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Community Manager: Natural Language Processing Community of Practice (NLP-CoP)

The MERL Tech Initiative (MTI) is looking for a Community Manager for our Natural Language Processing Community of Practice (NLP-CoP).

The NLP-CoP is a member community, hosted and led by MTI, that brings together some 1000 monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) practitioners, artificial intelligence (AI) experts, and data responsibility advocates to learn and collaborate. The NLP-CoP is exploring the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI), including NLP and Generative AI. Read more about the NLP-CoP’s goals at this link. The community manager will focus on managing and improving member experiences, and helping us deepen and grow the impact of the community.

You might be a good fit for this position if you are: 

  • reliable and highly organized, with excellent communication and writing skills
  • experienced at community management across multiple platforms
  • highly curious about the intersection of emerging AI, MERL, international development, humanitarian, and/or social sector work, with a track record of past involvement in at least two of these areas
  • passionate about responsible, ethical approaches to the design and application of Emerging AI in the social sector
  • skilled at intermediating between various fields of study and translating concepts across disciplines 
  • enthusiastic about developing new ways to help people learn about complex topics 
  • experienced at participatory engagement and helping people learn and share collaboratively
  • ready for a position where you can build your professional network within a high-impact, motivated team of other consultants who are driving forward the field of ethical, responsible use of AI in international development, humanitarian and human rights-related work.

Description of the role 

Community management 

  • Grow and enhance engagement in the CoP, especially in global majority countries
  • Establish community performance metrics and process for monitoring and improving
  • Support NLP-CoP Working Group Leads to develop and implement their activities
  • Plan and organize virtual and in-person events for the CoP
  • Write post-event blog posts and meeting summaries
  • Post relevant articles, links, events on the MTI Website, Slack and LinkedIn
  • Manage CoP membership, membership list, and Slack channel
  • Strategize on ways to enhance CoP onboarding and sustain engagement
  • Encourage feedback from the CoP for continual improvement
  • Develop and disseminate the NLP-CoP monthly newsletter and other publications 
  • Support strategic growth and development of the CoP 

Communications and events

  • Organize and design events hosted by MTI and the NLP-CoP 
  • Continually improve efficiencies in member management and communications
  • Support MTI and NLP-CoP participation in external events and sessions
  • Manage scheduling, organization and logistics for MTI and CoP Events
  • Develop and maintain an events and publication calendar for tracking and coordination 
  • Support with design and making documents user friendly
  • Design promotional flyers and meeting announcements for the CoP and other conferences
  • Support with updating and enhancing the MTI website and other social media channels
  • Improve SEO on the MTI website and NLP-CoP blog posts

Writing and research

  • Regularly scan newsletters, social media, mainstream media, and other sources to stay abreast of developments related to AI and MERL+Program/Humanitarian space and to help identify emerging topics and speakers for upcoming CoP meetings
  • Develop blog posts and thought pieces for the MTI website
  • Conduct rapid research on AI and MERL topics to support NLP-CoP events and communications and spotting trends and emerging tools and topics 
  • Support with developing, editing, preparing concept notes and proposals for the NLP-CoP and its working groups; reporting back on funding received

Working hours, location, compensation, terms  

  • Preferred availability: between 7-3pm ET or 8-4pm ET with occasional meetings after 4pm ET
  • 3-5 days per week: number of days to be discussed and negotiated with candidates based on skill sets and availability (these tasks could be split into 2 separate scopes of work if we do not find a candidate with all the requisite skills and availability)
  • Daily rate $300-350 USD, depending on skills and experience
  • Remote – candidates must have own laptop/computer and a steady Internet connection
  • 1 month trial period as part of a one-year contract, with potential to renew for the longer term

What our ideal candidate brings

Skills and experience

  • 5-7 years of experience in a similar position
  • Excellent writing, communication, organization, engagement
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence
  • Bachelor’s degree or higher in communications, public relations, anthropology, international development, human rights, computer science, ethics, law, philosophy, library science, data science/data management, IT, human centered design, education, or other relevant fields
  • Comfortable and skilled with Office, online meeting platforms, social media and day-to-day use of tech and social media (Office: Word, Power Point, Excel, Teams, Google Drive, Calendars/Scheduling, Slack, LinkedIn, Chatbots, and potential with MERL Tech Tools)
  • Experience in some of the following areas: online community management, event planning, communications, writing, MERL, knowledge management, emerging technologies and AI, community development, humanitarian work, artificial intelligence – and a keen interest in learning about the other areas
  • Design and presentation skills (Power Point, PDFs/reports and web sites) are a plus

Traits

  • Responsible, dependable, reliable, consistent, shows up on time, relationship builder
  • Enthusiastic about engaging and learning and helping others connect and learn together
  • Well organized, professional, detail oriented
  • Loves writing and communicating; finds joy in helping a lay audience understand complex topics
  • Supportive team player; alert and responsive to the needs of others
  • Proactive, self-motivated, goes the extra mile
  • Able to self manage without extensive supervision, anticipates what needs to be done
  • Excellent interpersonal skills; highly professional communicator
  • Excited about working with a diverse and distributed team/network
  • Positive, can-do attitude, interest in learning new things

What we offer

  • Flexibility and excellent opportunity for professional growth in an emerging space
  • Excellent visibility and opportunity to grow your professional network and shine in an exciting field
  • Friendly, supportive, and accountable best-in-class team of experts as your colleagues
  • A diverse and inclusive environment, where transparency and feedback are welcomed
  • Opportunity to learn about emerging technologies and their responsible, practical application
  • Exposure to cutting edge ideas and technologies to help you stay ahead of the wider field
  • Potential to join research projects and support new areas to build your skills and knowledge
  • Space to develop your own ideas and projects (if aligned with MTI’s mission and goals)
  • One year contract, potential to extend to 2 years or more

What we do not offer

  • Benefits
  • Equipment
  • Funding to secure equipment or Internet access
  • Visa support

To apply: 

  • Send a cover letter to hello@merltech.org indicating your interest in the position and why you feel you would be our top choice.
  • Attach or link to your CV, 2 writing samples, one power point, and 1 poster or other event design, 
  • Deadline for applications: midnight ET, Sunday, November 10, 2024