Digital Marketing and Communications Specialist

Overview

Job Title: Digital Marketing and Communications Specialist

Department: Communications

Reports To: Chief Communications Officer

FLSA Status: Exempt

Location: Washington, DC | Hybrid

Schedule: Full-Time

Who We Are

Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with editorial and operational bureaus in Taipei, Bangkok, and Seoul. A congressionally funded grantee of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), RFA operates with full editorial independence.

Our mission is to provide accurate, uncensored news and information to people living in countries where a free press does not exist. We broadcast in nine languages and dialects — Mandarin, Cantonese, Tibetan, Uyghur, Burmese, Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer, and Korean — reaching audiences across China, North Korea, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and beyond via shortwave, satellite, and the internet. Our journalists work in some of the world’s most difficult media environments, often at considerable personal risk, filling a critical gap in access to truthful, timely news for millions of people who would otherwise have very little of it. That reality shapes everything about how we work and who we hire to lead this organization.

Job Summary

Radio Free Asia reports from places where media is censored, surveilled, or shut down. RFA's communications and public affairs department builds understanding of why that work matters among policymakers, experts, external stakeholders, and the public.

The Digital Marketing and Communications Specialist will grow RFA's brand on digital channels with a data-driven, strategic approach: setting clear goals and KPIs for every campaign, tracking results, and using what the data shows to make the next campaign better. We're looking for a motivated, creative early-career professional who pairs that discipline with strong storytelling (behind-the-scenes stories, graphics, and video) and can respond quickly to breaking developments.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Campaign strategy and performance

• Plan multi-channel campaigns (social, email, search) with clear goals, target audiences, and KPIs set before launch
• Track results in Google Analytics and platform insights, report what worked, and adjust campaigns based on the data
• Test formats, timing, and messaging to steadily improve audience growth and engagement
• Track how RFA's reporting travels (pickups, citations, audience growth) and turn the data into short impact summaries for leadership and stakeholders
• Demystify complex analytics to provide clear, goal-aligned insights in actionable reports

Content and storytelling

• Write, design, and publish copy, graphics, and video for social media, the website, and newsletters
• Turn exclusive reporting and field footage into short-form content for new audiences, outlets, researchers, and policy experts
• Create explainers on censorship, digital and transnational repression, and threats to journalists
• Manage RFA's About site and corporate social channels
• Work with newsroom and language service staff to find story angles and adapt top-performing content across platforms and languages

Monitoring and rapid response

• Monitor trends, sentiment, and brand mentions
• Support fast, accurate responses to breaking news, disinformation, or coordinated attacks on RFA's reporting or staff
• Support the team's work with YouTube, Meta, and X on moderation, demonetization, and restricted access
• Follow RFA's protocols so content never exposes sources, contributors, or reporters

Outreach and team support

• Help identify and build relationships with creators and influencers interested in RFA's coverage regions
• Draft memos, fact sheets, and other materials for leadership and other departments
• Help plan and promote internal and external events

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in communications, journalism, or a related field preferred; equivalent experience considered
• 3 years of experience in digital marketing, digital communications, or news content (student media, freelance, nonprofit, and volunteer work count)
• Experiences using analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Sprout Social, native platform insights) to explain what changed and why, not just report “likes” and “followers”
• Strong writing and editing, shown in published digital content
• Demonstrated experiences turning long or complex reporting into short-form content, and explaining policy, human rights, or international issues to general audiences
• Hands-on, professional skills in Canva, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, or similar tools, plus AI tools
• Strong knowledge of SEO and AI search optimization
• Experience with an email platform (e.g., Mailchimp, HubSpot), including audience segmentation

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of human rights, Asian geopolitics, and press freedom
• Experience at a mission-driven, nonprofit, media, or international organization, especially a multilingual one
• Experience at a start-up or PR agency
• Fluency in an RFA language, especially Mandarin, Tibetan, Korean, Vietnamese, or Uyghur
• Existing relationships with creators and influencers interested in RFA's coverage regions
• Experience working with platforms on moderation, demonetization, or restricted access
• Familiarity with basic digital security, or a strong interest in learning it

Competencies

• Data-driven: sets goals and KPIs up front and lets results guide decisions
• Strategic: connects each campaign to the department's larger goals
• Creative: pairs data with personal storytelling
• Organized: detail-oriented, with strong follow-through across competing priorities
• Curious: loves digging into how brands build an online presence and ride emerging trends

You'll Thrive Here If You...

• Care about press freedom and people's right to independent information
• Follow international news and are curious about places most U.S. audiences overlook
• Want your work to help expose censorship, surveillance, and repression
• Value accuracy over speed
• Treat protecting journalists and sources as part of the job
• Enjoy working with colleagues from many cultures and languages
• Want your work to make a real difference, and want the data to show it

Physical Requirements / Working Conditions

This position is hybrid, with three days in-office and two days remote weekly. Work is sedentary, performed at a desk using standard office equipment, with occasional lifting up to 15 pounds. Reasonable accommodations will be made for qualified individuals with disabilities.

This is a full-time, exempt position based in Washington, DC. Some flexibility in work hours required to accommodate international time zones.

Salary Range: 62,100-75,500/Year. Final salary is commensurate with experiences and skills that are compatible with the requirements of the role.

This position is ineligible for sponsorship by the company for any work authorization, applicant must possess existing work authorization to be considered for the position.

How to Apply

Submit all three items below. Applications missing a cover letter or portfolio will not be considered.

• Resume
• Cover letter (one page max) covering: Why RFA's mission matters to you, what draws you to digital work on human rights, press freedom, or Asia, The portfolio campaign you're proudest of, and why.
• Portfolio of 3–5 campaigns or content samples. At least one sample should include graphics or video you created. Links, a portfolio site, or a single PDF are fine. Student, freelance, volunteer, nonprofit, and personal projects all count. If data is confidential, share percentages or ranges instead.