The Rust Foundation was formed in 2021 as an independent, non-profit organization to serve as a steward of the Rust programming language and its users, maintainers, and enterprise advocates. Since our work began, we have collaborated with Rust ecosystem leaders and corporate member organizations invested in Rust’s success. Through this close collaboration, the Rust Foundation has developed many programs that support the Rust language and its community. 

Over the past several years, the Rust programming language has seen significant growth in usage and popularity in the open source space and beyond. The staying power of Rust can be seen across the tech industry; In the Stack Overflow 2023 Developer Survey, Rust was named the “Most Admired Programming Language” for the eighth consecutive year and has seen a nearly 92% increase in ranking on the TIOBE Index since 2012. Some of the world's largest and most established organizations are adopting Rust as part of their stack. 

To support the growing and evolving Rust language ecosystem, the Rust Foundation will be scaling its marketing and communication efforts in a variety of areas. We are specifically dedicated to expanding our corporate membership program, further developing our events strategy, and creating a Rust Foundation training program. 

The Rust Foundation is seeking a passionate and knowledgeable Marketing Specialist to help us realize these goals. 

Objectives

The Marketing Specialist will be responsible for a number of marketing, communications, and administrative duties. Tasks will primarily fall under the following categories:

Membership

• Work with the Director of Communications & Marketing to develop a program of communications engaging with existing Rust Foundation members to foster an environment of vocal Foundation support and frequent participation while ensuring they feel valued and are well-informed.

• Work with the Director of Communications & Marketing to encourage support for and participation in Rust Foundation events, existing initiatives, and emerging programs. 

• Collaborate with the Director of Communications & Marketing to publish and promote Rust Foundation member stories and announcements. 

• Assist the Rust Foundation senior management team in building and maintaining a well-researched dashboard of member prospects. 

Events:

• Support the design, development, and delivery of international Foundation events, both online and in-person.

• Carry out the day-to-day activities and project management necessary to execute events, including liaising with contractors, suppliers, program committees, delegates, and sponsors.

• Support the development of internal staff events and meet-ups, including arranging venues and travel arrangements.

• Assist in the creation of event marketing materials for Rust Foundation events including web copy, marketing emails, and social media campaigns, to drive registration and engagement.

• Coordinate with external representatives for Rust Foundation-sponsored community events to carry out required activities and promotion.

• Collaborate with the Director of Communications & Marketing to build, maintain, and utilize a list of event CFPs and speaking opportunities for Foundation spokespeople and leaders. 

Training: 

• Research the online open source learning and certification market, providing the senior management team with clear options and recommendations for the Rust Foundation in developing learning materials

• Work with the Director of Communications & Marketing to plan our approach to developing and delivering online learning materials, managing relationships and arrangements with suppliers/contractors, and supporting the development of the materials 

Other administrative and marketing-related duties will be required.

Experience

Required:

• 4+ years of experience working in an external-facing marketing/communications role.

• Experience delivering a wide range of high-quality and professional marketing materials, content, and research.

• Demonstrable excellence in written and verbal communication, with a track record of developing effective content and messaging for a diverse technical audience.

• Successful background working in the events/communications space, with the ability to work independently, collaboratively, and with initiative to organize professional and engaging events/conferences.

• Comfortable when operating in an international environment, understanding cultural differences and sensitivities, and ensuring events and communications are suitable for the target audience.

• Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills.

• Capacity to meet asynchronously with collaborators on the West Coast of the United States and Europe. Your manager and primary collaborator would be located in the Pacific Time Zone.

Preferred:

• Experience creating/contributing to marketing and research deliverables such as surveys, executive presentations, and annual reports

• Demonstrable experience communicating complex ideas to a wide range of audiences 

• Project management skills with demonstrated ability to meet campaign deadlines and juggle priorities in a fast-paced, asynchronous, and remote environment.

• Technology industry experience preferred.

Nice to Have:

• Working knowledge of email marketing and social media platforms.

• Familiarity with technology marketing/communications (in particular, open source technology/communities)

• Operations experience