Communications and Digital Engagement Associate

Position Type: Part-Time; 1-Year Contract, 1-3 Days/Week
Salary: $30-$40/hour, commensurate with qualifications and experience
Location: York University, Toronto, Ontario

As YouthREX’s Communications and Digital Engagement Associate, you’ll play a critical role in implementing our overall communications strategy and our social media engagement to support YouthREX’s vision of facilitating shared knowledge for better youth outcomes! The position requires an interest in youth wellbeing, passion about equity, accessible communication for youth sector stakeholders and an understanding and acknowledgment of the complexities of the youth sector.

You’ll lead YouthREX’s social media activities and digital storytelling to bring YouthREX’s work to life in innovative and engaging ways through different communication media (videos, podcasts, data visualization and infographics, writing, photos, etc.). You will ensure that all content aligns with YouthREX’s voice/tone and communications/branding style.

You’ll also actively contribute to the animation of the Virtual Café by YouthREX, which hosts our online Communities of Practice. You will use additional platforms for targeted promotion and outreach, and support YouthREX’s knowledge mobilization activities, particularly as these relate to the sharing of resources from YouthREX’s Knowledge Hub and The Kit for Centering Black Youth Wellbeing.

This role requires having a finger on the pulse of Ontario’s youth sector while using your communications and digital engagement skills to amplify YouthREX’s initiatives to our stakeholders – and beyond! This position also requires lots of multi-tasking, initiative and creative collaboration with team members.

We are looking for someone who is excited at the thought of being part of a small but mighty team that straddles community and academia.

This position reports directly to the Managing Director.

Required Experience, Education & Skills

• Post-secondary education and training in Communications/Marketing/Design (or related field).
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information and translate into materials that are accessible and interesting to a range of stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to foster positive relations and communicate well with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to creatively and efficiently develop content for digital and other communication channels/platforms such as blogs, social media, reports, etc.
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative and be resourceful and creative.
• Experience with and high-level interest in using social media and online platforms, including MailChimp, Later, Threads, Facebook, Instagram, Canva, Visual Composer, LinkedIn, Eventbrite, SurveyMonkey and Zoom, among others.
• Intermediate/advanced proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite, Google Workspace and WordPress.
• Strong understanding of digital analytics, including the ability to collect, analyze and interpret data to guide data-informed decision-making.
• Demonstrated understanding of the barriers and challenges that confront diverse youth with intersecting experiences and identities, including Black and racialized youth, newcomer youth, Indigenous youth, youth living with disabilities, youth in and leaving care, francophone youth, LGBT2SQ+ youth, youth living in rural & remote communities, youth living in poverty and on low incomes and youth in conflict with the law.

Interested and think your experiences and skills make you a good fit for this position? Please send a resume and a cover letter to info@youthrex.com outlining why you are interested in this position and how you meet the criteria above, drawing on specific examples.

Please also enclose sample(s) of your writing and work which are relevant to this position.

You may want to answer the following questions in your cover letter:

1. Explain the most successful social media campaign that you’ve run. What was the goal and how did you meet it?
2. How do you think social media channels can support YouthREX’s mission and values?
3. From a quick look at YouthREX’s social media presence, what is ONE thing we could test that may help with engagement?
4. Beyond social media, what other strategies have you used for targeted promotion/outreach?

Review of applications will begin on Friday, April 4, 2025, and will continue until the position is filled.

We thank all applicants for their interest. We apologize that only those applicants invited for an interview will be contacted.