We’re Hiring: Outreach, Social Impact
An opportunity to catalyze conversations and communities that matter.
We’re building a new kind of product at Medium — one centered around conversation and reaction, where audience engagement is not an afterthought but something inherent to the experience. A place for thoughtful and authentic voices to connect, collide, and converse — through words and images — to build upon, or challenge, our understandings, making us all wiser as a result.
For the past ten years, social networks and internet publishing have seemingly enabled deeper knowledge building than at any other time in history, yet we continue to live in a world awash in mostly broadcast communication. We have been hardwired to deliver messages as far and wide as possible, and subsequently ask “how many [clicks? views? uniques?] did my content get?” In doing so we often fail to see our friends, colleagues, and acquaintances navigating many of the same challenges we face, balancing atop their own tightropes just an arm’s length away from us. It also pushes us to talk past one another with different perspectives, polarizing pretty much every social issue out there.
Meaningfully interacting with one another — beyond broadcasting our own messages in parallel — might help us learn and accomplish more together, especially with matters of nonprofit advocacy, philanthropy, and social impact, across categories. A few examples:
Melinda Gates building on Bono’s Marshall Plan for Africa. Finance reporter Alexis Goldstein responding to former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on student debt. Teachers in Detroit protesting school conditions, garnering national attention. The hunt for a lost boat of 243 refugees. Acumen and Global Health Corps fellows, IDEO, and Village Capital (whose executive director co-published a piece about the “arrogance” of Silicon Valley) all responding to a provocative post on privilege and development.
This isn’t all simply about wisdom. This is also about action, and realizing meaningful, positive change in the world. And where you come in.
We’re looking for someone to join Medium’s Content Development team to grow conversations and communities of impact on the platform across categories like education, global health/development, the new civil rights movement, climate change, transparency, sustainable food systems, health care systems, open science, inclusive entrepreneurship, new approaches to philanthropy, and many more.
Responsibilities
Here’s how you might jump in to help us bring high-impact storytelling to Medium:
- Developing and executing on strategies that galvanize conversations and communities of impact on Medium through a combination of influencer and community outreach (on- and off-platform), editorial, and partnerships.
- Identifying, recruiting, onboarding, and supporting influencers, thought leaders, organizations, and publishers.
- Identifying, launching, and running cause-based, content-driven initiatives.
- Brainstorming and editing stories.
- Working with Content Development (e.g. Politics, Business/Tech, Entertainment, Community, and more) around issues like immigration, criminal justice reform, refugees, diversity in the workplace, and health care.
- Ideating and executing on strategic partnerships with major foundations, nonprofits, and think tanks.
- Creating collateral that articulates a value proposition for these users.
- Hosting events that drive conversations forward (like this or this).
- Attending and/or speaking at major conferences to deliver the Medium message.
- Channeling feedback from users that will guide new feature development.
Qualifications
This is a tricky one. We want to be neither prescriptive nor exhibit hidden biases, and so are welcoming any and all candidates to apply. Truth be told, we need the perspective and leadership of someone who probably looks nothing like anyone here.
Ideal candidate will be T-shaped, with a depth of skill in one area (VIP client service, strategic partnerships, project management, editorial) and an ability to play across other areas. You’ll have excellent writing, editing, communication, and organizational skills. You’ll likely also be good at building coalitions and managing multiple stakeholders, with a strong network in the space to draw upon.
People who thrive at Medium are entrepreneurial, self-directed, adaptable, and able to flourish in ambiguous situations. They can reach up and reach down. They build strong, collaborative relationships with cross-functional teams and leaders.
This position is based in San Francisco, New York, or Washington, D.C.
