Community Manager

Status: Full-time salaried exempt (not eligible for overtime), with 90-day introductory period (see details below)

Reports to: Associate Director of Coaching

Location: Remote within USA

Compensation: $85,000 eligible for benefits (see details below)

Job Summary

LION Publishers is looking for a passionate leader who delights in finding creative ways to support community-building among LION members and help members engage with LION membership programs.

The Community Manager leads community-building programs that aim to engage our diverse membership of independent news publishers across the U.S. and Canada. LION members come to us for resources, training and support to grow their business and ensure they can continue to provide critical news and information to their community.

This role owns the execution of LION’s community engagement strategy. You will lead onboarding of new members, the News Entrepreneur Community on Slack, support the Sustainability Awards and other projects that provide members with opportunities to connect with their peers and share ideas, insights, wins and challenges.

You understand that community engagement and membership retention is about building trust, facilitating meaningful connections and articulating the value of our programs to ensure our members can take advantage of everything LION has to offer.

Our ideal candidate has experience developing and executing community engagement programs, which could include trainings, in person events, engagement campaigns or other membership services. We would love it if you have experience in journalism but we will consider candidates who have strong community engagement experience and are willing to learn about the needs of publishers in the local news ecosystem..

Additionally, this role requires strong project management stills and the ability to utilize software like Asana to track activities and ensure deadlines and key deliverables are met for various programs.

LION believes that relevant, accurate and culturally competent local news and information helps people fully engage in civic life, make more informed decisions and better understand the world around them. If you’re interested in helping us make this vision a reality and working in a space of optimism and growth, learn more about the job and how to apply below.

Key Responsibilities

• (65%) Manage LION Community Activities
  • Develop in-person and online groups around member needs, shared interests, communities served and geography
  • Creating learning opportunities (webinars, trainings, etc) for members based on LION’s programming and member feedback
  • Support the LION Sustainability Awards
  • Working collaboratively with the LION team to plan and execute our annual Independent News Sustainability Summit
  • Manage LION’s Community Ambassador Program in the US and support a new Canada Ambassador program
  • Actively facilitate LION’s News Entrepreneur Community on Slack
  • Make recommendations for improving the NEC Slack and other potential activities to build a stronger online community for members
  • Assist in gathering member feedback and make recommendations for changes to address member needs
• (25%) Support LION Coaching Programs
  • Support members participating in the Sustainability 360 pilot and future educational programs
  • Write and schedule member-only emails and other member outreach
  • Write member spotlights and resource posts
  • Contribute to case studies created by the membership team
• (10%) Other duties as assigned
  • This role acts as a backup when the Membership Services Manager in on PTO, responding to member emails and requests and supporting membership operations
  • The role may also occasionally support other membership activities

LION is an Equal Opportunity Employer

LION believes that a team with diversity of backgrounds and experiences will generate the most innovative ideas and ultimately do the best work in support of our mission. This is why we welcome contractors, vendors, staff and board members who contribute to a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment. We understand diversity as multi-dimensional and intersectional, encompassing aspects of our identities including race and ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability, class, geography, lived experiences and more. We welcome and encourage all qualified candidates to apply to opportunities at LION so that we build a team that reflects the diversity of independent news entrepreneurs we wish to serve.

Skills and Qualifications for The Role

• Creative engagement experience: Execute creative, efficient and effective community engagement and outreach strategies to ensure members utilize LION resources and can engage with their peers.
• Empathy-centered facilitator: Facilitate peer-to-peer learning and connections in a way that builds empathy and trust, particularly with publishers from historically excluded communities in journalism.
• Collaborative project manager: Efficiently and autonomously manage projects that require collaboration among LION staff, partners and members to ensure successful and timely execution.
• Clear, concise and proactive communicator: Craft excellent verbal and written communication and tailor those messages to diverse member audience styles and needs.
• Experience in the journalism industry is a plus, but not required.

Skills and Expectations for Teamwork at LION

• Work in a way that upholds and reflects our organizational values: Being data-informed, equitable and inclusive, people-centered, systems thinkers, transparent and iterative
• Use digital tools and platforms to stay organized, communicate transparently, and collaborate with team members remotely
• Collaborate strategically with others, clearly defining processes for decision making
• Give and receive constructive feedback to help the team produce its best work
• Celebrate our wins and learning moments
• Take on an experimental mindset and demonstrate flexibility to iterate on our work, systems, and processes
• Be willing and able to ask for help when needed, and demonstrate an ability to learn and grow in the role

Physical Requirements and Environmental Conditions

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position, at a desk or similar, 90% of the time. Time spent in stationary location includes operating a computer and relevant peripherals and communicating via phone.

Travel Requirements

• Available to travel for staff retreats 2 times per year (approx. 2–3 days per retreat)
• Available to travel for LION member meetups and LION-hosted events (approximately 1-2 times per year for up to 6 days total including travel).

About LION

Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional journalism association for independent news publishers. While most of our 400+ members across the U.S. and Canada run local news businesses, we also have members who serve larger regions and specific identity-based communities across geographies. LION provides teaching, resources and community to independent news entrepreneurs as they build and develop sustainable businesses. One of our core values is being people-centered, and here are some ways we build that culture for our staff.

90 Day Introductory Period

The first 90 days of employment is an introductory period, during which the new hire has clear goals, criteria for successful work product, and regular feedback from their manager. As a result of the new hire’s 90 day self-reflection and manager’s assessment, the two will discuss whether the new hire will stay on with LION and whether it will be in the role as originally scoped.