Description
Marketing and Communications within the Faculty of Science is currently seeking a Full-time Limited Term Visual Communications Specialist for approximately 12 months.
The University of Calgary Faculty of Science invites applications for the role of Visual Communications Specialist who reports to the Director of Marketing and Communications in Faculty of Science. This position collaborates with communications, marketing, and fundraising team members in the Faculty of Science as well as the central Communications team.
The successful candidate will need strong organizational and time management skills, a high degree of initiative and confidence to engage with students and scientists, a strong ability to understand complex concepts, and highly developed graphic design and photography skills.
Summary of Key Responsibilities (job functions include but are not limited to):
Project Management
- Track and manage deadlines, workflows, assets, file systems, and image release forms.
- Liaise with other teams throughout the Faculty of Science and beyond to ensure integration and progress toward project goals.
- Liaise with agencies and other service providers.
- Make recommendations to senior leadership and communicators on development of policies and procedures.
Brand Journalism
- Build relationships with faculty members and students to help capture their stories visually.
- Create strategic plans and templates for visual communications projects.
- Conduct brief interviews with students, faculty, and other members of the campus community to capture and record content.
- Be an active and visible representative of the Marketing and Communications team, visiting labs, classrooms, and student spaces to capture content and stories.
- Develop creative ideas and approaches to share the Faculty of Science's unique stories and perspectives in modern, on-trend ways.
Content Creation
- Create and update print, digital, and web collateral for the Faculty of Science including brochures, documents, banners, recruitment materials, trade show materials, reports, presentations, and web pages.
- Champion and help implement the Faculty of Science's brand as part of its Get Science Done strategy, working under the envelope of the overarching UCalgary brand.
- Capture and edit photos and videos of events, research, and daily life across campus.
- Ensure all visuals comply with photography consent and release forms.
- Review previous materials to update them, improve them, and ensure that they align with brand standards.
- Ensure a high level of visual creativity and polished presentation for print and digital materials across the Faculty of Science.
- Using a high level of attention to detail, ensure that print and digital materials are free of errors.
- Work with other members of the Faculty of Science Marketing and Communications team to deliver high-quality visual content that supports their activities, e.g. media outreach, social media, internal communications, and web development.
- Together with faculty members and colleagues on the Marketing and Communications team, develop interactive exhibits that showcase key science concepts and UCalgary research.
Other Supporting Activities
- Support key Faculty of Science events as needed throughout the year, including helping with setup, guest registration, and teardown.
Qualifications / Requirements:
- Post-secondary education in graphic design, visual communications, fine arts, marketing, or a similar field.
- 5+ years in a graphic design-related role encompassing print, digital, and web applications, with experience creating a variety of deliverables including brochures, booklets, flyers, presentations, and trade show materials.
- High proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite applications including InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
- Experience with photography, including portraits and events, and confidence to engage with subject matter experts to take the best possible photos or videos.
- Intermediate proficiency in brand journalism to understand the strategic value of stories as well as how to capture and present them.
- Intermediate proficiency in video editing, including tools such as Canva or Adobe Premiere.
- Intermediate proficiency in writing short content features, ensuring they are engaging and free of errors.
- Additional skills in other creative areas such as illustration, videography, on-camera presenting, voiceover work, and audio editing would be assets, and there is room to help incorporate these skills into the successful candidate's creative vision.
- Experience managing and organizing digital files and photography consent forms.
- Superior interpersonal and communication skills.
- Must demonstrate professionalism, discretion, courtesy, and respect in all interactions with internal and external clients, creating a positive image for the Faculty of Science.
- Ability to operate within a complex, multi-faceted work environment and be a strong team player is required.
- Must be flexible and able to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, sometimes when dealing with rapid deadlines and shifting priorities.
- Demonstrated ability to remain at the forefront of current visual communications and trends.
Application Deadline: April 9, 2025
We would like to thank all applicants in advance for submitting their resumes. Please note, only those candidates chosen to continue on through the selection process will be contacted.
This position is part of the AUPE bargaining unit, and falls under the Specialist/Advisor Job Family, Phase 2.
For a listing of all management and staff opportunities at the University of Calgary, view our Management and Staff Careers website.
About the University of Calgary
UCalgary is Canada's entrepreneurial university, located in Canada's most enterprising city. It is a top research university and one of the highest-ranked universities of its age. Founded in 1966, its 36,000 students experience an innovative learning environment, made rich by research, hands-on experiences and entrepreneurial thinking. It is Canada's leader in the creation of start-ups. Start something today at the University of Calgary. For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.
The University of Calgary has launched an institution-wide Indigenous Strategy committing to creating a rich, vibrant, and culturally competent campus that welcomes and supports Indigenous Peoples, encourages Indigenous community partnerships, is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives in all that we do.
As an equitable and inclusive employer, the University of Calgary recognizes that a diverse staff/faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers that have been historically encountered by some people in our society. We strive to recruit individuals who will further enhance our diversity and will support their academic and professional success while they are here. In particular, we encourage members of the designated groups (women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible/racialized minorities, and diverse sexual orientation and gender identities) to apply. To ensure a fair and equitable assessment, we offer accommodation at any stage during the recruitment process to applicants with disabilities. Questions regarding [diversity] EDI at UCalgary can be sent to the Office of Institutional Commitments (equity@ucalgary.ca) and requests for accommodations can be sent to Human Resources (hrhire@ucalgary.ca).
Do you have most but not all the qualifications? Research show that women, racialized and visible minorities, and persons with disabilities are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At UCalgary we are committed to achieving equitable, diverse, inclusive and accessible employment practices and workplaces and encourage you to apply if you believe you are right for this role.
We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, however preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada.
