Job Opportunity: Communications Manager

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University seeks a Communications Manager to join our team. You will direct the Berkman Center’s overall communications strategy, with the goal of increasing the visibility, accessibility, understanding, and reach of the Center and our work and activities.

Working alongside a small team of staff who manage digital media production, special initiatives, events, and community, and in company with the faculty, staff, fellows, alumni, and broader community at Berkman, you will develop and implement a strategic communications plan for the Berkman Center—a high-profile, dynamic, and spirited research center at Harvard University focused on addressing a wide range of the most exciting and pressing issues presented to us by digital and information/communications technologies. You will play a central role in advancing the Center’s mission, “scholarship with impact,” by spearheading communications efforts that better enable us to engage with our existing networks and create bridges to new communities, people, and organizations.

We are an interdisciplinary, multi-modal, and entrepreneurial research center, and our community addresses issues including, but not limited to: Freedom of Expression, Internet Freedom, Youth and Media, Surveillance, Security, Privacy, Open Access, Digital Humanities, Law, Transparency, Information Quality, Journalism and Media, Student Privacy, Innovation, Civic Activity and Engagement, and many more. You should have awareness of key issues and institutions in the Internet & society space, and have the interest and capacity to quickly learn about scholarship and activities in the areas in which you may not be as familiar. You’ll be excited to share our efforts in novel, clear, and innovative ways; use compelling storytelling techniques and tools; incorporate design-thinking and user-centered practices into our work; and consider ways in which the Center can integrate these communications practices into our workflows.

A full position description for the job can be found below and on the Harvard Human Resources website. 

Please note that applications for this job must be submitted through the Harvard Human Resources website, and will not be collected or coordinated directly through the Berkman Center.  Apply here.

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Core Responsibilities Include:

• creating rich and substantive content for the Center’s website and associated web and social media channels;
• coordinating and amplifying research report and other publication releases;
• helping to draft key institutional documents;
• engaging and maintaining relationships with the press, responding to press requests, and connecting the Berkman community with viable media opportunities;
• overseeing our digital media production strategy;
• monitoring communications-related analytics;
• documenting communications operating procedures and guidelines; and
• managing the print production of an array of research and institutional materials, as well as the design and content of Berkman Center informational brochures, letterheads, banners, and fundraising materials.

In addition to the above, you will interface with the Berkman Center’s Geek Team regarding technical aspects of communications-related projects, including:

• coordinating website design and functionality updates;
• overseeing email distribution list upgrades;
• guiding content management system use and training;
• developing in-house contact management tools;
• managing communications data; and
• other technology related issues.  

You will work closely with a significant cross-section of Berkman community members, and will thrive in a committed, collaborative, and tight-knit environment that encourages creativity and humor, supports deep inquiry, values unique approaches to solving problems, strives for transparency, continually builds upon best practices and lessons learned, and supports its community members’ independent and collective goals.

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree required, along with at least 5+ years of related professional experience.

Additional Qualifications:

• Superior written and verbal communications skills;
• experience with developing new uses, strategies, and tools for digital storytelling and data visualization and presentation;
• a facility with various tools of digital technology and communications, including content management systems such as Wordpress and Drupal; design and edit