Visual Information Specialist

Position: Visual Information Specialist

Location: Sudbury

Reports To: Team Supervisor, Training and Resource Development

Term: Full time, permanent

Start Date: February-March 2025, TBD with candidate

Salary Range: $56,531-$60,000 annual + benefits

Organizational Context

The Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy (Oahas) is an Indigenous-led organization committed to promoting and supporting healthy, thriving Indigenous communities through providing culturally grounded education and access to harm reduction to reduce the transmission of HIV and other STBBIs in our communities. Oahas operates based on the principles of Greater Involvement of People living with HIV/AIDS (GIPA), Meaningful Engagement of People living with HIV/AIDS (MEPA), “nothing about us without us”, Indigenous harm reduction, and respect for our cultural knowledges and teachings. These foundational principles guide all aspects of our relationships and work.

Organizational Values

Oahas’ organizational values are Autonomy and self-determination, Accessibility, Innovation, Justice, Connection, Accountability, Hope and Advocacy. Based on our organizational values, we have developed agency-wide accountability behaviours that are shared with all Oahas staff and used as part of our performance evaluation tools. These include engaging in the work using direct communication, kindness, generosity of spirit, and respect.

Position Summary

Through the development of visual materials such as graphic assets, digital resources, and educational and training tools that support knowledge translation and mobilization, the Visual Information Specialist provides a critical function in creating and executing social media and print campaigns, capacity building and training opportunities for AIDS Service Organizations (ASO) sector partners, First Nations, and Indigenous health and social services organizations.

This position is located in Sudbury, Ontario, reports to the Team Supervisor, with the following areas of responsibilities: Graphic Design & Resource Development, Training Design & Visual Content Development, Research & Program Evaluation, and Web Design, Social Media & E-Learning Administration.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Oahas management, staff and community (i.e. Community Advisory Committee or other community groups) on developing visual materials for projects and activities that strengthen Oahas’ programs and services.

• Collaborate with teams and community to lead the design and development of visual concepts including resources, campaigns, presentations and training materials, and other graphic assets that are engaging, align with the organization’s brand, centre learner accessibility, are relevant to Indigenous audiences, and support the principles of Indigenous harm reduction as well as Two-Spirit cultural safety, diversity and inclusion.

• Create engaging, interactive digital learning solutions ensuring established learning and performance objectives are met.

• Provide design, development and/or industry knowledge and participate in knowledge transfer within the team.

Graphic Design & Resource Development

• Act as a subject matter expert for design principles and concepts

• Create and design visual content for various communications materials, including paper and digital brochures, agency-wide tools such as posters, and harm reduction kit inserts

• Create and produce illustrations and original artwork to supplement available graphic resources for numerous digital and print projects

• Create and produce graphic recordings during Oahas events and gatherings to support knowledge translation as needed

• Collaborate with Oahas teams, members, partners and community members to develop a visual, interactive narrative of Oahas’ history

Training Design & Visual Content Development

• Review training program delivery methods and products; assess and make recommendations to improve overall design and graphics to better support knowledge translation

• Transform pre-existing educational and presentation materials to design and develop online instructional resources, and review, revise and re-format content from lessons and modules

• Develop digital activities, challenging scenarios, and assessment tools that are rooted in Indigenous epistemologies and pedagogies

• Produce custom graphics, animation, audio, video and interactivity for engaging online experiences

• Designs new program templates including but limited to workbooks, interactive PDFs, and videos

• Maintains training materials to reflect evolving needs, including updating/creating materials based on sector and community trends, technology updates and impacts

Research & Program Evaluation

• Coordinate with different Oahas teams to gather and analyze data, come up with designs and layouts, and plan materials based on the purpose and availability of resources

• Research and validate information, design various materials for web and print, and ensure all graphic projects meet broadcast standards

• Provide subject matter expertise in learning and performance consulting, including knowledge of best practices and emerging trends

• Engage with community connected to Oahas (i.e. Community Advisory Committee etc.) to gather feedback on visual and design aspects of resource materials, website and social media campaigns

• Support the development of agency-wide internal standards for training, including auditing existing training delivered across the agency

Web Design, Social Media & E-Learning Administration

• Provide content updates and communication material on website and social media channels, and ensure content is visible on mobile phones and tablets

• Engage with online community through reviewing and responding to posts

• Support the redesign of Oahas’ website through developing the layout, menus, colours, background elements and photo and text alignment

• In collaboration with the Facilitator & Resource Developer, as well as our community partner Gilbert Centre, complete administrative duties in relation to Oahas’ current Two-Spirit Safer Spaces Training on kajabi including onboarding participants into the course, regularly reviewing course completion and generating certificates

• Support the design and development of other training certificates as needed

• Integrate new Oahas trainings into e-learning platform opportunities as needed

General Administration

• Collaborate with the Training & Resource Development Team, including maintaining active communication with teammates for a smooth and efficient workflow

• Ongoing program reporting, data collection, file maintenance and records management, including completing OCHART database entries

• Engage in Training and Resource Development program planning through the development of a workplan

• Ongoing compliance with Oahas policies and procedures is a requirement for this job

• May be required to assist with projects and other agency initiatives

Additional Expectations

• Flexibility with schedule and ability to work evenings and weekends on occasion

• Share in the care and responsibility for Traditional Medicines and bundle items as per protocol

• Travel throughout the province will be required with advance notice

Qualifications

• Competency and a good understanding of Indigenous cultures, ways, teachings and history

• Experience with the delivery of prevention, harm reduction, outreach, education, community-based, social services, health or cultural services

• Prefer a diploma or degree in a relevant field and/or a combination of related experience, prefer qualification in adult education, learning science, Indigenous pedagogies

• Lived Experience; Experience working with people living with HIV, and/or people who use drugs and other substances

• Ability to speak openly and freely about substance use, sexuality in a sex-positive, non-judgmental manner with service users and harm reduction workers (peers)

• Ability to exercise tact, diplomacy and respect when communicating with the Indigenous communities, stakeholders, other agencies and external contacts

• Ability to work outside regular working hours as required, travel the province will be required which may include evening and weekends

• Ability to speak an Indigenous language is an asset

Skills

• Experience with Instructional Design, including designing and facilitating workshops and trainings

• Experience with developing educational materials that are accessible to diverse learning styles including best practices for adult education

• Familiarity with impact measurement and evaluation

• Familiarity with video editing software and techniques

• Trust-building and collaboration

• Precision and attention to detail is critical

• Proficient with computer technology, including Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Suite, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Educational Technology platforms, and various social media platforms

• Demonstrated interpersonal, decision-making, problem solving, conflict management, critical thinking, analytical and organizational skills

• Commitment to social justice, diversity, equity, and anti-oppression principles

• Manage multiple projects simultaneously and prioritize tasks to meet deadlines

• Demonstrated artistic abilities and creativity, with digital and print samples upon request

• Strong communication skills, including ability to practice diplomacy, obtain/provide information effectively and tactfully with team members, partners and subject matter experts
• Continuous learning and staying up to date with industry trends and best practices in visual communication and design

Oahas is committed to equitable representation and access. We strive to build an inclusive workforce that reflects the rich diversity of the communities in which we live. To this end, we strongly encourage applications from Indigenous people, and people with living/lived experience with drug use, sex work, homelessness, street involvement; those living/diagnosed with HIV or HCV; members of 2SLGBTQ+ communities, and persons with (dis)abilities.