We currently operate in 10 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Our local teams support citizen organisers by amplifying their campaigns and connecting them to decision-makers. We have a proven model that strengthens local civic leadership and accelerates movement potential and systems change.
We recently opened a Country office in South Africa and we’re looking for someone with drive, passion, and deep campaigning expertise to dramatically grow our users’ impact to new levels. You’ll amplify stories of everyday people trying to create change in the world, elevate the ability of individuals to shape society for the better, and inspire millions to believe in their own potential.
This senior role will report to the Country Director and be part of the broader global campaigns team.
This is a full-time position, based in South Africa. This role would ideally be based in Johannesburg, but other cities will be considered. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, applicants should expect to work remotely for an extended period of time.
As a Senior Campaigner, you will:
– Work closely with the Country Director to establish Change.org in South Africa as the leading tech and social change platform for people-powered impact – with a focus on underrepresented communities.
- Identify the most significant social change campaign opportunities in South Africa, and critical intervention points for everyday people to gain more power in our democracy.
– Be responsible for leading campaign support for people who start petitions on our platform – helping win groundbreaking and nation capturing campaigns across a wide variety of issues.
- Develop rapid response campaign strategies, including innovative online and offline tactics, that help petition starters win campaigns that seem impossible.
- Pitch and secure media coverage of petitions by liaising with journalists and media outlets, preparing press notes, and mentoring petition starters through media interviews.
- Engage with senior political and corporate decision-makers across the country to facilitate responses and engagement with petitions.
- Write a whole lot of compelling copy & create online content about users’ campaigns and impact, including emails, social, and video content.
– Work with other campaigns staff to help manage, grow and diversify the largest social change email list in the country – delivering new and best practice online engagement tactics.
- Identify and help deliver fundraising and membership retention tactics within campaigns to help grow South Africa’s membership program.
- Work with the Country Director to grow and lead a campaigns team, develop and effectively track ambitious campaign impact, growth, and engagement goals and the KPIs to deliver these goals.
This describes you:
- You have a deep commitment to our mission of empowering people everywhere to win campaigns on the critical issues of our times.
- You have extensive experience in owning the development and execution of campaign strategy, including power and media mapping an issue.
- You’re an expert in messaging and framing, and repeatedly find the right narratives to engage Change.org users, decision-makers, journalists, and other stakeholders. You set the standards of which campaigns we should escalate in the media and how to drive campaigns forward using our communications tools.
– You have innovative ideas on how to use communications, media, and storytelling to win local, national, and international campaigns – and a willingness to take risks, to fail, and to adapt. You have exceptional writing, editing, and public speaking skills.
- You’re driven by results, crave the next victory, and are always on the hunt for the next big opportunity to change the world.
- You’ve got knowledge and deep interest in the South African media and political landscape (news and social media junkies desired!), and know how to get a story to cut through in a busy newsroom.
- Your email and copywriting are excellent. You’ve got a strong sense of narrative and user experience, and you can turn out compelling copy at short notice.
- You have a finger on the pulse of the latest campaign tactics.
- You’ve got an interest in using data to discover and learn best practices.
– Importantly, you’re willing to take risks, fail, and adapt – and are constantly curious about how to improve your work.
– You’ve got a strong sense of fun and a collaborative spirit – ready to push the envelope and each other, challenge assumptions, go all-in, and imagine the impossible.
It’s rare that a candidate has a ‘perfect’ set of relevant experiences, we do not expect this, and all candidates are encouraged to apply, even if you are missing some of the items in the list below. Experiences we’ll be looking out for, and which we think will be helpful coming into a role like this are:
- Previous experience working on publicised political or social justice campaigns.
- Experience working with journalists or independently developing media strategies to gain the attention of decision-makers and the public.
- Experience writing persuasive email, petition, and social media content to a very high standard.
- Strong verbal communication: ability to speak cross-culturally and engage a diverse audience.
- Data savvy: Ability to communicate results of user engagement and formulate next steps in order to achieve goals.
- Experience partnering with, volunteering, or working for organisations that advocate for marginalised communities.
Our Values:
We have a grassroots mindset
Our internal decisions and strategies are based on deep listening of our staff and users’ experience. All of the Foundation’s work is focused on serving the realisation of the mission in our countries and our external projects are true collaborations with users and partners.
We thrive together
We believe in our collective impact working together as a Foundation. We ask questions that go beyond the Change.org platform and we make time to reflect and share with our colleagues.
We are free to create
Fostering new ideas for empowering our users and petition starters is an everyday challenge that every member of staff owns. We are free to decide our strategies and we will be supported to try new things, learning from failures as well as successes.
We are diverse, inclusive, and transparent.
We celebrate the diversity of our countries, staff, and users in the Foundation. We are all building an empowering place to work, so all Foundation staff will be involved in the decisions that affect them. Our users and colleagues know who we are and what we are working on, because we are proactive and transparent in our communications.
We are impact-driven
As a non-profit, we will always prioritise maximising impact. Wherever possible, we design our work so that the products and value it creates are free, open, and commons-based, creating a shared environment for social good.
Interested? Great! Here’s what you should know:
This is a full-time position, based in South Africa. This role would ideally be based in Johannesburg, but other cities will be considered.
We encourage applicants of different backgrounds, cultures, genders, experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, physical disability, or length of time spent unemployed.
We love serving our users, and we love our staff too. We show it through competitive salaries, five weeks of annual leave, robust maternity and parental leave, an amazing culture where you’ll work alongside some of the world’s leading campaign and communications experts in the world. Your co-workers are high-impact, low-ego, and have a deep respect for our users.
We’re working for a world where no one is powerless, and where creating change is a part of everyday life. We’re just getting started and hope you’ll join us.