OKAY AFRICA, VARIOUS JOBS

Digital Communications Manager

OkayAfrica is seeking a motivated Digital Communications Manager to lead audience development and engagement across our various digital platforms. The ideal candidate is passionate about the OkayAfrica brand and has a vision for how to best promote our content in a crowded and competitive marketplace.

You will work with the company Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor on a daily basis to manage and establish traffic-generating partnerships. OkayAfrica places enormous value on our social media channels (the face of our company) and is counting on this individual to to ignite conversations among our highly engaged and vocal audience, plus increase our social footprint across Twitter, Facebook (+Live), Instagram, YouTube and more.

Responsibilities

• Run and optimize all OkayAfrica social media channels
• Work with leadership team to develop, maintain, and hone style guide for all social media platforms
• Increase visibility of OkayAfrica feeds, content, and messaging through organized and intentional social media planning
• Tracks progress of each project against goals, objectives, approved budgets, approved timelines. Reports status and variances. Creates action plans to meet objectives, budget and schedule providing weekly wrap-ups and recaps as needed.
• Train and develop staff of interns to manage and assist as needed while establishing sustainable process and systems.
• Develop strategies that drive traffic back to OkayAfrica website
• Keeping up with breaking news from around the continent of Africa
• Attend and live-capture events for dispersion on social media networks
• Oversee the development of emerging social platforms (i.e. Snapchat)
• Ideation and Management of influencer campaigns
• Develop and grow influencer engagement with our social media platforms
• Working with video team to create snackable social videos.

Skills and experience:

• A passionate interest in African affairs, culture and music
• At least 2+ years of professional experience with social media management, writing and editing
• Deep knowledge of and enthusiasm for social media trends and internet culture within the African diasporic space
• Fluency in social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and more is a must.
• Understand native social insight tools and Iconosquare.
• Familiarity with WordPress, Google Docs, and other content management systems is essential. Knowledge of RebelMouse is a plus.
• A proven track record of innovation on social media and a willingness to experiment and learn new platforms.
• Experience with Adobe Premiere, Photoshop and other common tools of the trade.

OkayAfrica is a leading media company, connecting a global audience to the African continent and its diaspora through compelling content and high-profile cultural events. The company launched in 2011 as the only platform truly capturing the breadth of the continent's unprecedented youth culture boom. With a sophisticated, yet streetwise voice, OkayAfrica focuses on the new music, art, culture, business, and politics of Africa and the African diaspora. OkayAfrica fills the gap in representations of Africa by presenting a forward thinking, nuanced view of Africa today.

OkayAfrica offers a fun, casual work environment with a great team of smart, motivated, and innovative people. Our benefits include medical, dental, vision, life insurance and generous time off.

This position is based in New York City, applicants must legally be able to work in the U.S. Okayafrica is an EEO.

enior Buyer, E-commerce

Okayplayer and OkayAfrica are seeking an energetic, motivated Full Time Senior Buyer with e-commerce and merchandising experience, who is super-talented and not afraid to take risks. Must be able to oversee the selection, curation and planning of merchandise products for our shops. The perfect candidate is a self-starter and has a history in the online retail market. The Merchandiser will be responsible for managing the daily needs of the businesses: execution of site merchandising, assisting with email and social media marketing, and partnering with other teams (creative, studio, merchants, marketing, etc) shop.okayafrica.com & shop.okayplayer.com

Responsibilities:

• Develop a competitive merchandise plan that is customer focused and monitors and adjusts sales plan by staying abreast of own business, fashion/industry trends and competition
• Identify new partners and products
• Develop seasonal assortment plans to ensure product is aligned with brand vision and sales goals
• Complete planned collection buys
• Analyze sales figures, customers reactions and market trends to anticipate product needs
• Responsible for working with merch operations to ensure timely flow of product
• Execute merchandise plans, open-to buy strategies and inventory turn targets in all categories
• Elevate customer experience
• Work with marketing team to ensure consistency of presentation of line, trend stories and maximize key investments
• Provide insight to copywriters and creative team
• Identify and implement ways to drive top and bottom line results.
• Collaborate with internal teams to manage business performance and execute strategies flawlessly across various channels.
• Work along with a cross functional team to decide what styles move to markdown in a timely manner
• Develop pre-season planning document to share vision of assortment and selling goals
• Work with Planning Manager of Open to Buy (OTB) planning
• Reforecast above as needed and integrate into OTB
• Manage and Communicate weekly selling reports, evaluate stock levels to establish action plan, and generate reorders
• Recap and evaluate seasonal performance by brand and sku
• Review weekly business and note changes to financial plan

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree
• Minimum of 5 years already in a buying role with a combined 5-8 years of experience
• Able to communicate clearly and comfortably with Senior Management
• Assortment optimization
• Business planning
• Strong Decision-making ability
• Private-Label Experience
• Critical Thinking/Problem solving ability
• Able to independently organize and prioritize broad workload to meet deadlines
• Ecommerce background desired but not required (a passion for fashion is a must!)
• Experienced with Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop
• Relationships with designers a plus
• Ability to prioritize and address multiple projects with varying production timelines
• Highly collaborative and adaptable to different environments and ways of working
• Understanding of Social Media Marketing tactics a must
• OkayAfrica / Okayplayer is an EEO

Senior Multimedia Producer

Okayplayer and OkayAfrica are looking for a seasoned video producer to join our video team. As the Senior Multimedia Producer, the ideal candidate will oversee all editorial video production, shepherding each video from the idea stage until it's published to our various platforms including Okayplayer.com, OkayAfrica.com and the respective social media accounts. You'll also be responsible for overseeing the production of other kinds of visual media such as infographics and live social media broadcasts while keeping abreast of new trends in digital content production.

The Senior Multimedia Producer will be responsible for delivering multiple pieces of content each week and will split their time between shooting, editing, and producing as needed. We are looking for a person who is works well on a fast-moving team and is quick on their feet. You must have a strong understanding of livestreaming and producing video for the web as well as experience developing the kind of content that will resonate with OkayAfrica and Okayplayer audiences. Connections to a strong network of freelance editors and shooters is a plus. From conception to completion, you will manage the process of bringing all types of video ideas to fruition. 

 

Responsibilities

• Record and edit video and sound projects, including selecting program format for final output, capturing/importing media, organizing raw media, editing footage and sound files, creating and inserting static and motion graphics, titling, adding music/voice-over/sfx, media management and archiving project media
• Ensure that all content is on-brand, relevant, timely, aligned with editorial/marketing strategy, consistent in terms of style, quality and tone of voice, optimized for search and user experience, executes the agreed-upon marketing strategy, and is up to the standard of company brand.
• Conceptualize and develop thematic approaches and storylines in collaboration with Marketing and Editorial.
• Create and develop multimedia (audio/video) content for editorial stories, internal original on-brand videos, external promotional social videos, and product marketing videos.
• Script, storyboard, budget, allocate resources, set deadlines and select optimal forms of media for projects
• Conduct interviews with artists, influencers and relevant personnel to create original content
• Interpret social engagement and insights to form actionable intelligence that helps shape campaign narratives
• Select and hire additional crew and talent; make transportation arrangements for crew, talent and equipment; and ensure all location needs are met
• Manage incoming video pitches from freelancers
• Work independently, as well as part of a team to establish project deliverables
• Plan video shoots; scout, select and reserve shoot locations
• Develop production schedules
• Reserve and rent equipment
• Manage video library
• Evaluate analytics

Required Qualifications:

• BS/MS; film, photography, television, news, or related field, or equivalent professional experience
• Minimum of 5 years experience
• Proven experience as a digital video storyteller with strong camera and editing skills
• Experienced with Adobe Creative Suite: Premier, Photoshop
• Demo reel is required
• Ability to prioritize and address multiple projects with varying production timelines
• Experience in still photography preferred but not required
• Must be energetic, positive, and great to work with
• Must be a highly-motivated self-starter; able to work well alone and as part of a team
• Excellent communication and organizational skills

Please send us a CV, cover letter and a link to your portfolio. Make sure you cc both jobs@okayafrica.com and jobs@okayplayer.com.