Digital Director

The Walrus has an opening for a full-time digital director at its office in downtown Toronto.Please notethis is not an editorial position. The digital director manages the digital department— with a very hands-on approach—and is a member of the senior management team, reporting to the executive director.

The Organization

The Walrus is a charitable non-profit foundation with an educational mandate to create forums for conversations on matters vital to Canadians. The Walrus is dedicated to supporting writers, artists, ideas, and thought-provoking conversation. We achieve these goals by publishing The Walrus magazine—which focuses on Canada and its place in the world—ten times a year; producing the national series of The Walrus Talks; posting original, high-quality content daily at thewalrus.ca; and training young professionals in media, publishing, and non-profit development.

The Walrus also produces content, prizes, and events for many outside partners and organizations under its mandate. The Walrus also actively recruits and stewards individual donors and other philanthropic foundations. The Walrus is governed by a national board of directors, a national advisory council, and a national education review committee.

The Walrus is committed to presenting the best work by the best writers and artists from Canada and elsewhere, on a wide range of topics for curious readers. The Walrus is committed to fact-based journalism and to creating forums for conversations vital to Canadians on a variety of platforms from coast to coast to coast.

The Position

Responsibilities include:

• Establishing and executing business plans aligned with the revenue targets and deliverables specified by the Walrus Foundation’s annual budget and multi-year strategic plan
• Ensuring all digital properties are designed and deployed in manners conducive to revenue generation— through subscriptions, advertisements, donations, corporate sponsors, special projects, ticket sales, etc.—as well as audience growth
• Liaising, creating objectives and solutions, and setting priorities, deadlines, and deliverables with directors of other departments to establish and oversee both broad and project-specific strategies that address each department’s and the organization’s evolving digital needs
• Working closely with the editorial and art departments on all published material. (Although this is notan editorial position, experience in an editorial environment is an asset)
• Developing and overseeing platform and project-specific social-media strategies to increase the Walrus Foundation’s digital audience, brand recognition, and revenue potential
• Generating regular analytics reports that accurately capture the Walrus Foundation’s digital activities and provide actionable data, analysis, and strategic recommendations

Qualifications

• At least four years’ experience in digital product management or digital media
• Deep familiarity with WordPress and Google Analytics, advanced fluency in HTML and CSS, working understanding of PHP and JavaScript
• Strong written and verbal communication skills—ability to write everything from lucid reports to engaging tweets and to lead discussions in environments ranging from editorial meetings to executive boardrooms.
• High degree of media literacy and familiarity with the structure and activities of the charitable, non-profit Walrus Foundation and its educational mandate
• Highly developed sense of responsibility and willingness to take ambitious projects from idea to execution
• Strong leadership skills: deadline oriented, collaborative, a problem solver

Compensation

The Walrus offers a competitive salary and benefits package.