WAGES & BENEFITS: 

$75,000 to $85,000 annually salary, dependent on experience and qualifications; generous Paid Time Off policy, plus 10 paid holidays per year and 2 floating holidays per year; competitive, employer-subsidized medical and vision insurance plans plus generous employer contributions to a Health Savings Account; employer-covered dental and life insurance; retirement plan with employer matching at 4% with immediate vesting.

JOB SUMMARY:

NEON’s mission is to build wealth for low-to-moderate-income entrepreneurs in North Minneapolis and surrounding communities. Our vision is to transform North Minneapolis and the surrounding area into a prosperous, visible, sustainable, and highly diverse multi-cultural community of entrepreneurs. We work with individuals at various stages of entrepreneurship – from “information seekers” to existing business entities, providing a roadmap to start, grow and thrive as scalable businesses. We offer spaces to work, expert guidance from NEON Business Advisors, mentorship, business incubation, development, training, and workshops.

Reporting to the President, the Director of Communications and Marketing position is in charge of all facets of the NEON organization’s brand and product marketing while strengthening the organization’s positive image and facilitating the organization’s partnership with the community, funders, and other organizations.

Also, the Director of Communications and Marketing is a front-line person responsible for planning and overseeing communication strategies that promote NEON’s services via various communication mediums, developing effective messaging, and implementing all of NEON’s marketing strategies and public relations activities external and internal.

This position performs market research to determine the need and interest for NEON’s existing services, as well as to get ideas for new ones. This position must effectively balance the individual needs of internal clients with the overall organization objectives and brand and will require attendance at occasional evening and weekend events.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

Leadership and Management

• In coordination with the President, create communication strategies that promote the NEON’s brand aligning with the organization’s mission, vision, values, and goals for growth via various communication mediums.
• Ensure consistent communication of NEON’s desired image and its position is articulated throughout the Organization and to all internal and external constituencies.
• Identify and implement opportunities to enhance the effectiveness and increase engagement of the NEON organization.
• Develop compelling media-focused content, ranging from press releases and written pitches to the media to establish brand awareness.
• Coordinating, organizing, and implementing marketing strategies, working on the marketing budget, publicity, advertisement, and media relations techniques to help NEON’s brand and services.
• Establish new or build upon existing communications and marketing strategies, developing an overarching strategic marketing plan that integrates print and digital efforts to achieve identified goals and objectives.

Administrative Duties

• In coordination with the President, coordinate the appearance of all organization print and electronic materials such as letterhead, use of logo, brochures, and more.
• Work with the President and internal key players to develop content ideas, publishing schedules, and creative direction for NEON’s website, social media, and other brand platforms in line with the organization’s strategy and support of various brand initiatives.
• Manage online communication channels, and routinely update the organization’s website and social media page for relevance and accuracy, and enhance user experience and search engine optimization.
• Produce marketing materials and prepare graphics to support the organization’s communications and marketing efforts, including newsletters, brochures, ADs, event invites, pitch deck, publications, nominations for awards/recognition, announcements, press releases, training materials, etc., consistent with brand guidelines that increase engagement and visibility of NEON’s most important messages.
• Manage daily pacing and real-time optimizations of live campaigns.
• Monitor analytics and create reports detailing the successes and failures of communications campaigns and strategies.
• Promote company events to help keep the organization top of mind.
• Work with and guide printers, vendors, photographers, and other third parties to ensure smooth marketing initiatives and corporate branding execution.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in English, communications, marketing, public relations, journalism, graphic design, or related field
• 2- 4 years of marketing, communications, and graphic design experience
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, editing skills, including copy editing/writing/proofing, and fact-checking
• Proven social media and networking expertise
• Knowledgeable of Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects
• Experience with Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and or Dreamweaver
• Knowledge of Web design, HTML, and CSS
• Experience with video editing software
• Knowledge of data analytics to allow measurement of online performance
• Knowledge of Google Analytics, Qualtrics, and or digital photography

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Ability to work on several projects at once under tight deadlines
• Demonstrated experience with nonprofit organizations preferred
• Excellent grammar and strong research skills
•  Exposure to various cultures, nationalities, ethnicities, and points of view, appreciating the basis of each person’s worldview

Licenses and/or Certifications: Valid Drivers’ License, access to reliable transportation

Diversity and open expression are fundamental to the work of NEON. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable working environment where everyone can belong. Every member of our team enriches our work by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design, and deliver solutions.

We welcome everyone to apply, especially those individuals who are underrepresented in our sector: individuals who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQI+ and gender fluid or gender nonconforming, individuals with disabilities (both seen and unseen), veterans, people of any age or family status. 

We encourage you to apply even if you feel like you don’t fit 100% of the technical requirements. 

Equal Opportunity Employer: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, disability, marital status, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, genetic information or a protected veteran’s status.

Our organization has a partnership with Metropolitan Alliance of Connected Communities (MACC) to provide administrative services including management of the recruiting process. If you apply for this position, you may see references to MACC in some online materials.

NEON participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. See E-Verify’s official poster at https://e-verify.uscis.gov/web/media/resourcesContents/E-Verify_Participation_Poster_ES.pdf.