Communications Manager

Job Description 

About DAWN

DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada (DAWN) is a feminist cross-disability human rights organization that works to address systems of oppression. DAWN’s mandate is to end the poverty, isolation, discrimination and violence experienced by women and gender-diverse people with disabilities and Deaf people on the gender spectrum living in Canada as well as promote their advancement and inclusion by creating change at a systemic level.

General Expectations of a Manager at DAWN

A manager at DAWN works closely with the Directors’ team as well as coronation and administrative staff to ensure the mission vision and values of the organization are propagated. Day to day this looks like project and people management within the constructs of a Civil Society organization that is dedicated to the advancement. The team at DAWN is collaborative in nature, however, within the organization, a manager is supported by the CEO and Directors’ team while being responsible for the support of coordinators, officers, and the administrative staff. 

Expectations of a Communication Manager at DAWN

Your First 100 days
You will work with the Directors’ team for a comprehensive onboarding. We will give you time to absorb the culture, history and communications needs of DAWN.  

Your First Year 
Your first year at DAWN will be spent creating a communications strategy and best practices for communication at DAWN. Specifically building up our social media presence; supporting the dissemination of research findings; building templates and promotion material. You will also begin to advise on how DAWN should expand its communications team. You will then collaborate with the director’s team in building job posts and hiring 

Your Career at DAWN
DAWN is an organization that values employee retention, There is room to grow on the team, We reward ambition and passion. Further, DAWN Canada has platforms within Government, Academic Research and The Disability Justice Sector, a connection with DAWN Canada promises many opportunities. 

Job Description

 General Communications Duties
•    Develops effective communication strategies in partnership with the Directors’ team; and other staff as related 
•    Work with the Directors’ team to develop and support the communications team 
•    Collaborate with the Directors’ team to develop a communication strategy  
•    Drafts and translates contents;
•    Manages media contact lists by liaising with media and handling requests for interviews;
•    Supports and promotes activities and works with team members to plan;  
•    Leads the development of external communications such as newsletters and press releases.
•    Answers external requests with the support of the team.
•    Events: Organizing and planning for accessibility needs - interpreters, CART translations, liaising with event partners (venues, caterers) 

Social Media and Website
•    Maintains and updates the website regularly;         
•    Manages and monitors our social media presence; this includes but is not limited to making sure we have accounts on all relevant platforms 
•    Designs posts to sustain curiosity, create buzz and facilitate conversation by creating engaging text, image and video content;
•    Measures and reports web traffic and social media;
•    Develops an optimal posting schedule considering web traffic and customer engagement metrics;
•    Designs and implements campaigns such as thematic months or fundraising efforts by organizing activities, setting up tracking systems and reporting.

 Promotional and educational material
•    Creates and curates presentation material such that resources are available should staff need to do a presentation (PowerPoint templates, Boilerplate text, document templates)
•    Prepares and updates educational and promotional materials such as printed and virtual materials, etc.;
•    Supervises the design, translation, printing and updates of publications;
•    Coordinates the communications suppliers (printers, translators, graphic designers, etc.) 

Support 
•    Supports team members to use adequately their work stations by troubleshooting;   
•    Produces webinars for team members and the board;
•    Supports the set-up and the maintenance of the database;      
•    Fixes any technical problem that occurs;         
•    Oversees and communicates with external technical support.
•    Participation in university research committees
•     Make the link between community and university circles
•    Bibliographical collection on the subject of women and girls with disabilities, their multiple experiences
•    Participates in conferences and workshops 
•    Collects information for the newsletter and social media
•    Dissemination - Help to create support for communication/data collection

Other Duties
•    Provides communications support to initiatives and events as needed such as fundraising campaigns, media events, etc.         
•    Processes new members
•    Supports communications to the board and partners’ meetings;
•    Represents DAWN at meetings as assigned

Qualifications 
•    Relevant degree or related experience 
•    Commitment to feminists ideology
•    Strong knowledge or lived experience of disability/disability justice
•    Experience with various forms of written communication (briefs, reports, blogs, social media posts)
•    Knowledge of press releases and media training 
•    Experience with communications-related software 
•    Experience with Alt-text and Accessibility online
•    Able to create an organization-wide communications strategy
•    Comfortable creating work templates (document, slide deck, letterhead)
•    Connected with press and media outlets
•    Bilingual (French/English)

How To Apply
Please submit a pdf of your cover letter and resume by email to: hr@dawncanada.net by July 4, 2022. When creating the pdf, be sure to make your name the file name, SurnameFirstname.pdf. We thank everyone who applies for their interest, but only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

DAWN is an equal opportunity employer.