Senior Marketing and Production Manager (South Africa)

Who we are 

Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust and need.

From chat-bots to chat-shows and TV dramas to tech, our content is reaching millions of girls in Africa and Asia to make choices and changes in their lives. Igniting their confidence to act differently at a time that can define their future.

Background to the role

Girl Effect uses a branded media approach toward delivering behavioural change messaging. We reach girls across the world, where they are -online and offline, to support them at the critical moments in life when choices around their health, education, and economic future need to be made. 

We use our expertise in behaviour change science to motivate and equip girls with information and support to help them see a different future for themselves, act on those choices, and drive greater demand for the opportunities and services available to them. 

We have launched a youth brand in South Africa called Jik'iZinto’, that inspires hope and unlocks change for young people. Jik’iZinto is a youth brand that is designed to propel this generation of young South Africans towards their full potential. Through its mix of products, Jik’iZinto inspires and equips young people with the tools to make positive choices in their lives. From capturing authentic insights to understanding youth’s dreams, challenges, and needs, to finally understand adolescent decision-making, Jik’izinto will not only motivate young people but also harness this motivation towards positive actions like applying for a job, speaking to a doctor, or going for an HIV test. This will help build demand for services that are available but highly underutilised. 

Girl Effect’s Jik’izinto programme leverages an integrated ecosystem of platforms, including the Big Sis chatbot, Dichipi TV, Dichipi Unfiltered podcast, and an interactive web app, designed using behavioural science to shift attitudes and drive meaningful action. These platforms have demonstrated a measurable impact in improving knowledge, changing behaviours, and increasing uptake of essential services. In FY25, Jik’izinto reached 2.7 million young people across South Africa through a blend of broadcast, digital, and community-based channels. The programme weaves together content on SRHR, mental health, and economic empowerment. By embedding these topics into engaging, relatable storytelling and linking audiences to youth-friendly services, Jik’izinto supports girls and young people in making informed decisions and accessing the support they need.

Over the next 3 years, Jik’iZinto wants to reach 3.5 million young people (with a focus on adolescent girls and young women between the ages of 18-24), educate and shift knowledge drivers for 2M, and have 120,000 people access products and services. 

To achieve this, the Senior Marketing and Production Manager will be part of a team that builds an authentic brand, one that walks alongside young people as they reach for their dreams. This journey will start with awareness, strengthen motivation and ability, build intent, and finally lead towards action. We want to be present where young people are- not leaving anyone behind just because they don’t have access to a smartphone.

Context of the role

We are looking for someone to lead the strategising, development, marketing, and distribution of content, products, and branded experiences in South Africa.

This is a highly cross-functional role that partners closely with leaders to ensure that smart strategies are set, initiatives are rigorously prioritized, concrete plans are developed, and our teams are organised to succeed. 

What you will do

As the Senior Marketing and Production Manager, you will be responsible for developing and executing the creative and marketing and distribution strategies for our programme(s) across South Africa – media content, chatbots, activations, and communities. On occasion, this may require you to work with an external agency to ensure that we are utilising the right people, processes, and principles to produce great activations, marketing, and distribution results. 

In this context, the role will need to be able to move, sometimes rapidly, from detailed, hands-on execution and supervision of execution, to high-level discussions on the strategic direction of our work. You will also support the Programme Lead in understanding how the creative and marketing strategy will need to inform the selection of the right channels, formats, and creative concepts. You will also work closely with our Evidence & Impact team to ensure that we are designing our campaigns in a way that we can best capture learnings around specific areas, for example, the ‘value for money’ data for on-ground versus digital.  Your responsibilities on a day-to-day basis include, but are not limited to:

Create and Marketing

• Building a creative, marketing and distribution strategy for our brand(s) and their products in South Africa, taking inputs from research, Youth Advisory Panel, multi-market colleagues, including the Senior Director Media Programming Practices, and other stakeholders. Ensuring that the creative and marketing strategies are aligned with the brand and programme objectives. 
• Building marketing capacity - whether via an agency or in-house- and onboarding, training and managing any in-house consultants - in order to deliver the marketing strategy. 
• Supporting the Programme Lead in ensuring that engaging, strategically relevant content is regularly being delivered across all the decided touchpoints - mass and social media, communities, chatbot, etc. - weekly, monthly, and annual content calendar design and delivery 
• Creating a marketing and rollout calendar and ensuring that it is socialised across stakeholders and kept updated.
• Monitoring and tracking data, working closely with the Global Digital Marketing Manager,  to ensure that learnings are being incorporated into the marketing design. 
• Developing and socialising marketing reports and learnings.
• Working closely with data analytics colleagues to ensure successful tracking and visualisation of data in our dashboards.
• Building on and evolving innovative ways in which to create and deliver content and product experiences that will deliver on the goals of the South African brand(s) and country strategy.
• Understanding the learnings and data presented by the E&I team and working to improve the programme implementation and brand marketing - being a key part of the MERL (monitoring, evaluation, and learning) process.

Production

• Personally manage end-to-end production/activation projects with agencies, freelancers, and internal teams to deliver high-quality, multi-platform campaigns on time and within budget.
• Maintain and improve production timelines, budgets, workflows, and approvals, ensuring cost- and time-efficiency across projects.
• Work closely with the Programme and SBCC Managers to integrate feedback, enhance creative outputs, and align content with campaign calendars.
• Continuously push for process improvements, creative excellence, and innovative content approaches to boost engagement and brand impact.
• Lead on procurement, content rollout, and performance tracking (daily, weekly, and campaign-level), ensuring accountability and measurable results.

This list should not be considered exhaustive; the post holder will be expected to deliver other duties relevant and appropriate to this position.

Who you are

• Deeply aligned with our mission and committed to empowering adolescent girls.
• Knowledgeable about, and ideally have lived experience in, the countries where we work.
• Empathetic, curious, and an excellent communicator.
• A thoughtful listener who seeks to understand needs and is driven to find the best solutions.
• Supportive and highly collaborative, helping teams and partners build their skills and knowledge.
• Open and honest, including about areas where we can improve.
• Resourceful and intentional, making efficient use of resources and spending thoughtfully to maximise impact.
• Excited by technology and exploring content through products like chatbots, communities, blogs, etc. 

Work Experience & Education 

• A Degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) in a relevant field, such as Business, Project Management, Production and Marketing required. Sector-specific certifications are preferred, but not essential.
• Proven experience working within the non-profit sector is required. Experience in health-related content/Behaviour Change content production in the field of Health and Economic Empowerment is a significant plus.
• Minimum 8-10 years of experience in Media Production and/or Marketing, with at least 3-4 of those years having been spent in Digital marketing.  Ideally, this experience will be a mix of in-house and agency roles.
• 5+ years of experience directly managing members of marketing/creative teams, helping them run ad operations and optimise promotions, bring concepts to life, refining and evolving them.
• Effective project management skills to plan, prioritise, and allocate time to tasks and activities to achieve milestones and goals within a tight timeline. 
• Demonstrable experience in developing and successfully executing marketing strategies and campaigns for a variety of brands and products. 
• Strong interest and knowledge about content and marketing trends across digital, media, short and long-form content.
• An understanding of the social media and entertainment industry, including knowledge of different sectors such as music, film, television, radio, and influencers.
• Experience & proven success managing large social media campaigns, working with complex, multi-geography projects with multiple stakeholders.
• Hold an excellent portfolio that demonstrates deep integrated thinking and strong brand-building capabilities.
• Ability to interact meaningfully with people of diverse backgrounds, personalities, and expertise.
• Strong cultural awareness and sensitivity about the cultures within which Girl Effect operates.
• Ability to juggle multiple projects efficiently in a fast-paced environment while delivering outstanding results 
• Experience working remotely with colleagues and/or field agencies and the ability to work effectively and collaboratively in multicultural teams with varying expertise, skills and backgrounds.

What else you should know

As we continue to scale and grow - we are hugely ambitious for our future and we are looking for people who are driven to change the world for girls.

Our teams are a diverse mix across sectors (non-profit and commercial) and specialisms (from Brand and Creative through to Gender and Insight). You’ll learn and grow in an environment that will challenge you to think and work with a fresh perspective. In turn, you can expect to work somewhere where you will be stretched and developed in your role, a place where you can build your career and work with talented, engaged people committed to our cause.

Girl Effect is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We are committed to building an organization that is increasingly representative of the communities that we serve. To this end, due regard will be paid to recruiting candidates with diverse professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all those we work with and for, especially children and young people. We expect all staff to share this commitment, uphold standards in our safeguarding policy and our code of conduct. In particular:

• To take reasonable steps to prevent any harm caused by Girl Effect
• To report any safeguarding concerns through the reporting pathways

Please note that this is a remote role (some local travel, not exceeding 30% of time)

This role is being recruited on a 12-month fixed term contract basis.

This role is subject to a standard background check.

Application closing date –9th October 2025