Communications Associate (Internship)  

Communications Associate (Internship) – San Francisco

Overview

Location: Swissnex in San Francisco

Status: Full-time, 40 hours/week

Start Date: July 1, 2024

Duration: 12 months

Reports to: Senior Communications Manager

About Swissnex

Swissnex is the Swiss global network connecting the dots in education, research, and innovation. The Swissnex global network consists of six locations and outposts established in the world’s most innovative hubs. We contribute to strengthening Switzerland’s profile as a world-leading innovation hotspot.  Located at Pier 17, Swissnex in San Francisco connects the dots between Switzerland and the West Coast of the USA in education, research, innovation, and the arts. We foster international collaboration and empower next generation innovators to create futures in which the planet and society thrives. In service of this goal, our dynamic and international team produces academic, corporate and creative industry programs, startup bootcamps, events and much more.  Our work space is shared with corporate innovators, researchers, artists, and entrepreneurs, and is connected to an event space and our digital community. We work collaboratively and in a complementary manner with our neighbors at Pier 17, the Consulate General, the Swiss Business Hub USA, and Switzerland Tourism.

Position Summary

The Communications Associate is a flexible individual who is excited to be a part of our innovative communications team, and able to respond to requests and adapt as needed to new and changing responsibilities.  The Communications Associate will play a crucial role in communicating about our events and programs, which include the Startup Bootcamp, the Science Communication Bootcamp, the Global Game Developers Conference, and all the events. The Associate will also play a key role working at the intersection between the communications and the program teams.  This internship offers unique exposure to international experts and thought-leaders from a variety of fields and the possibility to learn hands-on about event, conference and activity communications. The Communications Associate will learn hands-on about communications, social media, marketing, PR/Press, and content production and works closely with the Senior Communications Manager and the direction of the Head of Communications.  As part of a small team with a bottom-up, informal culture, the Communications Associate can shape communications and content production and outcomes, and learn with and from colleagues, partners and stakeholders, and build their own professional network within Silicon Valley’s innovation ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

Event & Programs Communications (60%)

• Create content to support and promote our activities and programs on all available communication channels
• Support in setting up communication plans for programs, attend internal programs meetings, and participate in project meetings when required
• Support the Communications Team to produce content such as videos, reels, and photography either in-house or with external partners
• Support with the communications deliverables related to partner contracts, including the Science Communication Bootcamp or the Game Developers Conference
• Support marketing outreach for public events
• Attend day and evening events each month to cover communications tasks such as social media
• Send and manage follow-up communication with attendees after events

General Swissnex Communications (30%)

• Plan, write and publish relevant copy for social media, mostly LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and X, formerly known as Twitter
• Plan, record, edit, publish and promote podcast episodes. Experience is a plus, but not mandatory
• Oversee the dialogue and engage with our community on social media
• Assist in growing our channels and communities across all channels with creative ideas
• Upload, promote, and manage job listings on several different channels
• Manage partner communications and content
• Draft, proof-read, and publish content for our newsletters, our website and other channels
• Review and analyze communications data, make suggestions to improve future communication plans and adjust content as needed
• Contribute to blog posts and other content pieces around trends and Swissnex’s foresight activities • Support us in growing our channels and communities across all channels with creative ideas

Operational support, special projects, and other duties (10%) •

• To be determined according to organizational needs and, where possible, the candidate’s interests and abilities