Communications Specialist

Overview:

• Location: Preferred location in Helena, Montana (MACD Office) or Remote (within Montana).
• Position Type: Permanent, Salaried position (40hr/week) 
• Compensation: Salary $48,000 – $52,000 plus generous benefits
• Application Deadline: September 18th, 2024 
• Anticipated Start Date: October 2024 

This Montana Association of Conservation Districts (MACD) position is part of a statewide effort to serve the interests of Montana’s 58 Conservation Districts. MACD is a nonprofit organization with programs to promote local, common-sense conservation. We are looking for someone to join our team to work on our current communications and technical assistance activities and help us build for the future. The successful applicant will be friendly, confident, detailed oriented, motivated, creative, willing to learn, and skilled with wordpress and other software. This position has room for both growth and creativity, and MACD will provide training opportunities for candidates, both on-the-job and through external training options. 

Core Responsibilities:

Website development and technical support

• Maintain MACD WordPress Multisite: This position will be responsible for managing our wordpress multisite, which includes the MACD website (macdnet.org), associated event and project websites (ex. mtsoilhealth.org), and individual conservation district websites.  Duties include keeping WordPress up-to-date and functioning properly, hosting management, user management, managing plug-ins and domains, and posting content as needed.
• Provide technology-related assistance for local conservation districts: This position will be responsible for helping individual conservation districts through website design, WordPress / website & outreach training, and help using virtual tools such as form builders.
• Administer organization Google Suite, including groups and domains.

Outreach and design

• Graphic design for MACD Annual Report, event programs, and other materials. On an as needed basis, this position will also create templates and materials for use by conservation districts (ex. Templates for brochures, event fliers, social media posts, logos, or other outreach materials) .
• Event support: Provide assistance to MACD for event planning efforts for the MACD Annual Convention in November, Spring Meeting, and fall Area Meetings (i.e. promotional materials, technology, event programs etc)
• Newsletter: Work with the MACD team to curate and disburse the District Dispatch newsletter to MACD membership and partners. This work will also be supported by a full-time AmeriCorps Member. 
• Quarterly Publication: Curation, design, and disbursement of The Montana Conservationist (TMC) online publication on a quarterly basis. The Communications specialist will lead this project with support from an AmeriCorps member, including working with partners and local conservation districts to  identify and write “human-interest’ stories that highlight the role of conservation districts in their communities. 
• Support for MACD Education Work Group: This position will help support MACD Education Work Group, which includes conservation district staff and supervisors, as well as partners. 

Qualifications

• Education:  Bachelor’s degree in communications, writing, art and design, web design, etc. preferred  Equivalent work experience may be considered in lieu of or substitute in part for the bachelor’s degree
• Ability and willingness to work outside of standard office hours (i.e., 8am-5pm) when needed (during events)
• Ability and willingness to travel to events and meetings; Up to 10% of the position is travel-based.  
• A valid motor vehicle driver’s license, which must be maintained during employment. Use of personal vehicles may be required for travel at times, and will be reimbursed for mileage at the current federal rate

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

In general, the Communications Specialist needs to be tech-savvy,  a good writer and communicator, and have a good eye for design. They should be comfortable learning new technologies and be able to then train others to use these technologies as needed.

• Must be a self-starter, have a positive attitude, be teamwork and partnership-driven, and have a solution-oriented mindset. Demonstrate the highest level of professional and personal integrity.
• Ability to plan, organize, define tasks and meet deadlines, providing proven ability to direct organizational efforts to accomplish objectives, programs, and projects within established time frames and budgets.

Software skills:

• WordPress (Multisite knowledge preferred)
• Adobe design suite (Illustrator & InDesign primarily)
• MailChimp
• JotForm
• Asana
• Google Suite
• Familiarity with cPanel hosting
• GIS (preferred but not required)

MACD will provide on-the-job training as well as access to professional training courses as needed.