Are you a marketing expert who is highly skilled in account and project management who wants to make a difference in the world?

Free The Children empowers youth to fulfill their potential to be agents of change. Through our organization's unique youth-driven approach, more than one million young people have been involved in our innovative programs in more than 45 countries. Founded by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has an established track-record of success, with three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and partnerships with the United Nations, and Oprah's Angel Network. In 2011 Free The Children, was awarded Canada’s Top Employer for Young People for our amazing opportunities for young employees!

Free The Children seeks a driven and experienced Brand and Marketing Specialist who will report to the Associate Director of Creative and Communications, Free The Children. The Brand and Marketing Specialist develops and maintains the department’s relationship with internal and external clients, and is the key liaison between these stakeholders and the in-house creative team throughout the creative process -- from concept development and execution through to final approval. He or she is responsible for understanding the client’s brand, marketing challenges and objectives, and works closely with the client and the in-house creative team to provide marketing expertise and creative solutions. The process begins with the Brand and Marketing Manager developing a concise creative brief for each project, and communicating the client’s marketing objectives, project background, research and consumer insights to the relevant members of the Creative and Communications team. As a project manager, the Brand and Marketing Specialist works with others to ensure that the right resources have been allocated to the project and then monitors the creative process so that deadlines are met and that the creative output fulfills the client’s marketing objectives and overall organizational brand standards.

Our work environment appeals to self-directed, flexible team players who have great interpersonal skills, learn quickly, and relish the opportunity to develop and execute retention strategies to promote long-term youth engagement.

The position is based out of Free The Children’s International office in Toronto (233 Carlton Street). A minimum two-year commitment is expected. Salary is to be negotiated. There is a six (6) month probationary period, upon reaching the three (3) month period, all staff members are offered a health plan including dental and Employee Assistant Program.

Responsibilities:

• Act as the relationship manager and main liaison between the Creative and Communications department and internal/external clients; provide excellent customer service, in this ‘account manager’ type role.
• Develop concise creative briefs for each project and communicate requirements to the team.
• Become the brand expert on behalf of the client by gathering, analyzing and disseminating all relevant brand research and background.
• Work closely with the Creative Head, creative team and the production manager to drive project execution.
• Ensure that internal and external client needs and strategic objectives are being met and that creative output is on message and on brand.
• Collaborate with the Associate Directors, Production Manager and the Creative Manager on scheduling and resource allocation to maximize the creative team’s time and ensure project delivery on deadline.
• Assist in setting internal processes and ensure they are followed.
• Lead status meetings with members of the content, design and communications teams and closely follow project progress.
• Lead post-project analysis and reporting for (a) continuous process improvement and (b) to track and measure results.
• Assist Associate Director and Director with strategic planning and department prioritization.
• Report to the Associate Director on project progress, department issues and other issues as required.

Skills and Qualifications:

• Minimum two years of experience working in a leadership role as a project manager as part of a creative team or within a marketing department or agency.
• Must have experience managing and guiding brand integrity for both written and visual content.
• Excellent customer service and collaboration skills.
• Ability to motivate and cultivate a team environment.
• Ability to set and meet project deadlines and motivate team members to do the same.
• Ability to multi-task in a demanding and fast-paced work environment.
• Experience managing and/or marketing to diverse audiences.
• Excellent organizational, administrative, communication and interpersonal skills.
• Willing to work long hours and be a dedicated member of the team.
• Well organized, detail-oriented, analytical, thorough.
• Experience writing for youth or copywriting is an asset.

Key Competencies

• Project management
• Organization and planning
• Problem analysis and creative problem-solving (experience with Google Analytics and Excel are strong assets)
• Project team leadership
• Formal presentation skills
• Persuasiveness
• Adaptability
• Innovation
• Judgement
• Decision-making
• Stress tolerance
• Collaboration

What makes Free The Children unique…

A Top Employer for Young People, Free The Children is filled with passionate, driven, hardworking, entrepreneurial, shameless idealists, this means we work late, set high goals and exceed them, and then push hard the following year to beat and exceed last year’s goals of empowering youth to change the world.

If you are looking for a predictable 9-5 work environment, this won’t be the right fit.

If you are inspired and excited by collaboration, making friendships with the most incredible people, unique additional responsibilities like working on our We Days and your personal values align with our core values, we would love to hear from you.

Free The Children sincerely thanks all those who apply, however only those considered for an interview will be contacted.