Community Engagement Specialist
Designer Fund is a venture fund and design partner that invests in early-stage technology companies where design is central to value creation. It supports founders with product and brand design, hiring, fundraising, and access to a design-focused community.
About Designer Fund
Designer Fund invests in early-stage startups from pre-seed through Series A that use design to improve health, sustainability, and prosperity. The fund provides capital, design strategy, product and brand guidance, design hiring support, fundraising assistance, investor introductions, and access to the Designer Fund Collective of founders, advisors, and design leaders. Its portfolio includes technology companies serving sectors such as financial infrastructure, healthcare, developer tools, collaboration, climate technology, and productivity.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will lead community engagement efforts for a high-visibility transit network relaunch in Mobile, AL, combining relationship-driven community work with a milestone-driven launch playbook. You'll own the full engagement plan from pre-launch outreach through post-launch follow-up, working closely with riders, caregivers, community organizations, and city leadership to ensure messaging is careful, inclusive, and credible. This is a contract role requiring full-time in-person presence in Mobile, AL.
Requirements
- 5+ years in community engagement, advocacy, public affairs, or nonprofit partnership roles, or equivalent consulting experience in public-facing programs
- Proven success building trust with community organizations, especially disability, senior, and equity-focused stakeholders
- Comfortable in politically sensitive environments
- Experience facilitating trainings, focus groups, and partner meetings
- Track record delivering measurable outreach outcomes
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Self-directed on a part-time contract, able to manage own plan, trackers, and invoices
- Mobile, AL / Gulf South experience or demonstrated ability to work credibly in a mid-size Southern city strongly preferred
- Valid driver's license and reliable transportation for regular field work required
Responsibilities
- Own and execute the community engagement plan for the network redesign, including rebranding and network changes
- Build trusted relationships with community organizations, advocates, and local leaders
- Recruit champion partner organizations and lead train-the-trainer sessions
- Drive distribution of digital and print education toolkits across Mobile
- Plan and lead community events, tabling, and on-the-ground outreach at transit hubs, hospitals, colleges, and senior-serving locations
- Facilitate rider focus groups and listening sessions and translate insights into recommendations
- Design and deliver accessibility-, paratransit-, and senior-focused education sessions
- Distribute rider- and organization-facing materials such as FAQs, one-pagers, and toolkits
- Support municipal and partner briefings with talking points and pre-read materials
- Flag community concerns and recommend ways to address them before they escalate
- Serve as the senior local point of contact for community questions and concerns
- Mentor a field intern on outreach tracking, event support, and weekly feedback capture
- Provide regular written updates on outreach progress, feedback themes, and risks
