Communications Specialist

The University of British Columbia; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 69,000 - 99,000; Full time

Job summary

The Communications Specialist will enhance the awareness and positioning of the Academy of Translational Medicine at UBC by leading development of a comprehensive communications and engagement strategy. The role plans, develops, and executes campaigns and events to connect ATM with the translational medicine community.

They drive brand consistency across digital and print channels, create content, manage media relations, and coordinate stakeholder outreach.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline.
• Minimum four years of related experience.
• Experience designing communications initiatives and managing events.
• Strong writing, editing, and storytelling abilities.

Responsibilities

• Develops ATM communications strategy and plan, engaging stakeholders across university and external partners.
• Creates and curates content for the ATM and RSL platforms, ensuring brand consistency.
• Plans, coordinates, and executes events and engagement activities.
• Manages multi-channel communications including digital, print, and social media.

Job description

Job Profile

AAPS Salaried - Information Services, Level A

Job Title

Communications Specialist

Job Category

M&P - AAPS

Job Family Group

Staff - Non Union

Department

Academy of Translational Medicine - Leadership | Faculty of Medicine

Compensation Range

$6,143.67 - $8,830.25 CAD Monthly
The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Job End Date

December 31, 2027

Posting End Date

November 24, 2026

This is a one-year term position.

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

The Communications Specialist enhances the awareness and positioning of the Academy of Translation Medicine (ATM) by leading the development of a communications and engagement strategy. This role further leads the planning, development, and execution of communication and engagement initiatives and events to the UBC and wider translational medicine and regulatory science communities. This role leads awareness-building and engagement initiatives that further the ATM’s mandate through communication campaigns and community engagement initiatives. They will advance the ATM’s strategic goals through the implementation and delivery of communications materials highlighting the successes of ATM, and the services/supports provided, within the university and beyond on a national and global scale. They will engage with a variety of key stakeholder groups such as faculty, staff, students, alumni, industry, and other innovation groups relevant to the work of the ATM. They lead the planning, project management and reporting of communications strategies for the ATM (including consistent branding across all ATM products, website content, digital channels, print materials, promotions/media/graphics and more) to support the ATM’s growth and mission. They will also be heavily involved in communicating the success of the Regulatory Science Lab (RSL) via different communication channels. They will be critical to furthering ATM’s reputation as a translational medicine and regulatory science leader, attracting key funders and supporters around the world. They are a talented creative, with a passion for supporting the communication of research and science, and who can participate and contribute to an ambitious team with many moving parts. They will work closely with ATM staff to advance the objectives and goals of the ATM through communication and event efforts and will ensure communication efforts are cohesive and consistent with the overall UBC and ATM brand.

Organizational Status

The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world. Since 1915, UBC’s entrepreneurial spirit has embraced innovation and challenged the status quo. UBC encourages its students, staff and faculty to challenge convention, lead discovery and explore new ways of learning. At UBC, bold thinking is given a place to develop into ideas that can change the world. Ranked among the world’s top medical schools with the fifth-largest MD enrollment in North America, the UBC Faculty of Medicine is a leader in both the science and the practice of medicine, making remarkable discoveries, and helping to create the pathways to better health for our communities at home and around the world. UBC Faculty of Medicine Vision: To Transform Health for Everyone The Faculty of Medicine - comprised of approximately 2,700 administrative support, technical/research and management and professional staff, as well as approximately 600 full-time academic and over 10,000 clinical faculty members - is composed of 19 academic basic science and/or clinical departments, 3 schools, and 26 research centres and institutes. Together with its University and Health Authority partners, the Faculty delivers innovative programs and conducts research in the areas of health and life sciences. Faculty, staff and trainees are located at university campuses, clinical academic campuses in hospital settings and other regionally based centres across the province. The UBC Vancouver Campus is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. The City of Vancouver is located on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations territory. The ATM at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is established by the Faculty of Medicine. The ATM is a nucleus for translational and regulatory science research, application, innovation, education, and training. The ATM is a strategic initiative for the Faculty of Medicine and has a mandate to collaborate with other units in the Faculty of Medicine, the wider University, and beyond, to accelerate the translational medicine continuum. The ATM will drive impactful medical and policy research to create new knowledge to improve health outcomes and benefit society, provide regulatory science services to the health innovation ecosystem and support the development of new academic and training programs, creating a cutting-edge ecosystem in which top educators and researchers train the next generation of health innovators. The Regulatory Science Lab (RSL) is the research pillar of the ATM. RSL is an innovative program of research focused on the sustainability, value and social impacts of precision medicine. Through interdisciplinary research projects, RSL develops new methods and models for evidence-generation and regulatory decision-making and provides analyses for the ATM customers and collaborators.

Work Performed

Communications Strategy and Plan Development:

• Develops the ATM Communications strategy and plan to engage stakeholders for advancing strategic initiatives and connecting them with our research activities and goals.
• Plans and coordinates the execution of communications activities to support ATM’s strategic goals and stakeholder needs. This role will liaise with the following internal and external stakeholder groups, including but not limited to:
• UBC Faculty of Medicine units including the Office of Research, Office of Creative and Communications, Development & Alumni Engagement
• Research institutes, industry partners, not-for-profit & community organizations, governmental & policy-making organizations, and funding agencies relevant to ATM’s work.
• Co-investigators/collaborators within ATM Director’s research grants
• Develops and coordinates results-driven communications activities for the ATM across multiple media formats including: emails, newsletters, social media, content marketing, advertising (sponsorship and paid advertising), search engine optimization, brochures, surveys and other integrated digital/print activities from concept onwards, ensuring alignment with ATM’s larger strategic agenda.
• Integrates brand strategy, optimization, content marketing, communications strategy and more across all activities/channels, creating original content as well as sharing user-generated content, as applicable.
• Plans, implements, and reports on the outcomes of ATM communications, outreach, and engagement activities for continued enhancement of awareness-building and engagement efforts.

Content Creation and Media Development:

• Works with the Faculty of Medicine Office of Creative and Communications in updating the ATM website and establishing a corresponding RSL web presence.
• Collects, develops and curates content for the ATM and RSL websites and other written material promoting ATM initiatives and events. Ensures the website is up-to-date at all times.
• Identifies opportunities to:
• Promote activities, programs and events that support ATM activities
• Develop and support storytelling activities that illustrate ATM’s research excellence and impact.
• Works with the Faculty of Medicine Office of Creative and Communications to promote ATM activities and successes with external audiences including the media and general public.
• Creates and edits creative assets to meet identified communication opportunities, including graphics, photography, video and audio.
• Collaborates with RSL staff to source stories, milestone achievement updates, successes, etc. within research activities to promote among researcher communities and broader UBC audiences.
• Creates and edits creative assets to meet identified communication opportunities, including graphics, photography, video and audio.
• Monitors and ensures UBC communications branding policies are adhered to; ensures content aligns with UBC’s web guidelines and accessibility standards.
• Coordinate budgets for marketing campaigns and sponsorship with the Senior Manager, Operations.

Event Planning and Coordination

• Plans, organizes, supports and executes a wide variety of events on and off-campus. These will include ATM Learns speaker series, workshops, education/training initiatives, town halls, partner symposiums, public forums, celebratory events, and others, executed in keeping with UBC protocol, brand standards and ATM strategic goals.
• Collaborates with ATM staff to plan, organize and execute all pre- and post-event logistics, including event registration, venue/room bookings, catering requirements, IT technician support, facilities requests, day-of event coordination, workshop/conference materials preparation and dissemination, etc.
• Coordinates promotion to generate interest and support for ATM events.
• Accountable for compliance with UBC policies related to all aspects of event coordination, finance and supplier management.

Other

• Collaborates across the organization’s teams for cross-functional projects and workflows.
• Keeps current on evolving technologies and communication & engagement practices.
• Provide general day-to-day support and perform other tasks, as required.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

The Communications Specialist works with a degree of independence and must exercise professionalism, tact and diplomacy in all interactions. This position is critical to developing and maintaining relationships and a public profile for the ATM. Error in performing duties or inappropriate disclosure of confidential information may adversely affect the reputation of researchers, faculty scholars and associates, and the university. Situations or problems that would require exercising judgment include, for example, public events, development of communication materials and interactions with internal and external stakeholders. The consequence of error in this position could potentially result in negative financial implications for ATM and UBC at large, and harm the public profile within the broader translational medicine and regulatory science ecosystem at the local, national and international level.

Supervision Received

This position reports directly to the Senior Manager, Operations of the Academy of Translational Medicine. This position works under minimal direct supervision, and is expected to work independently exercising initiative and judgement. Work might be reviewed for achievement of objectives, soundness of judgement, quality and effectiveness of results.

Supervision Given

May coordinate with the work of administrative, research, and education staff. May supervise student analysts and interns.

Minimum Qualifications

Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum four years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
• Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor Degrees in Journalism, Communication, Media, Science, Arts, or Bachelor of Commerce or Business Administration is preferred
• Master’s degree in Journalism, Communications or other relevant discipline is an asset.
• Experience in leading communication initiatives, social media creation and management, copywriting and website design, is required
• Demonstrated experience designing a variety of communications and marketing collateral pieces.
• Skilled using video, photo & graphic design software within the Adobe Creative Suite, particularly: InDesign, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator.
• Experience working with website content management systems, digital performance metrics, other relevant tools e.g. Qualtrics, Campaigner, Google Analytics.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office tools and familiar with the use of audience engagement platforms e.g. Slido, Pigeonhole Live, and presentation software e.g. Keynote, Prezi, PowerPoint.
• Highly effective written and verbal communication skills including the ability develop and deliver clear and accurate content and accurately proofread for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.
• Ability to maintain accuracy and attention to detail.
• Strong planning, organizational, time-management, decision-making, problem-solving and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to think critically, make thoughtful, informed decisions and use sound judgment.
• Ability to plan, organize, monitor, complete, and evaluate projects within allocated time and resources.
• Experience in leading communication initiatives, social media creation and management, copywriting and website design, is required
• Flexibility to work occasional evenings and weekends in support of events.
• Experience in leading communication initiatives, social media creation and management, copywriting and website design, is required
• An interest and ability to connect and develop productive relationships with university scholars, industry representatives, government officials and other stakeholders.
• Specialized training and/or experience in scientific outreach and scientific communications is an asset.
• Knowledge of the local, provincial and national start-up community, and experience working in a start-up is an asset
• Understanding of and experience with university policies and procedures and stakeholder engagement in a higher-education setting is an asset.