NOTE: This is a contract position working flexible hours (we’d prefer 20-30 hrs/week to start). There is the possibility for advancement (converting this into a full-time position) depending on job performance. The pay for this position is also flexible and will be commensurate with experience but we expect it to be in the $25-40/hr range.
The Investigative News Network (INN), a network of 100 nonprofit news organizations, has an immediate opening for a contract support specialist on our news applications and technology team.
As a team, we exist to support the work of our member organizations, many of which are small nonprofits with limited technology resources. We focus primarily on problems that we are uniquely suited to tackle at a network level, for example:
- Hosting and supporting about 30 member websites using a WordPress-powered platform/framework we've built and maintain - http://largoproject.org
- Building open source tools to support members' editorial work and presentation needs with the goal of making their work look as great as any of the largest for-profit newsrooms
- Supporting editorial collaborations between member organizations, facilitated by INN's data and collaborations editor
- Providing general technology consulting, training and developing resources to help increase the overall level of tech knowledge and ability across the network
You can read more about us on our team blog and check out our projects on github.
We are a small (but growing!) team of makers (soon to be three full-time employees with a handful of contractors and interns) and this position would be responsible for helping develop and implement our support infrastructure, project management and training programs.
The ideal candidate for this position is a detail-oriented self starter who wants to help us provide exemplary service to INN members (and in some cases our paid consulting clients) and to create better documentation and training resources to assist both members and non-members in their adoption of the Largo platform and the other apps and tools we build.
In addition, this person will be responsible for helping update the Largo Project website and will assist in the marketing and promotion of our projects.
Responsibilities:
- Provide front-line support to INN member organizations and our paid consulting clients, including responding to member/client questions, troubleshooting issues, etc.
- In the process of managing the support queue, identify and communicate bug fixes, new feature requests and assist in the prioritization and development of new features for the Largo platform
- Occasionally perform minor bug fixes, design/theme changes, etc. in response to member/client support requests
- Create documentation to assist publishers in the adoption and use of the platform such as step-by-step walkthroughs of key features, new feature announcements, FAQs, case studies, screencasts, etc.
- Assist in the planning and implementation of group and/or individualized training (mostly virtual via webinars or asynchronous online courses but also possibly in-person) to help publishers maximize the use of the Largo platform and other tools/apps we build
- Assist in the revamp and ongoing maintenance of the Largo project website; write and edit content for newsletters, blog posts, social media, etc. to promote the project and help organizations maximize their use of the platform
- Manage and continuously improve our support workflow and project management process
Requirements:
- Interest in helping nonprofit news organizations become more adept with technology generally and maximize their use of the tools we build
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, experience with direct client interaction and front-line support strongly preferred
- Previous experience creating end-user documentation, style guides, etc.
- Experience training and explaining technical concepts to non-technical users (previous experience conducting webinars or creating video training would be helpful)
- Strong attention to detail, previous project management experience preferred
- Highly organized self-starter able to develop project plans and work to implement them with limited oversight and supervision
- Familiarity with help desk, knowledgebase and project management tools and workflows (we use Atlassian’s Jira and Confluence)
Preferred:
We don’t anticipate this necessarily being a highly technical position, but some of the following would be helpful:
- Solid front-end design/development skills (HTML5, CSS3 and some JavaScript)
- Experience developing for WordPress (particularly theme development in a multisite environment), some knowledge of PHP/MySQL
- Familiarity with version control tools (we use git)
- Familiarity with Atlassian products (particularly Jira and Confluence) as a user (bonus points if you’ve worked with them as an administrator)
Our team is distributed so remote candidates are fine as long as you're comfortable with that. Previous experience working remotely would be helpful. If you'd rather work with us (in the same room) Columbus, OH or Chicago, IL would be the preferred locations for this position.
INN is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to creating a workplace where diversity is valued. In addition to federal law requirements, INN complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.
Apply:
Please send the following to [email protected]:
- Brief cover letter (email is fine) explaining why you’re the perfect fit for the job
- Resume/portfolio highlighting your relevant experience, projects you’ve worked on, excellent support or training you’ve delivered, etc.