Research Communications Assistant

$53,000 - $53,000/Yr

Child Trends - Rockville, MD

Part-time,Full-time - Entry Level

Remote - Rockville, MD

101-250 employees

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

About the position

The Research Communications Assistant at Child Trends will provide essential project management and communications support for large-scale projects focused on adolescent health, sexual and reproductive health, early care and education, and other child and family-related topics. This role involves translating and disseminating research findings, managing digital communications, and ensuring accessibility of materials for individuals with disabilities. The assistant will engage in various tasks including drafting notes, scheduling meetings, maintaining social media presence, and tracking communications metrics.

Responsibilities

• Draft social media posts and alternative text for users with disabilities.
• Maintain social media presence for clients, including scheduling and posting content.
• Support social media and newsletter metrics tracking and analysis to inform strategy.
• Conduct routine and ad hoc website maintenance, including creating pages, editing content, and correcting errors.
• Review and format website content and documents for Section 508 compliance to ensure accessibility.
• Schedule team meetings and prepare agendas.
• Draft meeting notes, staff to-dos, and progress reports to clients.
• Maintain records of project purchases and process expense reports and reimbursements.
• Triage client questions and ad hoc requests (e.g., website edits, social media posts).
• Write drafts of email digests and newsletters.
• Format print materials such as one-pagers and flyers.
• Check facts and citations in dissemination materials, such as webpages, research reports, and other publications.
• Find and compile resources for updating website content and other publications.
• Design graphics, charts, picture quotes, and other images for website and social media, publications, and presentations.
• Keep stakeholder and partner outreach lists and subscriber lists up to date.
• Assist with planning virtual and in-person events for government agencies, grant recipients, scholars, and youth.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in communications, public policy, public health, sociology, psychology, political science, economics, or a related field.
• Demonstrated record of success in prior academic, professional, and relevant activities.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Strong writing skills, as demonstrated in writing samples.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

Nice-to-haves

• Interest in health equity, sexual and reproductive health, adolescent health, race equity, and/or early care and education.
• Experience with social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn).
• Experience tracking metrics for social media platforms strongly preferred.
• Experience with email marketing tools (e.g., Constant Contact, MailChimp) and content management systems (e.g., Drupal, WordPress) a plus.
• Familiarity with Google Analytics, HTML, and virtual meeting platforms a plus.
• Fluency in Spanish a plus.

Benefits

• Health savings account
• AD&D insurance
• Paid holidays
• Disability insurance
• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Tuition reimbursement
• Family leave
• Vision insurance
• 403(b) retirement plan with immediate vesting and contributions after 1 year
• Paid family leave
• Paid bereavement leave
• Professional development and tuition reimbursement allowance