Job Title: Communications and Marketing Manager

Position Overview

The primary role of the Communications & Marketing Manager is to manage the NumFOCUS brand by overseeing all outgoing communications between NumFOCUS and our stakeholders. You will serve the project communities by playing a key role in their event marketing management and assist with project promotional and marketing collateral.

You will craft and oversee the “voice” of the organization. You will explain the NumFOCUS mission and the impact of our programs to potential sponsors and community stakeholders, primarily through the creation of digital content and collateral. You will protect and enhance NumFOCUS’ brand reputation through strategic marketing and messaging tailored to our diverse community. You will manage the NumFOCUS WordPress website, ensuring that all content is up to date and that we continue to improve our SEO. You will supervise the digital marketing work of our Events & Digital Marketing Coordinator and work closely with our Director of Development to support fundraising efforts. 

You will work closely with the Developer Advocate, the lead researcher on NumFOCUS’s Contributor Diversification and Retention Project, on the qualitative portions of the proposal and assist in preparing surveys. You will also help to ensure consistent messaging regarding the relationship of projects with NumFOCUS, such as across project websites and GitHub repos. 

About NumFOCUS

NumFOCUS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes open practices in research, data, and scientific computing by serving as a fiscal sponsor for open source projects and organizing community-driven educational programs. 

You will be working with a small team of friendly and dedicated nonprofit professionals. NumFOCUS staff supports the international community of researchers and data scientists whose work accelerates life-changing research and scientific discoveries for a better world. (Our community is made up of lots of incredibly smart and passionate people!)

More information on our mission and programs is available on our website: www.numfocus.org

Our Core Values are the guiding principles by which NumFOCUS makes decisions and defines our culture. 

  • Inclusivity: Commitment to diversity and a welcoming, friendly community.
  • Transparency: Open access creates a collaborative community in which the best ideas can come forward.
  • Curiosity: Passion for learning and commitment to scientific inquiry. 
  • Collaboration: The best ideas come from a diverse group of individuals working together.

About You

You are an excellent communicator, able to find just the right words and images to convey your message. You are very comfortable with technology and eager to learn more about science and open source culture. If you don’t know how a piece of technology works, you are able to use your research skills and well-crafted internet search queries to find answers and teach yourself. You are comfortable maintaining a website. You are always careful to ensure that you’re crafting your communications with the appropriate audience(s) in mind. You are familiar with SEO best practices and have at least 3 years of experience writing press releases, white papers, case studies, blogs, etc. You have experience working in complex organizations with diverse stakeholders and are able to craft a communications plan that keeps everyone up-to-date with key information. You are comfortable with ambiguity and the roll-up-your-sleeves ethos of a startup-type culture.

What Makes This Job Awesome

Our team works together closely, and we support one another to do our best. We enjoy generous benefits (medical/dental/vision) and paid time off. Our culture is casual and friendly.

The Communications and Marketing Manager enjoys opportunities to travel to other cities in support of our programs and events. You can expect to spend about 7-10 days a year traveling.*

Responsibilities: 

  • Work with relevant staff members to develop and execute a communications and marketing strategy for NumFOCUS
  • Create and edit content for website, emails, press releases, blog posts, case studies, and marketing collateral
  • Maintain a strong and knowledgeable presence on social media channels relevant to our community
  • Work with the Development Director to increase community engagement and grow our donor base
  • Create and oversee the marketing plans for all project-focused events and workshops
  • Work with the Developer Advocate to help projects understand how to market themselves and improve their messaging
  • Support other functions as needed

Required skills:

    • 3 – 5 years of experience in a similar role
    • Outstanding interpersonal communication skills, both oral and written. 
    • Experience editing content on a WordPress website. 
    • Strong writing, editing, proofreading, layout, and design, professional printing/publishing skills are essential, including the ability to present concepts verbally.
    • Experience with SEO tools and strategies
    • Must be detail-oriented, task-driven, reliable, and able to complete work on time. We will depend on you to independently complete work that is essential to the success of our organization.
    • Experience with digital marketing and communication tools, and the execution of social media campaigns. Because our community is global, we rely heavily on a variety of digital tools to communicate our mission and message.
    • Experience working with a distributed/remote team

Preferred qualifications (nice-to-have, not required):

  • Familiarity with open source and/or data science communities and tools

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Application Instructions

Email your cover letter and resume to with the subject line, “Communications and Marketing Manager.”

  • Note: Given the COVID-19 pandemic, travel and in-person conferences have been suspended but will resume once safety considerations allow.