Communication and Engagement Associate

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Job Summary

The Communication and Engagement Associate is part of the team responsible for increasing the adoption of ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) and contributes to efforts to share the Caltech Seismological Laboratory's science with communities on and off campus. This position requires collaboration with colleagues located at different universities along the West Coast as well as at the US Geological Survey and the California Governor''s Office of Emergency Services.

The Communication and Engagement Associate's primary responsibility is to increase adoption of ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning use by establishing relationships with potential and existing alerting partners and by connecting users to alerting services that best fit their needs. This involves keeping up to date on the evolution of ShakeAlert technologies and capabilities and translating that information for different user audiences. There are many opportunities to work on projects to innovate communication products and methods to enhance ShakeAlert Communication, Education, and Outreach (CEO&TE) capabilities. It is important that the Communication and Engagement Associate serves as a liaison between the ShakeAlert CEO&TE working groups and the Caltech Seismological Laboratory.

In addition to responsibilities pertaining to ShakeAlert EEW, the Communication and Engagement Associate will work to amplify the science of the Seismological Laboratory and the Center for Disaster Resilience. This involves working with the communication team to create digital content (including photos, vertical video, and text) for social media and website publication. It also involves representing the Lab and Center to organizations and community groups, providing tours of the Lab, and organizing and coordinating events.

Essential Job Duties

• Cultivate and manage relationships with potential partners and users of ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning.
• Participate in ShakeAlert Communication, Education, and Outreach meetings.
• Engage with a variety of publics to communicate and educate about earthquakes, earthquake information tools (particularly early warning), and disaster resiliency.
• Represent the Caltech Seismological Laboratory to the greater ShakeAlert community as well as to other Caltech departments and at designated off-campus events.
• Regularly report to Lab leadership on ShakeAlert engagement efforts and activities and incorporate leadership instruction into engagement work.
• Support relationships and communication (for example, workshops and trainings) with various partners in Southern California.
• Keep abreast of Caltech research priorities and projects related to the Seismological Laboratory and the Center for Disaster Resilience in order to communicate them to various publics.
• Contribute to the Lab's digital communications, including social media channels.
• Assist in coordinating and facilitating Seismological Laboratory tours, as well as organizing and coordinating events.
• Other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a field related to communication and/or physical science and/or engineering.
• Minimum of three years of experience communicating about science.
• Comfortable communicating online and in person about complex topics to a wide range of audiences.
• Skilled in communicating effectively and professionally with diverse audiences across various backgrounds, age groups, and organizational levels.
• Able to travel locally (varies) and regionally (approximately twice annually).
• Experience creating social media content and contributing to digital engagement strategies.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledgeable about earthquakes and other natural hazards in Southern California.
• Master's Degree in earth science or communication with significant coursework in the other.
• Experience using both Microsoft and Google workspaces; experience with Atlas products (Confluence, Jira, and Atlas CRM) is a plus.
• Fluency in a language other than English, particularly Spanish.

Required Documents

• Resume
• Cover Letter