Job Description
POSITION: Digital Communications Specialist
REPORTS TO: Communications Manager
POSITION TYPE: 12-month
START DATE: Immediate opening
COMPENSATION: $54,911 to $65,894, Home Office Grade 4
At YES Prep, work for a mission that impacts the life trajectory of students and their families. YES Prep creates pathways to extraordinary opportunity through best-in-class development, competitive compensation and benefits, and recognition for your impact. Grow as an authentic leader and be part of an equity driven, team-oriented culture.
Our campuses are advancing educational equity. Some quick stats about us:
- 19,500 Students
- 2,300 Team Members
- 15 Secondary Campuses
- 9 Elementary Campuses
- 92% Students Who Qualify for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch
- 96% Hispanic & African-American Students
- 90% Students Who Are Accepted to a 4-Year University
- 88% First-Generation College Students
- Ranked in the Top 100 High Schools in the Nation, U.S. News & World Report
We serve the students of Houston, Texas, the 4th largest city across the United States. There are over 20 public-school districts and other great public charter school options within Houston’s city limits serving our increasing population. We are a rapidly growing organization, committed to creating life-changing opportunities for over 23,000 students by 2025.
THE OPPORTUNITY
YES Prep needs a dynamic Digital Communications Specialist with a diverse set of experiences, to make our mission a reality. As a YES Prep employee, you will achieve jaw-dropping results, create pathways to opportunity for our students, build transformative relationships, and eliminate educational inequities to advance social justice.
To put it simply, you will oversee the YES Prep website, social media and other digital platforms, as well as provide oversight of school-based digital platforms. You will also regularly gather and monitor metrics to identify trends, make recommendations and propose digital communications strategies.
THE ROLE
When you join the YES Prep team, some of the work and responsibilities will include:
- Working collaboratively within the Communications and Marketing team to create and execute YES Prep’s system-wide and school-based digital communications strategy, especially for digital platforms like the website, social media, email newsletters, school communications digital platforms, etc.
- Monitoring and maintaining high-profile social media channel accounts such as Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.
- Using content management platforms to schedule, publish and manage social media content and campaigns.
- Utilizing Google Analytics, Sprout Social and other content tools to gather and report meaningful data analytics to track performance. Reviewing findings with the Communications team and making recommendations for future decision making.
- Working with in-house designers on securing visual digital content as needed.
- Collaborating with Home Office (administrative) teams on communications projects.
- Updating and maintaining the main YES Prep website and working with Home Office staff to make sure their designated webpages remain current.
- Providing oversight on schools’ subdomains to ensure their websites are also up to date.
- Updating and maintaining the YES Prep Communications’ section of the Intranet (SharePoint) site.
- Leading YES Prep’s The Pulse news Intranet site to reflect the most current information and produce the accompanying monthly e-newsletter.
- Compiling YES Prep’s monthly external e-newsletter, The News Update, and other system-wide produced communications, such as our monthly system-wide family communications.
- Serving as additional support for school communications ambassadors.
- Collaborating with the Multimedia Content Manager on projects and tasks as needed.
- Collaborating with the Communications team to develop and deliver communications best practices trainings.
- Utilizing a project management system to track tasks and collaborate with teammates.
- Providing occasional support in capturing stories through photos, videos and written form as needed.
- Promote YES Prep communications and branding best practices and consistency.
- Assisting in monitoring visual brand standards.
- Performing other duties as assigned.
THE PERSON
We seek staff with diverse backgrounds, talents, interests, and ideas. Certain traits consistently shine through for our most successful employees: passion for the mission, drive for results, care for students, and resilience. Other traits needed and desired for this role are:
THE MUST HAVES
- Bachelor's degree in communications, Marketing, Journalism, Creative Writing or other related field from an accredited four-year educational institution, or four years of relevant work experience may be substituted for the required degree.
- 2-5 years of professional digital communications experience
- Strong skills in writing, editing and proofreading
- Project coordination experience
- Experience with Sprout Social, MailChimp, Google Analytics, Meta, and all social media platforms
- Ability to take direction and work to meet expected deadlines and schedules
- Evidence of producing high-quality products on tight deadlines
- Ability to toggle between projects and prioritize accordingly
- Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends, when needed
- Great personality with a sense of humor who can lead and follow
THE MUST HAVE BELIEFS
- Belief in and commitment to the mission and core values of YES Prep Public Schools
- Desire to disrupt systemic status quos in education
- Willingness to go above and beyond to disrupt said status quos
- Passion to develop resiliency through a relentless pursuit of jaw-dropping results
- Conviction that high expectations + high accountability = high performance and high growth
THE NICE TO HAVES
- Experience with HTML, CSS, and content management systems like Composer
- Experience with K-12 communications
- Photography and videography skills
- Graphic design skills
- Bilingual (Spanish)
THE TEAM
As the Digital Communications Specialist, you will join a warm and welcoming External Affairs team at the Home Office. http://www.yesprep.org/our-team
YES Prep teams understand they are setting the example for how their students experience their YES Prep education and want to make sure it feels like a second home to them. Teams are obsessed with improving themselves because they know that living the core values translates directly into stronger results and college access for all students.
THE PERKS
- Compensation – This position is an exempt, salaried position; offers commensurate with experience.
- Health and Supplemental Insurance – A $0 monthly medical option that includes $600 towards a Health Savings Account, in addition to a variety of supplemental benefits including Dental, Vision, Disability, Life, etc. Employees must work 20+ hours a week to be eligible for a full spectrum of benefits, and 10 hours a week minimum for medical benefits.
- Retirement Plans – Participation in Teacher Retirement System of Texas and a 457b Retirement Plan.
- Paid Time Off – Employees working 20+ hours a week receive 15 days of Paid Time Off in addition to the system closures during the Academic Calendar.
- Paid Leave Programming – In the event you need to be out due to medical needs (including maternity and paternity leave), YES Prep offers paid leave, paid out at 100%, based on eligibility and tenure.
- Professional Development - YES Prep values longevity and performance over time. We invest in developing leaders through high-quality programs, effective coaching, and ongoing professional development.
- Award Winning Culture – The strong cultures of our campuses and Home Office are just one of many reasons we were named Houston’s Best Place To Work in 2018, 2019, and 2021. We won the 2012 Broad Prize for Excellence in Urban Education and were a 2016 finalist as well.
WE ARE DEEPLY COMMITTED TO EQUITY & DIVERSITY
YES Prep strives to recruit a diverse team of leaders. We believe there is a transformative academic and social benefit for students when their teachers and leaders reflect a diversity of backgrounds. 97% of staff members agree that the organization provides a welcoming environment given their background and identity according to our latest system survey.
YES Prep is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or parenthood.