Director of Audience Outreach and Community Engagement

About the role

The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting (MCPIR), which publishes The Maine Monitor, is a nonprofit news organization reporting on issues of public interest in the state of Maine. Founded in 2009, MCPIR has grown in size and impact, employing 19 and publishing daily and weekly newsletters. We have quadrupled our staff and increased our newsletter subscribers by more than 200% over the last four years. In addition to The Maine Monitor, which produces critical investigative and in-depth accountability journalism on issues of statewide importance, since November 2025, we produce Monitor Local, a division of The Maine Monitor focused on providing civic news for rural communities across Maine. The Maine Monitor’s reporting is widely respected for its depth and insights, winning local and national awards.

Responsibilities

• Lead social strategy that focuses on new audience discovery and building community.
• Develop a video strategy in collaboration with the newsroom to reach younger audiences.
• Provide guidance to editors and reporters on audience-first best practices, including story formats and distribution across text, video and audio.
• Understand social media trends and usage patterns and stay on top of algorithm and other platform changes to inform the newsroom’s social media strategy.
• Set social media targets; track performance and progress to goals, including generating regular reports to share insights with the rest of the newsroom.
• Maintain steady, organic growth and engagement across all social platforms.
• Lead newsletter strategy by monitoring performance, working with the editorial team to increase engagement and develop a growth plan.
• New Channel Discovery: Evaluate new channels for reaching audiences and manage republication partnerships.
• User experience: Analyze KPIs and goals for ideal user behavior, ie. views per session, time on story, etc., and work with the editorial team to increase engagement while adhering to The Monitor’s mission.
• Analyze data: Analyze data demographics so we can better understand who we are serving and who we want to be serving and how to reach them.
• Engagement: Work with reporters to connect with readers and bring them into the reporting process.
• Events and Engagement Development: Develop and execute an events strategy to grow and engage our audience and continue establishing The Monitor as a convener of community conversations with newsmakers, our audience and our journalists. Work with the newsroom to plan and organize the Monitor Talks series of live journalism events. Oversee all components of event execution and follow-up, including evaluation of impact and lessons learned.
• Community Listening: Develop and deploy community listening as strategic infrastructure for journalism, audience trust and sustainable revenue. This will involve developing partnerships with libraries, nonprofits, civic groups, faith organizations and other established organizations. Community listening will combine in-person events, surveys, online forums and social media drop-in groups.
• Team and Organizational Leadership: Collaborative innovation: Work with the digital editor to enhance the user experience and shape The Monitor’s digital product roadmap.
• Team management: Lead and mentor a small team focused on audience engagement, fostering a culture of creativity, professional growth, accountability and experimentation.
• Serve on the leadership team: Collaborate with peers in the design and implementation of strategies that strengthen the organization, expand our footprint and enhance our impact while modeling excellence in professionalism, teamwork and performance.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in audience development, community engagement, events strategy or newsroom leadership.
• Strong and nuanced understanding of best practices for newsletters, social media, SEO, and headline writing with a proven track record of growing audience, customer base or community engagement in one or all of these areas.
• Deep experience in convening and events: Knowledge of best practices in designing and producing events that inform, inspire and build trust.
• Ability to create meaningful, memorable audience experiences that enhance journalism and connect people.
• Experience cultivating partnerships with civic, nonprofit and community organizations to expand reach.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate community listening into newsroom strategy and coverage.
• Data-savvy, with experience using analytics to inform both real-time adjustments and long-term strategies.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, able to juggle multiple short and long-term priorities and effectively work and communicate across multiple departments.
• Strong drive for innovation and experimentation, comfortable creating an idea, executing it and analyzing data for real-time changes and long-term strategy.
• Creativity with the ability to thrive in small, mission-driven environments.
• Willingness to travel within Maine to in-person events.

Skills

• Strong understanding of social media platforms and trends.
• Experience in managing and growing a newsletter audience.
• Proven track record of successful event planning and execution.
• Ability to analyze and interpret data to inform strategy.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Benefits

• Flexible hybrid schedule (approx. 75% remote in Maine, 25% in-person for team meetings, strategy sessions and events).
• Employer-sponsored health, dental, eye insurance.
• Cell phone stipend (nontaxable).
• Retail savings plan with a 3% employer match.
• Expense reimbursement, according to published policy.
• Short-term disability insurance.
• 15 days of paid time off in the first year of work; 20 days starting with the second year of employment.
• 6 personal/sick days.
• Generous paid holiday schedule.

Pay

$64,000 – $68,000

Schedule

Fully remote in Maine, with occasional in-person meetings and events.

Contact

To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume via this Google form. Applications must be received before September 15, 2026. Please email contact@themainemonitor.org with any questions or if you have any problems with the Google form.

Note

The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting/The Maine Monitor is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, marital or parental status, disability, citizenship, sexual orientation, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law. We prohibit and will not tolerate any such discrimination or harassment. The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting and The Maine Monitor serve all of Maine and the diverse communities across Maine. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive board and staff that reflects the society on which we report. We are committed to fostering a workplace in which our employees can grow, express themselves and contribute to the mission and future of our organization.