Director of Marketing and Communications

Who We Are

NEON's mission is to build wealth for low-to-moderate-income entrepreneurs in North Minneapolis and surrounding communities. Our vision is to transform North Minneapolis and the surrounding area into a prosperous, visible, sustainable, and highly diverse multi-cultural community of entrepreneurs. We work with individuals at various stages of entrepreneurship - from "information seekers" to existing business entities, providing a roadmap to start, grow and thrive as scalable businesses. We offer spaces to work, expert guidance from NEON Business Advisors, mentorship, business incubation, development, training, and workshops.

Why You'll Love Working Here

NEON promotes economic equity by identifying business ownership as a path toward income generation and long-term asset building. NEON will increase work to start, support, sustain, and expand the number of culturally diverse businesses owned and operated in North Minneapolis. We strive for the best customer service in the world, relentless pursuit of excellence, and respect for the individual. Working with our team provides an opportunity to utilize our collective power to improve and expand programs for the benefit of the North Minneapolis community where entrepreneurs can start, grow and thrive.

Wages & Benefits

$75,000 - $85,000 annual salary; NEON is proud to offer an incredibly robust benefits package to employees. Generous paid time off (PTO) starting at 18 days per year, plus ten paid holidays, two floating holidays and a seasonal paid office closure for a week at the end of the year; 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their families; Health Savings Account (HSA) fully-funded by NEON for individual or family coverage. There is employer paid basic life insurance with the option for additional coverage paid by the employee. The employer pays for Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) and short- and long-term disability insurance. NEON sponsors a retirement plan with 6% employer match and immediate vesting.

Job Information

As NEON's Director of Marketing and Communications, you'll lead our brand and marketing efforts to strengthen the organization's positive image and foster partnerships with the community, funders, and other organizations. You will plan and oversee communication strategies that promote NEON's services via various communication mediums, develop effective messaging, and implement all marketing strategies and public relations activities both externally and internally.

A typical day will include:

• Creating communication strategies that promote NEON's brand aligning with the organization's mission, vision, values, and growth goals.
• Ensuring consistent communication of NEON's desired image and position across all channels.
• Identifying and implementing opportunities to enhance engagement and effectiveness.
• Developing compelling media-focused content, including press releases and media pitches.
• Coordinating marketing strategies, budgets, publicity, advertisement, and media relations.
• Establishing and executing strategic marketing plans integrating print and digital efforts.
• Managing NEON's website, social media, and other brand platforms with fresh content and strong SEO.
• Producing marketing materials and graphics to increase engagement and visibility.
• Monitoring analytics and creating reports on campaign performance.
• Promoting company events and guiding external vendors for smooth execution of marketing initiatives.

As a community-based, public-facing nonprofit, NEON shares stories that reflect our mission for economic equity. As a condition of employment, staff may be photographed, filmed, or recorded during work activities to support NEON's communications, marketing, and community engagement efforts.

Who You Are

• You are a creative, quick-thinking professional with a strong foundation in marketing and communications.
• You bring at least five years of relevant experience and a bachelor's degree in English, communications, marketing, public relations, journalism, graphic design, or a related field.
• You have exceptional written and verbal communication skills, strong interpersonal skills, and proven social media and networking expertise.
• You are knowledgeable in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, or Dreamweaver and comfortable with web design, HTML, and CSS.
• Experience with video editing software, data analytics, Google Analytics, Qualtrics, and digital photography is highly valued.
• You can manage multiple projects under tight deadlines and have demonstrated experience with nonprofit organizations.
• Above all, you are passionate about engaging diverse communities and bringing NEON's mission to life through creative storytelling.
• You possess a valid driver's license, access to reliable transportation, and the ability to meet NEON's driving record requirements. Please note that if the license was not issued in the state of Minnesota, you have 60 days after becoming a Minnesota resident in which to apply for your Minnesota driver's license or permit.

Diversity and open expression are fundamental to the work of NEON. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable working environment where everyone can belong. Every member of our team enriches our work by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design, and deliver solutions. We welcome everyone to apply, especially those individuals who are underrepresented in our sector: individuals who identify as BIPOC, Indigenous or people of culture, LGBTQI+ and gender fluid or gender nonconforming, individuals with disabilities (both seen and unseen), veterans, people of any age or family status. We encourage you to apply even if you feel like you don't fit 100% of the technical requirements. Equal Opportunity Employer: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, ancestry, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, disability, age, marital status, membership or activity in a local human rights commission, status with regard to public assistance, criminal history (justice-impacted status), housing or homelessness status, height, or weight.

Our organization has a partnership with Metropolitan Alliance of Connected Communities (MACC) to provide administrative services including management of the hiring process. If you apply for this position, you may see references to MACC in some online materials.

NEON participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. See E-Verify's official poster at https://e-verify.uscis.gov/web/media/resourcesContents/E-Verify_Participation_Poster_ES.pdf. See E-Verify's Right to Work poster at https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RightToWorkPoster%20Eng_Es.pdf.