The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority seeks a skilled Communications Coordinator to tell the story of conservation in the Santa Clara Valley and to support the Authority’s communications and media program.

Our mission is to conserve the natural environment, support agriculture, and connect people to nature by protecting open spaces, natural areas, and working farms and ranches for future generations. Since 1993 the Open Space Authority has protected almost 30,000 acres of natural and working lands across the Santa Clara Valley. Our agency manages and conserves a network of open space lands and natural resources, while providing compatible opportunities for hiking, biking, and equestrian uses, with a focus on increasing equity of access to the outdoors for all our constituents.

We know our continued success depends on our employees and the work they do. We are committed to providing a collaborative and inclusive work environment that encourages growth and development; and acknowledges individual and team achievements.

The Ideal Candidate

You have a passion for storytelling, for delivering excellence, and you want to help protect and preserve open space lands. You are skilled at cultivating ongoing relationships with colleagues and partners across all departments to communicate their initiatives and accomplishments at the Authority to a variety of audiences, from the general public to more topically informed audiences.

You are a skilled writer and storyteller who can creatively integrate research and narrative to engage the reader and convey the value of the Authority’s work. You are experienced with writing for a variety of platforms such as websites, newsletters, social media and print collateral, and possess a dynamic writing style that you can draw from in this creative position.

You are excited by the opportunity to work on the implementation of the Authority’s audience engagement plan, to innovate how the Authority communicates with the diverse communities we serve. Your professional strengths include attention to detail and the ability to track multiple projects across multiple deadlines. With a helpful nature and positive attitude your team can rely on you to provide consistent support for tasks such as meeting coordination, database management, website updates and collateral inventory tracking.

Please review the complete position classification here: https://bit.ly/3QbVcrb

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will possess any combination of training and experience that would provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities. A typical way to obtain the required qualifications would be:

• Minimum of two years of college-level coursework and two year’s working experience in communications, journalism, public relations, environmental education or related fields. Bachelor’s degree highly desired.
• Excellent writer and storyteller demonstrated across multiple platforms.
• Excellent grammar, spelling, and proofreading skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Word and Outlook.
• Familiarity with Adobe Suite and Canva is highly desired.
• Experience working in database systems, such as a CRM.
• Multi-lingual skills in a language represented in the Authority’s jurisdiction is a plus (e.g. Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Korean)

Note: This position is required to take and pass a pre-employment background check.

If you are excited by the opportunities and challenges offered in this position, we encourage you to apply, even if your experience is non-typical or if you are not sure you meet every one of the qualifications described.

Compensation & Benefits

The salary range for this full-time, non-exempt position is $39.43 to $47.93 hourly, depending on experience and qualifications. To complement this salary, we offer a robust benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their dependents – we cover 100% of the cost for these premiums. We participate in CalPERS retirement programs as well as offering a separate 457 Plan for tax deferred retirement savings. A basic life insurance policy is provided to all eligible employees with the option to purchase additional personal insurance benefits. The Authority supports a hybrid workplace and this position may be afforded opportunities for remote work.

Application and Selection

All application materials must be received prior to May 20, 2024, at 5:00 PM. To be considered for this opportunity, submit your application materials including cover letter and a self-prepared resume at the application link provided below. The Open Space Authority utilizes a robust process that will ask qualified candidates to engage in multiple steps leading up to a final panel interview. We encourage applicants to closely monitor email communication from the Authority’s hiring team. Final panel interviews are tentatively set for the week of June 3, 2024.

Workplace Culture Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority

The staff of the Open Space Authority are passionate about conservation and driven to make an impact in the community through their work. Everyone brings a unique skillset to their role and the creative collaboration of all staff maximizes talent to realize the Authority's mission. We have established values and defined supporting behaviors that are shared and demonstrated by every employee at the Authority. Together all of these reflect the culture that makes the Authority the high performing agency that it is. We are Intentional, Respectful, Accountable, Empowering, Innovative, Collaborative, and Inclusive. You can learn more about the staff of the Authority and how everyone works together on our website here.
The Open Space Authority envisions the Santa Clara Valley as a region dense with beautiful natural areas, where a vibrant network of interconnected open spaces, trails, wildlife habitats, and thriving agricultural lands enrich our communities. Learn more about the Authority tackles these goals.

The Authority values Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Access in our work to preserve the natural environment, support agriculture, and connect people to nature:

• We have Accessible, Collaborative, and Accountable processes to engage the diverse communities we serve in our programs, projects, careers, and governance opportunities.
• We have Respect for the land and all people in our community.
• We are Inclusive and acknowledge current and historic land stewards.
• We Empower future generations of conservation leaders.
• We invite everyone to join and connect to nature with us.