Maritime and related brands, including R2AK, Wooden Boat Festival, Swan Hotel, and others, under the leadership of the Communications Director
• Work with Communications Director, department managers, and Communications team to develop and execute social media strategies that promote brand awareness, drive participation in classes and events, engage followers with our mission, and grow our audiences
• Generate and post compelling multimedia content for websites and social media—including written word, video, and photography—to tell the NWM story and achieve business goals
• Manage social media ads, including building target audiences and working within advertising budgets to grow audiences, and drive ticket sales and class registrations
• Monitor social media account activity and respond to comments and messages in a timely fashion
• Aggregate relevant content and stories from program participants, race teams, boaters, photographers, industry professionals, etc., for reposting and sharing to our accounts
• Work with Communications team and department managers to plan and execute “Race on” and “Festival on” social media strategies for the annual races and Wooden Boat Festival. This may involve being embedded with the media team during the Race to Alaska and SEVENTY48, and may involve evening and weekend work during event periods
• Fulfill social media requirements for event sponsorships
• Work with the Communications team on other projects as needed, which may include blast emails, copywriting, copyediting, graphic design, etc.
• Other duties as assigned

GENERAL OPERATIONS

While the primary focus of this position is social media communications, the Social Media Specialist works as part of the entire NWM team, ensuring smooth operations. As a growing non-profit, we all pitch in for the heavy lifting, whether it's participating in all-hands projects and events, assisting visitors, or occasionally doing some literal heavy lifting. Our working style is professional with personality. And our team brings their best self to create a welcoming environment.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• 2+ years managing organizational (business or nonprofit) social media accounts—at minimum Facebook and Instagram
• Excellent storytelling skills and demonstrated ability to capture the heart and energy of community-driven initiatives via photo, video, and written word
• Solid understanding of social media algorithms, trends, and social media ad purchases
• Excellent copywriting skills and ability to match various brand voices and graphic standards
• Photography & videography skills relevant for social media
• Video editing skills (beginner-intermediate is great; advanced is even better)
• Demonstrated ability to multitask and set priorities
• Demonstrated experience working as part of a creative team

HELPFUL QUALIFICATIONS

• Love being on the water
• Maritime knowledge and/or understanding of boating culture
• Graphic design skills
• Familiarity with WordPress
• Experience with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign
• Not afraid to stretch their copywriting skills and be a bit snarky

NWM is committed to equal employment opportunity, striving towards being an antiracist and inclusive organization. We value the diversity of our staff and the communities that we serve, which includes a spectrum of racial, cultural, religious, sexual and gender identities, and abilities. We strongly encourage applications from people who have not seen themselves represented in the industry.

• 100% company paid Health, Dental, Vision, and Life insurance + contributions to HSA account
• Matching contributions to a SIMPLE IRA retirement fund after 1 year of employment
• Paid time off: accrues 2 weeks of vacation per year, 17 paid holidays in a calendar year, & 1 hour of sick time accrued for every 25 hours worked
• Flexible schedule & employee discounts
• Full details on benefits