Web Content Specialist

Position Summary Reporting to the Director, Web Services the Web Content Specialist manages content projects that align with University strategic initiatives and web priorities. This role creates marketing-critical content and writes/edits key content for Laurier’s core web properties. This role works collaboratively with departments across the university to plan, write and edit content for wlu.ca, students.wlu.ca, and the staff and faculty intranet Connect. This role provides necessary support for web content contributors and creators throughout the university. The Web Content Specialist develops and delivers training programs on writing for the web, information architecture development, and analytics to ensure users across the university have critical knowledge to support Laurier’s digital landscape. This position is a central contributor to the university’s reputation management program, ensuring the university’s external and internal web presence is aligned with brand standards and institutional messaging. This position has a university-wide mandate and is based at the Waterloo Campus. The incumbent provides subject matter expertise to all campuses, requiring regular interpersonal interactions and collaboration with departments at the Waterloo Campus, the Brantford Campus, the Toronto office and external partners. Special attention is given to ensure equitable service delivery across all locations. Accountabilities Working with External Relations and ICT colleagues, the Web Content Specialist plays a key role in Laurier’s web content strategy. Content Creation Develops content for top-level, marketing-critical landing pages. Writes features and profiles for the web. Prepares internal communication materials for publishing within the intranet Ensures content uses key words and phrases to effectively optimize search engine parameters as determined within the web’s SEO strategy. Ensures content layouts meet the requirements of university stakeholders while aligning with site and user experience standards. Upholds and champions the the web style guide, voice and tone for the university. Ensures accessibility compliance on core web properties and participates in accessibility enhancements. Analysis & Documentation Makes recommendations about changes or enhancements to the CMS based on user requests or patterns within support inquiries. Tracks service, support and project requests and builds a knowledge base for future inquiries, including evolution of web editor training curriculum. Creates detailed documentation for new functionality developed within the CMS. Contributes to institution-wide communications plans for cross-departmental projects. Consultation / Training Provides support and recommendations to university web editors regarding content development and evolution, analytics, information architecture, accessibility standards, and SEO. Provides ongoing training for new web editors, facilitate drop-in sessions, and contributes to the development and delivery of topical workshops. Creates and implements communications and support resources to empower the web editor community. Develops and maintains Laurier’s online web editor training program. Establishes and maintains strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, deploying negotiation tactics to achieve client buy-in that aligns with university web strategies. Day-to-Day Support Provides timely support to web editors to assist with questions, formatting, publishing issues and generally facilitates their use of the CMS systems, developing and maintaining strong, positive relationships with colleagues throughout the university. Serves as a liaison with ICT and university web developers regarding issues reporting and other enhancements to the CMS. Participates in all levels of regression testing with web project team members. Audits and optimizing site content for broken links, spelling, quality, accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO). Leadership and Accountability Maintains a comprehensive, holistic understanding of Laurier’s digital landscape and provides recommendations to clients and peers that balance university objectives, client objectives, user needs/expectations, and web strategy. Manages web content projects to establish and elevate the web presence and content strategies for clients across the university. Creates workback schedules and leads client meetings to support the creation of web content that achieves client and university objectives. Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in communications, journalism, public relations or related discipline. At least five (5) years experience in communications, web technology or a related field with a focus on web and digital communications, preferably at an educational institution. Minimum of two years of experience with an enterprise-level content management system (CMS); Cascade by Hannon Hill preferred. Knowledge of web accessibility and AODA legislation. Superior written and verbal communication skills, including work experience writing news, feature stories, web and marketing content. Demonstrated experience in creating information architectures and labelling. Superior proofreading skills. Work experience as a mentor and trainer in web best practices. Effective communicator and presenter to mixed audiences. Superior interpersonal skills and proven ability to work in a collaborative environment. Aptitude to develop and maintain strong working relationships with both internal and external stakeholders. Knowledge of current best practices for analytics, search and search-engine optimization. Knowledge of HTML is an asset. Prior experience with all or any of the following tools is highly desirable: Cascade Server, SharePoint, Google Analytics, and/or SiteImprove Strong problem-solving and prioritizing skills in a multi-task environment. Proven ability to work effectively under deadlines in a high-pressure environment, and juggle several assignments simultaneously. Hours of Work This is a Full-time, Limited-term opportunity with an anticipated contract length of 2 years. The normal hours of work are 8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday. Flexibility in hours may be required, including evening and/or weekend work due to periods of high volume. When possible, the manager will adjust hours to ensure no more than 35 hours are worked in a week. This position is eligible for a flexible work arrangement, as per Policy 8.14 (Flexible Work Policy). All arrangement must be approved by the direct manager. In-person attendance for events, as required to meet operational needs, is expected. On occasion, this schedule may need to be adjusted to meet operational requirements As per Article 12.7.6, prior approval from a manager is required to return to a previous position after a Limited-Term Position. Compensation Level: F Rate of Pay: $47.26 - $49.97 per hour with an annual step progression on anniversary date up to $54.01 per hour. Considerations for new hire step placements include, qualifications and length/depth of required experience, relevant market rates for similar jobs, internal equity, and estimated learning curve in starting the job. Wilfrid Laurier University endeavors to fill positions with qualified candidates who have a combination of education, experience, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position while demonstrating Laurier's Employee Success Factors. Equity, diversity and creating a culture of inclusion are part of Laurier’s core values and central to the Laurier Strategy. Laurier is committed to increasing the diversity of faculty and staff and welcomes applications from candidates who identify as Indigenous, racialized, having disabilities, and from persons of any minority sexual and gender identities. Indigenous candidates who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact the Office of Indigenous Initiatives. Candidates from other equity deserving groups who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact Equity & Accessibility. We have strived to make our application process accessible, however if you require any assistance applying for a position or would like this job posting in an alternative format, please contact Human Resources. Contact information can be found at  Should you be interested in learning more about this opportunity, please visit for additional information and the online application system. All applications must be submitted online. Please note, a resume and cover letter will be required in electronic form. Please note, when pre-screening questions are used as part of the application process, AI is utilized to score responses. All other aspects of the hiring process are reviewed by our Talent Acquisition team.