Communications and Outreach Associate

Title: Communications and Outreach Associate  

Department: Maine Sea Grant College Program 

Reports To: Communications Manager 

Purpose: The Communications and Outreach Associate will support the Communications Manager and the Maine Sea Grant Team in creating and distributing communications products for both general and targeted audiences. The position will work closely with the Communications Manager to develop and implement the Maine Sea Grant communications strategies. They will also support Maine Sea Grant extension staff, students, and researchers to develop and implement storytelling strategies for projects and programs that target diverse audiences in Maine and beyond. Typical hiring salary for this soft-money funded position is up to $60,000 commensurate with qualifications and experience. 

Essential Duties/Responsibilities: 

• Write, edit, design, produce, and distribute brochures, fact sheets, news features, educational materials, white papers, press releases, and other outreach content. 
• Maintain the Maine Sea Grant website, including taking the lead on the website’s technical maintenance, and working collaboratively with the Sea Grant team to maintain website content.
• Develop, write, and produce quarterly program newsletters and periodic updates.
• Create and implement social media campaigns and content. 
• Fact-check and proofread communications products. 
• Represent Maine Sea Grant at events such as meetings, conferences and marine festivals, to help with tabling, photographing, taking notes, recording, producing social media posts, and other needs. 
• Support extension staff in developing and implementing project-related and/or audience-specific communications strategies and products. 
• Work with funded researchers and students to develop communications strategies and produce communications products about their work. 
• Research and write articles for print and digital media. 
• Stay up to date on current and emerging outreach and media platforms. 
• Perform other reasonably related tasks as assigned. 

Knowledge and Skills Qualifications: 

Required:  

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, business, journalism, or a related.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills. 
• Strong interpersonal and public outreach and engagement skills. 
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to multitask while staying on deadline.
• Demonstrated proficiency in a diversity of communications skills including (but not limited to): writing, copyediting, social media campaigns, graphic design, and website maintenance.
• Proficiency in the use of the Google Suite of products, social media management systems (ex: Hootsuite), website content management systems (ex: Wordpress), e-news platforms (ex: Mailchimp), event management platforms (ex: Eventbrite), and the Adobe Creative Suite. 
• Proficiency with graphic design (InDesign, Canva), web content management systems (Drupal, Squarespace), and/or data visualization (ArcGIS, ESRI StoryMaps). 
• Experience managing social media accounts, particularly Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube, and LinkedIn. 
• Experience implementing tools and strategies to interpret and communicate complex information to diverse audiences. 
• Ability to travel to meet with researchers and attend periodic meetings and events. 

Preferred:  

• Experience writing for a variety of print and digital media. 
• Strong background or interest in marine-related topics. 
• Professional experience with web and social media. 
• Experience using analytics (ex: Google analytics, Facebook Insights, Twitter analytics, etc.) to evaluate communications project outcomes or reassess communications strategies.
• Ability to interview people and synthesize material into a print or digital story.
• Experience making web updates. 
• Experience using photo editing software to process and resize photos. 

Position Type: Soft-money appointment, annual renewal contingent on funding. 

Work Environment/ Dynamics: This position is based at the University of Maine in Orono or one of Maine Sea Grant’s off campus locations and involves some travel throughout the state and region to meet with other Sea Grant staff and collaborators on projects and to attend conferences and workshops.  

Work Year: Full-time, fiscal year.