Communications Manager & Digital Media Specialist

Special instructions to Applicants: All interested applicants should attach a resume, cover letter, and portfolios for both written and visual projects (e.g. social media designs, reels, and short videos) in the Supporting Documents section of the application, preferably in a PDF format to avoid any formatting issues.

About Rice:

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Rice University is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio, and a residential college system, which supports students intellectually, emotionally and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lectures series, courses and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice’s culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name — RICE — Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence.

 Position Summary

The Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies (Rice360), a multi-disciplinary institute at Rice University, is a leader in global health technology education, research, and implementation, with a distinctive focus on experiential and problem-based learning. Rice360 develops highly effective, low-cost healthcare solutions addressing critical healthcare needs in underserved communities and educates a cadre of future leaders to continue to innovate and implement solutions. Rice360 works closely with partners in underserved communities throughout the world, including low- and middle-income countries and the United States. Rice360 is a co-founding member of the Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies (NEST360) alliance. The NEST360 alliance is working with African governments to transform hospital newborn care by installing a bundle of rugged devices, educating clinicians to use devices and biomedical engineers to maintain them, and implementing locally-owned data dashboards to drive uptake and quality. NEST360 Phase 2 focuses on scaling up collaboration with governments to develop resources and integrate evidence-based solutions into local hospitals and national policies. 

Rice360 is seeking a communications manager and digital media specialist to develop and implement large and complex communications and marketing activities for Rice360 education programs, events, and/or research projects to meet organizational objectives. This position, at the direction of the Rice360 co-directors, will report to the executive director and work closely with the institute’s senior leadership to enact the institute’s day-to-day marketing, public relations, and social and digital media activities to achieve communications and outreach goals. S/he will develop and implement a comprehensive social media strategy, conceptualizing and producing multimedia content and branded visual assets that align with organizational goals and key messages. S/he will also maintain and revise the suite of Rice360 websites. 

The ideal candidate should have extensive skills and experience in managing communication and marketing campaigns, including strategic messaging, branding, graphic design, public relations, editorials, and social and digital media.  S/he has the ability to drive communications initiatives in an organized and collaborative manner, as well as excellent written and oral communication skills and demonstrated creativity. S/he has experience supporting the communications for grant-funded programs/projects within a research university and/or international development environment. They also have experience working in a multi-cultural environment, demonstrated sensitivity to low-resource settings, and are passionate about applying their marketing, digital communications and media expertise to advance innovation for healthcare access in underserved communities.

Workplace Requirements

This is a full-time position (Monday-Friday 8am–5pm) based in Houston, TX, with occasional early morning, evening, or weekend work required to accommodate important meetings with teams across sub-Saharan Africa, in the US, and the UK. Per Rice policy 440, work arrangements may be subject to change.

Hiring Range: $62,000 - $68,000/year, contingent upon qualifications and experience. 

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