Communications Manager, Opportunity For All Youth
- Job Type
- Contract / Full Time
- Job Level
- Experienced (non manager)
- Location
- Toronto, ON
- Impact Area
- Economic Development
- Impact Category
- Nonprofit
- Company Type
- Nonprofit
About this position
About MaRS
MaRS Discovery District (@MaRSDD) in Toronto is one of the world’s largest urban innovation hubs. MaRS supports promising young ventures tackling key societal challenges in the Health, Energy & Environment, Work & Learning and Finance & Commerce sectors. In addition to helping startups launch, grow and scale, the MaRS community is dedicated to cross-disciplinary collaboration, commercialization of discoveries and driving ideas to impact.
About Opportunity For All Youth
Opportunity For All Youth (O4AY) is a coalition of employers coming together to fundamentally improve opportunities for vulnerable youth by setting a collective goal of providing meaningful employment and job training to 40,000 Canadians aged 16-29 who face barriers to entering the workforce.
Such a goal requires a collective effort, at a national scale, of committed employers working closely with community employment agencies, governments and foundations on hiring, retention and progression of youth who are job-ready but who lack opportunity.
O4AY is an employer-led, national effort to hire this population of youth by learning together, scaling what works, piloting new approaches, sharing this with other employers and growing the movement. Closing the opportunity divide creates pathways for youth who face barriers to entering the workforce, while meeting critical business needs and strengthening our economy.
Please note, this is a 1-year fixed-term contract.
What you’ll be doing
This is a one-year full-time contract position. Reporting to the Lead Executive, Opportunity For All Youth, the Communications Manager will lead and support all the O4AY communications initiatives which will include:
- Developing and coordinating the execution of a communications strategy, including social media, press and the O4AY website
- Creating digital content for the O4AY website
- Coordinating press releases, media appearances, photography and video for all O4AY events
- Working closely with the Communications teams of the different O4AY coalition employers to ensure that their Communications objective are met
- Producing marketing collateral for O4AY for business development purposes
- Producing collateral for O4AY coalition employers for them to use internally at their own organizations
- Coordinating the production of video on an ongoing basis to document the work of O4AY
- Report writing, preparing conference presentations, writing op-eds etc
Educational/Technical Requirements
- Post-secondary marketing/communications degree or marketing/advertising certificate combined with relevant work experience
- 3 - 5 years of professional communications experience, agency experience is an asset
- Experience developing strategy and content for multiple social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.).
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English are essential
- Ability to work in French is an asset
Personal Requirements
- Professional manner, excellent written and verbal skills essential
- Time and project management skills essential
- Takes actions independently or in conjunction with others, as appropriate
- Problem solving – can juggle multiple projects and conflicting priorities with ease
- Strong collaborative personal style
- Highly attentive to details
- Ability to take initiative and work independently but also collaboratively with senior staff and partner institutions
Working conditions
General office environment with operating business hours of 8:30am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
- Open-concept office environment.
- Typical operating business hours of 8:30am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Canada.
MaRS Discovery District is committed to diversity and encourages applications from all qualified candidates, including aboriginal persons, francophones, members of sexual minority groups, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and women. We will provide any requested accommodation to candidates with disabilities throughout the recruitment process.
About us
Based in Toronto’s Discovery District, MaRS is the world’s largest urban innovation hub.
Focusing on four key sectors – health, energy & environment, finance & commerce and work & learning – MaRS supports more than 1,000 ventures that are striving to make the world a better place. MaRS provides these ventures with expert advice, and connects them to capital, talent and new markets to accelerate their growth and scale up their impact.
MaRS is also home to cutting-edge research institutes advancing knowledge in areas like healthcare and artificial intelligence, as well as the Canadian offices for several globally leading tech companies like Facebook, PayPal, Autodesk and Airbnb.
Our Impact
MaRS supports scaling ventures that create jobs, increase prosperity and help tackle important societal issues like climate change or rising healthcare costs.
MaRS has also been instrumental in growing Canada’s market for socially conscious investments through its Centre for Impact Investing and SVX online investing platform.
On the capital side, MaRS manages a fund (MaRS Catalyst Fund) that invests in companies creating positive social or environmental change, and also manages the StandUp Ventures fund, which invests in women-led tech startups.
What it's like to work here
The MaRS Centre is a vibrant, architecturally inspiring innovation hub. It draws 6,000 researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs to work each day at a diverse, curated tenant mix of startups, scaleups and multinational high-tech companies in the building.
MaRS itself is a lean organization with a flat management structure. Dedicated to supporting startups, the culture is entrepreneurial and employees are encouraged to find unique solutions to problems. Teams tend to be small and responsible for the full lifecycle of a project, from ideation and design to development and rollout.
MaRS employees enjoy extras, such as:
i. Access to a wide range of tech industry events that take place in the MaRS Centre, such as the MaRS Mornings entrepreneur talks.
ii. An active social committee that organizes regular events, “serendipity coffees” to meet members of other teams, a summer games tournament, team-building outings and summer golf day.
iii. MaRS softball team, free weekly yoga in the atrium, and discounted gym memberships
iv. Indoor bike parking and showers
Career Growth Opportunities
Career growth at MaRS is fostered by the breadth of experiences and educational opportunities available to employees, as well as exposure to startups, entrepreneurs and diverse networks. Personal development opportunities set the foundation for a successful career within and beyond the organization.
For employees at an earlier stage in their career, the innovation ecosystem and entrepreneurial environment offer opportunities to develop expertise in some of the most important sectors of the economy.
What We Look For When Hiring
MaRS seeks candidates who have an entrepreneurial spirit, who are collaborative and team-oriented and share a passion for innovation and MaRS’ mission.
Candidates should be motivated by the prospect of continuous learning, improving their skills and being given the responsibility to manage projects and find novel solutions to problems.
MaRS looks for people whose unique personal experiences and background can add to its culture of innovation.
Application instructions
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