Sr. Content Strategist - Alerts Modernization
Boston, MA /
Customer Technology – Content /
/ Hybrid
At the Customer Technology Department (CTD), our mission is to apply modern principles of research, design, and technology to make our transit system easy for all riders to use. Effective and equitable public transit is essential to the social, economic, and environmental progress of Greater Boston.
The MBTA Customer Technology team is working to transform how people get around the Boston area.
We are a team of designers, engineers, product and content specialists charged with bringing novel ideas, modern standards and a user-centered approach to technology at the T. As the MBTA works to reinvent itself, we have a rare opportunity to craft the future of transportation for Boston and communities all around Eastern Massachusetts, as well as pioneer innovations for other transit agencies around the country.
Do you want to improve the daily transportation experience for 4.7 million people in the Boston region? Ready for the challenge? Then read on.
As a Senior Content Strategist for Alerts Modernization, you will create, edit, and share communications plans with partner departments across the MBTA. You will work across the Operations Planning, Scheduling, and Strategy (OPSS) department and the MBTA departments responsible for communicating to riders, including CTD. This position supports MBTA riders by giving them the right information at the right time and place.
Day to day you will:
- Keep up to date with service disruptions across the MBTA and understand the impact of disruptions to riders.
- Identify the information about disruptions that MBTA riders need but are not currently getting.
- Create and manage communications plans for service disruptions and diversions.
- Review and approve graphic designs meant to help riders navigate disruptions.
- Proactively communicate with partner departments.
- Collaborate with other teams to make sure communication is helpful to riders, accessible, and consistent.
- Inform the design of content systems that support iterative improvements over time, so we can deliver more helpful information to riders during disrupted or diverted service.
- Update and manage re-usable processes and templates for disruption communications.
- Within CTD, you will be part of the Product Design, Research, and Content Strategy team, a cross-functional team reporting to the Head of Product Design. This group supports one another with brainstorms, work reviews, and ongoing promotion of best practices and emerging methodologies.
- Additionally, you will support OPSS as an embedded part of their team. As you work on disruption communications, you’ll support MBTA riders in the moments that matter. We’re seeking someone with strong communications planning and systems design skills in addition to stakeholder management capabilities.
What you can expect from your first 90 days at CTD:
- Dive into the MBTA system: We don’t expect everyone who walks into CTD to understand the ins and outs of how our transit system operates. You will begin learning the details of how the MBTA’s rail, bus, and ferry network helps move a million people around Greater Boston every day.
- Dive into the disruption planning and communications: You’ll immerse yourself in the world of the MBTA’s operations planning. You will attend the Right of Way meetings, meet planning and communications partners, and understand existing commutations processes. You’ll hit the ground running, likely leading communications needs sooner than you might expect, but you’ll have the support of many team members as you do.
We want to hear from you if you:
- Have formal experience developing strategies to deliver complex content to multiple audiences.
- Can understand and explain user needs to transit planning experts.
- Can develop strategic partnerships and proactively nurture stakeholder relationships.
- Have an interest in, or experience with implementing new content frameworks for solving problems with cross functional teams.
- Have, or are excited to develop, an intimate understanding of the MBTA from a rider’s point of view.
- Can condense complex information into clear, rider-focused information for a variety of real estate constraints across channels.
- Are excited to work in emergent situations.
- Are highly organized, motivated, and have great attention to detail.
Work experience guidelines:
- Although we’re mostly interested in your ability to do the work listed above as demonstrated in your resume and work samples, here are some guidelines on the capabilities and experience we think might be most suited for this role. Please keep in mind that these are advisory, and not required.
- 5+ years of experience writing for omni-channel or multi-channel, technical writing, content strategy, content design or a related field
- Experience with account management or project management
- Experience communicating with stakeholders on the fly, meeting them where they are: email, text, DM, on the phone, or in person
- Experience creating omni-channel or multi-channel communications plans
- Experience leading cross-team coordination
- Experience designing or working with content management systems (e.g., Wordpress or Drupal)
- Experience using online collaboration tools (e.g. Slack, Asana, Teams, etc.)
- Education in writing or a related field (e.g., a college degree, a bootcamp, a certificate program, or something else entirely)
Location:
This role is hybrid. While most activities can be accomplished remotely, a component of this role requires an in-person element.
Unfortunately, we are unable to hire candidates who would perform their work in California, Connecticut, Washington DC, Hawaii, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Puerto Rico.
Compensation:
Pay rate range is $57 - $75 per hour (W-2), up to 1880 hours per year.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:
CTD is dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive environment—it’s essential to the work we do. In order to effectively partner with MBTA departments and do our best work for riders, our team must reflect the wide variety of people who use the MBTA’s services. We welcome people with different strengths, experiences, and backgrounds who share a passion for improving people's lives. Our team is deeply committed to diversity, inclusion, and continual learning. We strive to foster an environment where each individual is valued, feels a sense of belonging, and is welcomed to bring their best self to work.
Here at CTD, we provide equal opportunity for all employees and applicants. We recruit, hire, train, promote, compensate, and manage all personnel without regard to race, color, national origin, cultural identification or expression, socioeconomic background, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, family status, marital status, learning style, neurodiversity, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other non-merit based or legally protected grounds.
Research has shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for roles unless they believe they meet all qualifications. We strongly encourage candidates from marginalized groups to apply, even if you don't believe you meet every one of the job qualifications listed. We’re committed to maximizing the diversity of our team and want to hear from anyone who is passionate about our efforts and interested in supporting our work for riders.
