Manager, External Communications & Marketing

About the Role:

We’re looking for a Manager, External Communications & Marketing to drive audience growth, engagement, retention, and revenue opportunities by increasing our visibility and authority in the market.

This role is responsible for turning our content, data, reports, and events into high-impact thought leadership and distributing it across external channels including media, partners, platforms, and events.

You will own how our ideas show up outside of our owned channels by placing our content, people, and programming into credible, high-impact environments that reach senior decision-makers. You will connect external visibility directly to subscriber growth, ongoing engagement, and revenue opportunities by building repeatable systems for distribution, amplification, and conversion.

Who You Are:

You understand how ideas spread beyond owned channels and how to place content, people, and insights into environments where senior decision-makers are already paying attention.

You are comfortable turning content, data, and reports into clear narratives and thought leadership that others want to share, publish, and discuss.

You think in terms of distribution, visibility, engagement, growth, and retention, with a focus on reaching and influencing a high-value audience of senior leaders.

You are relationship-driven and know how to build and maintain connections with media, partners, and platforms.

You are both strategic and hands-on. You can shape a narrative and also execute placements, campaigns, and partnerships.

What You’ll Be Doing:

1. Create and lead thought leadership campaigns

You will turn content, reports, and data into high-impact external campaigns.

• Translate video, written, audio, event content, reports, surveys, and data into market-facing campaigns
• Package insights into clear narratives and points of view for senior decision-makers
• Ensure each campaign has a defined distribution and amplification plan
• Drive ideas into industry conversation through media, partners, and platforms
• Build repeatable campaign formats that can be scaled across brands

Your goal is to make our ideas visible, relevant, and actively discussed in the market.

2. Position people, content, and programming externally

You will place our voices and ideas into high-impact external environments.

• Identify and secure speaking opportunities, panels, and partner events
• Place content, insights, and voices into credible media and external platforms
• Extend the reach of events and programming through external distribution
• Support the promotion and distribution of events across external channels to drive awareness and attendance
• Prepare editors, executives, and contributors with clear messaging and positioning
• Build and manage relationships with media and strategic partners
• Secure placements and partnerships that generate high-quality backlinks and increase authority

Your goal is to increase visibility and credibility among senior decision-makers.

3. Drive external reach and audience growth

You will expand distribution beyond owned channels and connect it to growth.

• Distribute thought leadership through media placements, partnerships, and external channels
• Use social as a strategic distribution channel to extend reach
• Execute paid and sponsored distribution where it drives high-value audience acquisition
• Develop and execute campaigns that drive event visibility, registration, and attendance among target audiences
• Reinforce repeat exposure to build ongoing engagement and habit
• Convert external audiences into subscribers and engaged community members
• Ensure external distribution contributes to backlink growth and search visibility
• Create and maintain a BWZ speakers bureau, aligning internal experts to external speaking opportunities that increase market visibility, reinforce authority, and drive ICP acquisition and engagement

Your goal is to make external channels a consistent driver of audience growth.

4. Connect visibility to engagement, retention, and revenue

You will ensure external activity drives measurable outcomes.

• Drive subscriber growth from external channels
• Increase return engagement from audiences acquired externally
• Strengthen direct and branded traffic through consistent visibility
• Support partnerships, campaigns, and events that drive attendance and create revenue opportunities
• Ensure external visibility contributes to ongoing audience consumption and retention

Your goal is to ensure visibility translates into engagement, loyalty, and business impact.

5. Measure performance and optimize for growth

You will own how external efforts are measured and improved.

• Define how success is measured across campaigns, placements, and partnerships
• Track performance across media, partners, social, paid distribution, and search impact
• Identify what is driving visibility, engagement, subscriber growth, backlinks, and revenue
• Make clear adjustments to improve performance over time
• Ensure all external activity is tied to measurable audience and business outcomes

Your work should lead to continuous improvement in visibility, audience growth, and revenue impact.

How Your Success Will Be Measured:

• Growth in subscribers from external channels
• Increased return engagement from externally acquired audiences
• Growth in direct and branded traffic from target audiences
• Increased visibility through media placements, partnerships, and external appearances
• Growth in high-quality backlinks and overall authority from external placements
• Strong performance of thought leadership campaigns and distribution efforts

Your Skillset Includes:

• Experience creating and distributing thought leadership or content through external channels
• Experience working with media, partners, or external platforms
• Ability to translate content, data, and insights into compelling narratives
• Experience securing placements, partnerships, or external opportunities
• Experience running campaigns that drive visibility and audience growth
• Understanding of how media placements and partnerships contribute to backlinks and search visibility
• Ability to connect external activity to measurable performance outcomes
• Strong communication, relationship-building, and positioning skills

Nice to Haves:

• Book of contacts from respected premium media outlets
• Background with on the ground, experiential and in-person events
• Experience using social and paid channels for distribution and amplification
• Positioned media or content agencies
• East coast time zone alignment (our major audiences are located in North America & Europe)

Why This Role Matters:

This role ensures our ideas are consistently visible, credible, and influential in the market.

By placing our content, insights, and people into high-impact external environments, this role helps us:

• Increase visibility and authority among senior decision-makers
• Turn insights into industry conversation and ongoing engagement
• Build, engage, grow, and retain a high-value audience and loyal community
• Drive audience growth through external channels
• Strengthen search visibility through high-quality placements and backlinks
• Create new opportunities for partnerships and revenue
• Connect visibility directly to business outcomes

Salary Statement:

This full-time position is available as either a remote or hybrid position (depending on location), with an annual salary in the range of $95,000 to $140,000 CAD. The range is a guide for the expected skills, knowledge, and experience for new hires based in Canada only. Seniority level and salary ranges are determined through interviews and a review of education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities of the applicant, equity with other team members, and alignment with market data. This means ranges will vary for candidates based outside of Canada and/or at different seniority levels. In addition to annual salary, full-time employees are also eligible for a discretionary bonus and a comprehensive benefits package.

About Us:

We’re a rapidly growing, independent media tech company headquartered in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Since 2012, our portfolio of influential digital publications has been helping millions of people succeed at work.

Our brands cover thought leadership for executives in project management, people management, product management, tech, marketing and many others - with the goal of connecting people with knowledge, skills and tools they need to succeed professionally in the age of AI.

We got our start in 2011 as The Digital Project Manager blog, founded by our CEO Ben Aston. Since then, we’ve grown into an international team of 70+ creators, strategists, and innovators with a portfolio of more than 15 online publications. We enjoy an impact-driven environment that combines the agility of a startup with the creativity of an agency and the diversity of a global company.

We’ve previously ranked #30 in The Globe and Mail’s Fastest Growing Companylist as well as Deloitte'sFast 50 program, received a CMI award for Best Digital Publication for The Digital Project Manager—and we’re listed in both Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers, and Best Employers in BC!

All of this growth is driven by our commitment to our mission: In a world of evolving skills, practices, and technology, we’re creating a playbook for the future of work and empowering communities to create it with us.

Want to learn more? Watch this video to learn why the team love working at BWZ!

Diversity Equity and Inclusion: 

Black and White Zebra is an equal opportunity employer and considers all candidates for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, marital status, military or veteran’s status (including protected veterans, as may be required by federal law), sexual orientation or any other category protected by law. We celebrate all backgrounds and attributes that continue to help make our team impactful, iterative, adaptable, and fun!

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