Job Summary
- Applications close:
- Job posted on: 16th Jan 2024
- Melbourne > Collingwood
We're looking for an experienced content designer and strategist with a passion for good communication, great digital products, user-centred content models, human-centred design processes, and empowering organisations to manage and publish great content.
We are mostly based in Yálla-birr-ang (Collingwood, Melbourne). We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, mature age workers and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTIQA+) people.
Before explaining the role, let's start with a bit about what content means at Today.
The content team at Today are a diverse blend of content specialists and human-centred designers who collaborate across multi-disciplinary teams.
Designers at heart, the content team use co-design, design research, prototyping, and experience design to get to human-centred outcomes. We are not writers that fill boxes. We are T-shaped designers – we have broad design knowledge and use human-centred design to solve problems creatively, yet we lean into and contribute deep specialist knowledge as content designers, content strategists, communications specialists, UX writers, copywriters, information architects, and content operations specialists.
The team work closely with and are supported by the whole design team at Today, including interaction design, experience design, technology, research, strategy, and delivery, to bring the best possible content experiences to life. We do not work in a vacuum but are always multi-disciplinary by nature.
We align to the four emerging content roles discussed in the content community: content strategy, content design, content engineering, and content operations. (See this article for a deeper definition of each of these roles). An understanding of these roles will be critical to effectively supporting a team of content specialists at Today – they are broadly representative of the types of knowledge and skillsets we utilise on a daily basis.
It's not essential that you are an expert in all of these roles. Being expert in two or more is ideal, along with a growth mindset to learn and develop the other areas over time.
Being a lead at Today also means you have a grasp of fundamental strategic design principles and methods, such as the double-diamond framework, problem framing, visioning, facilitation, design research (research planning and synthesis), and orchestrating experiences across channels and touchpoints.
As a content strategy and design lead, you will both a) lead projects and b) support and mentor a team of content specialists.
While supporting content practitioners is a key part of the role, the majority of your time will be spent leading projects and using your experience and knowledge to achieve great human-centred outcomes for our clients.
a) What does it mean to lead projects?
Leading projects will involve directly managing client relationships, facilitating challenging conversations, developing and advocating for solutions through adversity, and getting your hands dirty making prototypes, spreadsheets, and presentations. You may often be leading multiple projects at once, and will be working with multiple multi-disciplinary teams to achieve the goals you establish together.
b) What does it mean to support and mentor a team?
Supporting a team of content specialists (1–4 people) will mean mentoring people through formal and informal moments. The team will be working on a range of projects across a broad area of content challenges and subject matters, meaning two separate projects may draw upon two completely different areas and methods of content.
No day or week is the same at Today! Broadly, however, you will juggle three key areas of focus: applying content and design expertise, supporting and mentoring a team, and contributing to business development. Some weeks may be a mix of all three of these, others may require you to focus on one over another.
You will be a go-to within the business for knowledge on content strategy, content design, content engineering, and content operations, and be able to confidently practice a strategic design process in projects.
You have experience in content strategy, content design, or UX on big, complex digital projects. You have a knack for engaging stakeholders in a conversation about CMSs, CRMs, UX, IA, and the power of Plain English.
You have a clear vision for what makes good content, a sound knowledge of how the digital world works, and have led projects before.
You have deep knowledge of how content management systems are developed for a website, how organisations use content management systems to publish and manage content, how taxonomies and content models power content management systems (including search and architecture), and how menus and templates work to create a consistent user experience.
You see how your work fits into a bigger picture, and have a passion for contributing to making a real difference in people's lives. You love being part of a project team, and working with a range of other skillsets to figure out the best ways to make change.
You will be able to demonstrate:
We encourage everyone at all levels to apply for this role.
If you don't have all the experience, this is not a deterrent. Please apply anyway, then be honest about what you've done and what you want to learn. We are interested in growing people within the role.
We work on work with purpose. Our projects see us finding solutions to big, complex challenges around climate, care and communities.
Above all else we strive to protect our team’s capacity for resilience and their general wellbeing. This goes beyond our dog-friendly workplace and regular pub lunches as a team.
We are Australia’s most awarded social impact agency.
We use design and technology to make change happen, at pace and at scale. In the last 12 months, we’ve designed and built Australia’s first online family violence intervention order, established a new approach to co-design for the Victorian mental health sector, built a peer-to-peer product that helps people learn Auslan, and launched a campaign to shift mainstream perceptions of climate change—plus many more.
Our practice is built on strong foundations of human-centred design and digital making. There are 60 of us, based mostly in Naarm (Melbourne), working across strategy, research, design, content, delivery and a wonderful support team.
You’ll experience a welcoming environment filled with smart, fun and caring people from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines, who are passionate about creativity, making change, and learning from each other.
Your expertise will be appreciated while you get busy making change in sectors like:
Learn more about our values, commitment to diversity, inclusion and equality and the way we work at today.design/careers.