Director of Digital Storytelling

Our Story

The Story of Stuff Project is transforming the way we make, use, and throw away Stuff to be more sustainable, healthy and fair. 

Over the past decade-plus, our trademark animated videos and field-leading social media content have engaged tens of millions of viewers in a solutions-oriented exploration of the take-make-waste economy and its impacts on people and the planet. Today, we encourage the civic engagement of the million-plus members of our global, online Community by enlisting their participation in campaigns for environmental and economic justice and by supporting their leadership with everything from small grants to training and strategic advice.

As a storytelling-first organization, we know that ‘winning the story wars’ is an essential ingredient in all successful movements for change. While our storytelling content runs the gamut from a feature-length documentary to threads on Twitter, our commitment to meaningful and impactful storytelling shines through in everything we create. We aim to break down complicated environmental, economic and social issues, center compelling and inspiring civic activists and organizations and highlight the solutions these leaders are fielding in their own communities.

Position Summary

The Director of Digital Storytelling will lead the development and execution of the next stage in our organization’s storytelling strategy, with the goal of continuously improving the creativity, reach and impact of the video, social media and live content we produce. The Director will oversee our in-house production studio and social media platforms, managing an internal full-time staff of two and a group of contracted animators, graphic designers, editors, developers and more. The Director will also ensure that our storytelling and content strategies align with and support our campaigns and powerbuilding strategies and vice versa. 

This position requires a strong technical background in storytelling and content production and distribution, including the ability to concisely craft and deploy a narrative that can stand out in today’s crowded media landscape. We prefer a candidate with experience in social change organizing or cause-related media production or organization’s doing the same. The ability to pull teams together, meet deadlines and stay on budget to execute projects that advance our mission is a must.

Job Duties & Responsibilities

• Develop, own and execute the organization’s storytelling strategy and plan in consultation with the Executive team, staff, board, Community members and outside stakeholders, to include:
• Creative, including message, design and branding;
• Distribution, including efforts to expand the audience for our media assets;
• Engagement, including aligning production plans with our Campaigns and Powerbuilding teams’ needs. 
• Lead, supervise and support the execution of the plan by our Storytelling Team, including the Digital Media Producer, Communications Associate and our contractors.
• Participate in the production of new digital content and support production of our existing digital media series, including our talking head explainers The Good Stuff, our Growing Solutions series featuring solutions to the plastics crisis, and The World We Need, an animated series featuring the first-person narratives of inspiring grassroots leaders.
• Oversee the development of a robust marketing strategy to ensure both content reach and viewer acquisition and conversion, with support from a cross-functional internal team and outside consultants. 
• Establish and maintain partnerships with leaders in the legacy, digital and social media spaces to develop and distribute storytelling content, including development of earned media contacts. 
• Support efforts to raise funds for our storytelling programming, including grant writing and reporting, donor updates, etc. 
• Participate actively in the Executive Team along with the Executive Director, Chief of Staff and Director of Community Engagement.

Qualifications: 

• Demonstrated experience in digital storytelling, media production and/or distribution, including experience in two or more of the following fields: video, documentary or advertising production and marketing, social media channel curation and management, graphic design, live or virtual events production, traditional media, etc.
• The ideal candidate will balance a design orientation and experience making creative decisions with technical knowledge of digital environments for media distribution. 
• Experience developing and overseeing programmatic strategies and plans, including the ability to remain calm under pressure, meet deadlines and operate within budget constraints. 
• Experience seeking earned media opportunities is a plus.
• Strong team leadership skills, including the ability to both ‘manage down and up’. 
• Ability to organize and prioritize assignments and tasks, as well as adapt and react quickly as projects evolve.
• Demonstrated commitment to and competency around diversity, equity, and inclusion is required, including a desire to tell the stories of individuals and communities most impacted by environmental and economic injustice. 
• Desire and ability to work well in a collaborative, team environment.