The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) is Germany's university center of excellence for digital engineering (www.hpi.de). The joint digital engineering faculty of the University of Potsdam and HPI offers an engineering computer science program that is unique in Germany and particularly practice-oriented. HPI conducts world-renowned university research. The focus of HPI teaching and research is on the fundamentals and applications of large, highly complex and networked IT systems.

 The Hasso Plattner Institute, academically constituted as the Digital Engineering Faculty of the University of Potsdam, in the course of its strong growth, is looking for the next possible date at the Potsdam location for a

Research Communication Manager (m/f/d) 

The position is fixed term and full time for the period of two years.

Are you deeply engaged in current political and social issues, such as online misinformation, technological surveillance, political instability, and inequality? Do you hold a degree in a social science field such as politics, communications, sociology or similar? Do you have experience creating textual and audio-visual content for online dissemination, or the skills to rapidly learn? Would you feel fulfilled interfacing with academics researching technology, power and politics and working to disseminate their ideas to a non-academic audience? If so, we invite your application to join the Path to Power: 2024 team at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) at the University of Potsdam.

The Path to Power: 2024 project is studying the changing nature politics and political information with a global focus during some of the many elections occurring in 2024, including in India, Mexico, the EU and the US. Our project is funded by the German development agency (GIZ) with the aim of producing insights that can lead to political innovation and, as such, communicating the ideas of our research outside of academia is a core goal of the project.

Your future tasks 

• Develop and manage the project’s media, communication and engagement plan; 
• Planning, maintaining and creating content for our dissemination channels, including our project website and social media channels;
• Regularly interfacing with our team of academic researchers to stay abreast of their work and working with them to create regular relevant content based on their ongoing research. This could include things like:
  • Interviewing team members and creating and posting videos based on that content;
  • Creating visual infographic content based on researcher collected data or findings;
  • Writing blog posts, reports and/or press releases based on the research ideas of team members (with their oversight, guidance and collaboration);
  • Reaching out to journalists, policy makers, industry organisations and NGOs who might be interested in our research work and acting as an interface to provide them the information they need in the format they need it; 
  • Hosting recording, editing and disseminating a podcast with team members and our research contacts. 
• The ideal candidate does not have to be able to do all these things. The ideal candidate should look at this list, think that they can do some of them, and be interested to take up and refine other ideas, as well as generating their own similar ideas for research communication content.  
• Manage comments and other interactions with our online channels; 
• Acting, if necessary for team efficiency, as an editor or creator of relevant content led by other team members, e.g. adapting or creating an infographic for a presentation, or helping manage recorded interview data.   
• Assisting, if necessary, in relevant aspects of team events, such as creating and sending invitations, designing and commissioning promotional items, and helping with event organization. 
• Attending project meetings to stay informed about the academic work of the project and proactively innovating how the project can best disseminate its ideas;  
• Participating in and supporting the activities and wider needs of the project as they might arise;
• Other responsibilities commensurate with position and project needs. 

Your skills 

• A bachelors or MA in a social science field (interpreted broadly);
• An understanding of key issues related to technology and politics, most particularly the influence of social media and technology on electoral politics and a global trend of democratic decline; 
• Excellent proficiency in professional English, with the ability to write and present in a highly engaging and informative way for different audiences; 
• Experience creating audio-visual content, such as videos and graphics; 
• Confidence processing and implementing constructive written and oral feedback;
• Ability to manage own working time and set internal milestones in order to adhere to wider project deadlines across multiple projects and tasks;
• Ability to work independently and actively seek information, support, resources and training when needed;
• Ability to work with a diverse team and develop individual working relationship and workflows with team members;
• Drive and excitement to take on the role of adapting academic ideas for a wider audience as part of a fast-paced academic project. 

Desirable skills

• Experience writing content for non-academic audiences, e.g. blogging or journalism;
• Experience in website management and content optimisation;
• Experience with social media management; 
• Experience with wordpress (or similar), HTML and CSS;
• Global orientation, with familiarity with cultures and politics outside the US and Europe;
• German skills are a benefit but not required. 

What we offer

• A multifaceted job, embedded in an international and dynamic working environment
• An exciting, responsible position in which you can make a big difference
• Regular opportunities for further training
• Free drinks (coffee, tea, water)
• Regular team events and workshops 
• Attractive employee offers (corporate benefits)
• A subsidized company ticket
• Possibility of mobile working
• Discounted lunch at Campus Kitchen One
• A workplace at the HPI campus in Potsdam-Babelsberg (S-Bhf. Griebnitzsee) with excellent commuting possibilities to Berlin

Application materials

• A CV and cover letter;
• Up to three examples of content you produced have produced; 
• An answer of up to 250 words to each of the following questions:
  • How would you describe the effects of technology on politics? 
  • What thing have you produced that you are most proud of and why?
  • Describe three ways in which you could help the project disseminate its ideas.
  • What conditions do you need to thrive in the workplace and what is one thing that would most cause you to feel unhappy within a team? 
• Degree certificates / transcripts;
• Contact details of three references. 

We are looking for a candidate who can start as soon as possible and, therefore, seek candidates who are already located in the Berlin area and, ideally, who already have permission to work within Germany (although we are able to support visa applications, if necessary). 

We are a diverse team and equal opportunity employer. Applications from candidates who believe they can effectively undertake this position, but whose relevant skills were acquired in non-traditional ways are welcomed. 

We look forward to receiving your application documents including salary requirements. Please apply exclusively via our career page.

Contact persons HR-Recruiting:
Nicola Mertens / Diana Kulhei
+49 331 5509-522/435

Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Digital Engineering gGmbH
Prof.-Dr.-Helmert-Str. 2-3

14482 Potsdam