The Communities Advocate is responsible for developing and managing good communication and collaboration between, and amongst, the Rust project and user communities and Rust Foundation. The Communities Advocate will be an active communicator within the Rust communities, liaising with Project Teams and Working Groups to stay up to date with current activities, supporting collaboration between Project and Foundation actors, and championing current and new initiatives to sustain, secure and grow the Rust language. The Communities Advocate will work with the Rust Foundation team, the Rust Project Teams and Working Groups, individual maintainers and the wider Rust communities around the world to develop clear, cordial and productive working relationships.

Responsibilities

Community relations and advocacy

• Communicate actively with all teams and working groups across the Rust Project Teams, Working Groups and other interest groups, keeping informed of Project activity and disseminating information across the community.  This will include, but is not limited to:

  • Meeting regularly with the Project Teams and Working Groups to both understand their communication needs and be appraised of their work and priorities

  • Building and maintaining strong communication channels (and any required supporting materials/updates) between the various Project Teams and Working Groups

  • Supporting the Project Teams and Working Groups in communicating with the wider Rust ecosystem of contributors and users

• Act as an effective ‘bridge’ between the community and the Foundation, ensuring information flows in both directions, and promoting positive relationships

• Identify opportunities for the Foundation to provide support to the community, and to champion/amplify activities occurring within the community

• Work with Rust Foundation Fellows and Grantees to ensure they have the support and connections they need to maximize their impact 

• Work with the Rust Foundation staff to develop clear and appropriate messaging, and to ensure that relevant parties feel informed, engaged and valued

• Work with the community to improve understanding of the Foundation’s role, its scope and its limitations

• Represent the Rust Foundation and its interests effectively in a wide range of circumstances, including at external online and in-person events 

Organization and collaboration 

• Identify opportunities for collaboration amongst the community, and between the community, the Rust Foundation and the wider user community

• Facilitate collaborative processes, including providing organizational and administrative support

• Contribute to the ongoing iterations of the Community Grants Program, providing advice and input into how it can be most effective

• Provide ideas, feedback and contributions to relevant Project initiatives

Skills and experience

• Active experience of working/contributing within an open source project community, ideally the Rust Project or related Rust frameworks 

• Experienced in communicating with a range of stakeholders with different interests and priorities

• Excellent listening skills, with the ability to empathize with different points of view, the ability to facilitate compromise, and adapt to fast changing or challenging situations

• Ability to develop a rapport with Project, Foundation and Member stakeholders

• Experience of managing projects/processes

• Ability to understand and explain complex concepts and information clearly and concisely

• Ability to work directly with software developers, with a desire to highlight the Rust community’s achievements and successes. 

• Experience of supporting collaborative processes, such as providing meeting organization and administrative support (such as minute-taking) to multi-stakeholder working groups

• Experience of dealing with issues of a sensitive or confidential nature, and the ability to act with discretion 

• Experience of communicating across a range of different platforms, such as GitHub, Zulip, Slack, Discord etc