Content Manager at Code for Africa (CfA)

About the Role:

The successful candidate will join CfA’s Engagement team. The team is responsible for telling CfA’s story, keeping it accessible and engaging. We amplify the work of our experts and external project partners across Africa to drive a more open, connected, and technologically empowered continent. You will join as team lead, and lead the copy, graphics and multimedia desks to produce world-class content that tells the stories of CfA’s projects and partnerships.

On a daily basis you will work with the Engagement team, partners, and CfA’s in-house teams of technical experts. You will oversee and direct the production of incisive, well informed content for CfA’s platforms, including, but not limited to, thought leadership blogs, captivating visuals and illustrations and innovative storytelling. 

You’ll also manage the launch of special tools and products, rebranding CfA initiatives, and more. 

Responsibilities: Your daily responsibilities will include:

• You will own and help steer the strategic communications objectives of the organisation, continually ensuring that they grow and adapt with the organisation’s needs
• You will  manage the day-to-day operations of a small, transnational team of writers, editors, illustrators, video editors and designers 
• You will ensure the team meets strict deadlines and reporting requirements for partner deliverables
• You will implement SEO best practices to ensure all content ranks well and demonstrates an understanding of its target audience
• You will review analytics and search performance reports to assess the success of content marketing initiatives
• You will create and maintain a streamlined content calendar that keeps the whole team on track
• You will stay up-to-date with industry innovations and best practices, ensuring that CfA’s content remains worldclass
• You will perform regular content audits to ensure content is accurate, optimised, updated and relevant to the target audience
• You will regularly drive brainstorming sessions with your teams to generate new ideas to draw audience’s attention
• You will ensure consistency in brand and tone of voice across all CfA communication mediums and platforms

Required: minimum requirements include:

• At least five years in an editorial management  function, preferably within the NGO, media or tech sectors
• Comfortable finding creative ways of building an online presence, as well as using analytics to create, implement and drive content strategies that help build organisational reputations and raise their profile as thought leaders within their fields
• Strong skills in creating original content that targets a specific audience and meets CfA’s objectives
• A proven ability for multimedia storytelling and managing multiple teams in content, graphics and video
• Experience using popular content management systems like medium or equivalent
• Basic technical knowledge of HTML and web publishing 
• A thorough understanding of digital production pipelines that help you oversee and improve the development of blogs, graphics, design, video,  podcasts and written communications including long and short form copy
• Demonstrable experience as a project manager, or an understanding of project management methodologies and practices 
• Adept at keyword placement and SEO best practices 
• Meticulous attention to detail with the ability to work in a fast paced deadline driven environment 

Preferred: candidates who are able to demonstrate the following will have an advantage:

• Familiarity with the African media landscape, ideally with a pre-existing network of contacts
• Experience in or familiarity with the non-profit landscape and an understanding of donor requirements and reporting
• Bachelor’s degree or diploma in journalism, communications or a related field
• Working knowledge of at least one major regional African language, such as Amharic, Fulani, Swahili, Yoruba, etc
• Digital-first workplace skill-sets, including proficiency in collaborative work solutions such as Google Workplace (Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc.), Slack (or equivalents such as Teams, etc), and project management tools like Trello (or equivalents such as AirTable, etc)
• Demonstrable experience managing a remote team

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: Applicants from across Africa will be considered
• Primary language: English
• Preferred languages, but not required: Amharic, Arabic, Hausa, French or Kiswahili