Communications Director, Strive Community

This is an exciting opportunity to lead communications for a large philanthropic program of one of the world's biggest brands. Not only that, the program is focused on one of the most pertinent and impactful topics of our time - how to support small businesses, which are the bedrock of our communities and vital engines of job creation and inclusive growth. We're looking for someone who can truly take pragmatic leadership and ownership over how the program shows up on digital platforms and in the media, while balancing this with close collaboration with the teams at Mastercard, engagement with our grantees and partners, and mindfulness towards budget. It's a unique challenge, working with an awesome team, stellar partners, and dynamic and technical subject matter. 

This position is fully remote but we would prefer that candidates are based on GMT +/- 3 hours to enable better collaboration with our team.

Deadline for applications: 24th May, 2023

Caribou Digital is a research and advisory firm that helps clients change the world through building inclusive and ethical digital economies. We work across a range of sectors and businesses, from startup financing to data analytics, to financial inclusion and the use of space for development, to ensure our clients lead the field in the use of technology to deliver equitable and sustainable development. In collaboration with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, we run Strive Community.

Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees are vital engines of economic resilience and growth. They contribute to GDP, spark innovative technologies and business models, and create 23% of jobs globally (70% in emerging markets). As economies grapple with the downturn caused by COVID-19, the world needs these small businesses to survive and thrive, now more than ever.

Strive Community is a global initiative which aims to empower 5 million small businesses around the world to survive and grow by going digital. We award grants to best-in-class organizations which deliver the most innovative data and digital-first solutions to enable small companies to digitize business operations, access digital financial services and engage in digital markets. We also partner with some of the most transformative digital platforms globally (e-commerce and ride hailing companies, social media platforms, mobile network operators, fintechs, etc) to extend these solutions to the small businesses which have the greatest potential to use them to catalyze their growth. We have funded 18 grantees to design and deliver programs across 15 countries, and are looking to grow our portfolio further in 2023. In addition to our grant making, a central pillar of our work is to build community between organizations that support small businesses, including our portfolio and beyond. Building community is a really vital part of our program that relies on our digital communications efforts, which is why this is such a critical and pivotal role for our team.

Period: Immediate - March 31, 2025, with potential to extend

1. Leading communications strategy:

• Thinking proactively about the strategic communications priorities for the program, socializing strategic plans with the Strive team and Mastercard, soliciting feedback, and securing buy-in
• Turning strategic priorities into implementation plans for the Strive team, and digital and media agencies
• Understanding deeply (over time) the technical subject matter of the program, in order to inform how the program should show up, online and in media
• Developing campaigns and media moments around each Strive program announcement, to generate increased awareness and community around the program, and create an overall narrative for the program that meaningfully engages with our target audience

2. Input into overall program strategy:

• Supporting senior leadership and the technical team on defining and executing the strategy and priorities for the program as a whole; you'll be at the forefront of communicating with our direct stakeholders, so you'll have your finger on the pulse about which organizations are doing what, and where collaboration opportunities lie
• Keeping community building and influence central to our program strategy

3. Liaison with Mastercard:

• Lead all communications discussions with senior leadership at Mastercard, including the founder and CEO of the Center for Inclusive Growth (CFIG) and senior members of the CFIG communications teams.
• Socialize suggested communications strategy with the Mastercard teams and secure their buy in
• Lead Strive's weekly editorial meeting
• Lead Strive's monthly comms strategy meeting

4. Liaison with digital and media agencies: 

• Selecting and managing digital and media agencies, within budget
• Liaise with the media team, particularly on campaigns and announcements
• Build strategies to ensure that Caribou Digital and Mastercard stakeholders are effective ambassadors of the program

5. Liaison with partners and grantees

• Lead strategic objectives for partner and grantee communications
• Follow grantee and partner comms to better understand how the program can be positioned within their programs, and ensure that they are adhering to Strive brand guidelines and positioning when they are posting about our programs
• Define and oversee creatives requests and deliverables
• Define the approach to program announcements, ensuring that we go beyond the press-release, and are engaging in effective storytelling to articulate our programs

6. Digital channel management:

• Manage the editorial calendar, overseeing quarterly communications and content deliverables
• Update website content as needed
• Anticipate and define website dev needs and work with the web development team to execute
• Manage LinkedIn content pipeline (~5 posts per week)
• Craft monthly newsletter content
• Collaborate on blog schedule 
• Community management online, including social listening and engagement
• Build audience via organic and paid campaigns and an effective SEO strategy
• Ensure that the stakeholder list is up-to-date and well-defined

7. Content creation: 

• Drafting technically accurate LinkedIn posts, articles, blogs and newsletters
• Engagement in meaningful community management, representing the programs in online discussion groups
• Supporting the creation of press releases 
• Creation of web copy

8. Team collaboration in all directions:

• Managing and coaching one direct report to support on the execution of this role
• Working super collaboratively with a highly skilled team

9. Analytics & reporting:

• Fluency in digital marketing analytics to ensure that decision-making is always data-driven
• Ownership of quarterly report, using a predefined format, presenting analysis on the previous quarter and outlining next steps 

• 10+ years of experience in impact-driven communications roles in similar fields, such as international development, digital economy, tech
• This role is fully remote, with 2 - 3 in-person meet ups per year, so the candidate must be self-motivated and able to effectively build team relationships remotely
• The candidate can be based in any location on timezones +/- 3 hours of GMT, as this requires very close collaboration with team members in these time zones
• Able to quickly grasp technical subject matter in order to meaningfully contribute to strategy and take on content creation responsibilities
• Proactive to a fault and an “everything now” approach to both tactics and strategy - if you see a LinkedIn post that's wrong - fix it today and also establish the processes to ensure it doesn't happen again
• Experience in both media and digital strategy and execution
• Experience managing large global brands and bureaucratic processes
• Professional manner that is able to build trust with senior stakeholders
• Strong analytical thinker, able to analyse data and use it effectively for decision-making
• Overseas experience is an advantage
• Willing to roll up your sleeves and engage in both strategic and tactical tasks. Able to put together a strategy deck for senior leaders, and also willing to draft LinkedIn posts. 
• Experienced at and passionate about growing people's skills