Communications Lead

Purpose of the job

Reporting to the CEO, the Communications Manager will develop a strategy for communications and stakeholder relations. The ideal candidate is a creative communicator, content producer, and storyteller with demonstrated experience with science communications. You know how to take a complex technical topic and make it accessible to many audiences in different fields.

In the first year, the Communications Manager will:

• Develop a plan for creating and disseminating content relevant to Conscience stakeholders through the website and social media. Outputs should include original content such as blog posts, video, podcasts, graphics, or other promotional content, featured or co-written articles and posts, announcements of Conscience events and data releases.

• Work with the Conscience team to understand their ongoing projects and design and plan communications pushes around key milestones

• Conduct audience engagement research to set targets and plan for future communications strategies.

Responsibilities

• Plan, develop, execute, and track communications & marketing strategy.

• Oversee and execute the development of engaging content for various internal and external communication channels including the company website and social media.

• Use social media channels (eg, LinkedIn, other) to grow and engage a community of industry and academic scientists, open science and drug development organizations, research funders and philanthropy organizations, patients and patient organizations, community supporters, and government policy makers.

• Develop a strategy and lead its implementation for opportunities to enhance the organization’s visibility and profile with key audiences

• Lead content creation for the Conscience website, including making sure we meet our organizational obligations to have high-quality french translations of key content

• Maintain and execute an editorial calendar for newsletters and other digital communications.

Qualifications & Skills

• 3+ years experience in Communications/PR, including demonstrated expertise communicating on technical or scientific topics

• Degree or diploma in Marketing, Communications, or related field, or equivalent experience

• Experience developing and executing strategic communications initiatives and digital marketing plans

• Proficient writer, both creatively and technically

• Some content production experience, such as audio or video editing, or graphic design

• Strong organizational and project management skills with ability to prioritize and manage expectations across multiple projects

• Experience with Google Workplace, Wordpress, basic graphic design (e.g., Canva), professional social media accounts.

• Detail-oriented with excellent follow-through skills

• A keen eye for visual communications and branding

• Interest in emerging technologies, open science and radical collaboration, & AI

• Fluent in English, proficiency in French (written and spoken) an advantage

Job environment

Our team works virtually in a hybrid environment built around daily Slack, Zoom, collaborative docs, and email, along with structured in-person time as needed (regular staff retreats, working meetings). We do not have a central office, though eventually we may add that as part of our work environment. We provide every employee with the essential work tools like a laptop, headset, etc. Hybrid work allows for some work hour flexibility, which is helpful when managing life commitments and family. Most roles include some travel as needed.

While we’re legally based in Canada, our approach to drug discovery and science is global. We believe that collaboration can happen in every corner of the world, from the most established leaders to also the most unlikely of partners. With that in mind, we invite candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences, including those from historically marginalized or underestimated groups — women, indigenous people, people with disabilities, people of colour, formerly incarcerated people, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or gender nonconforming, first and second generation immigrants, and people from low-income families. A diversity of lived experiences makes our work, and our network community, stronger.

Salary and benefits

The salary range for this position is $70,000 to $90,000 CAD, to be determined by the successful candidate’s relevant skills, training, and experience. In addition, we offer a competitive benefits package that includes enhanced medical, pharmacare, dental, and disability coverage, along with annual matched RRSP contributions. We provide a minimum of 4 weeks paid vacation annually, plus flexible work hours, as part of a hybrid work environment.

About Conscience

Conscience is a Canadian non-profit based in Toronto, launched with support from the Structural Genomics Consortium, and a $49M grant from the Canadian government. We narrow in on areas of market failure – places where traditional models have left people behind with few options, and not enough support, like rare diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and pandemic preparedness.

Conscience will focus on two things:

• A global approach to open science that will bring new medicines forward for communities that otherwise would be left behind; and,

• Advancing the infrastructure to make AI a viable tool for drug discovery, using a competitive model that will benchmark predictions in the lab and share data openly.

Together, we think those two things can make medicines more accessible and affordable.

We’re creating incentives to attract attention and investment in neglected areas that often go unnoticed due to market failures. The end result will be more and faster innovation in AI drug discovery, new medicines, and more equitable access to medicines for everyone, across Canada, and around the world.