Director, Marketing & Community Relations

About CKUA
CKUA is recognized as Canada’s first public broadcaster, and it continues to inspire and guide a world-wide community of loyal arts and culture enthusiasts along a journey of musical discovery every day. CKUA offers more than 45 expertly curated multi-genre musical programs, plus other enriching arts and cultural content on-air and online. CKUA serves 380 communities across Alberta with FM Radio and reaches listeners around the world with live-streaming and digital content through CKUA.com, the CKUA App, and social platforms. We are an inclusive, creative, hardworking group on a musical mission to enrich lives and support the arts.

Director, Marketing & Community Relations

Location: Edmonton, AB | Hybrid | Full-Time

About the Opportunity

At CKUA, every note we play and every story we share is part of something bigger; a century-long conversation with our community. As we approach our 100th anniversary, we are looking for a Director, Marketing & Community Relations to help lead how we take the stage in the world, ensuring our presence is as clear, engaging, and memorable as the music we share.

This is not just about campaigns or events. It is about shaping the way people experience CKUA, from a listener hearing us for the first time, to a longtime supporter feeling more connected than ever. You will lead an integrated portfolio of marketing, communications, events, partnerships, and volunteer engagement, ensuring that everything we put into the world reflects our purpose, values, and cultural impact.

Overseeing three managers and a department of approximately 20 people, including full-time, part-time, casual, and temporary team members, you will guide a talented and diverse team in delivering creative, high-impact work that connects CKUA with audiences and communities across Alberta and beyond.

As an integral member of our senior leadership team, you will bring a collaborative, big-picture approach, connecting teams, aligning priorities, and ensuring CKUA’s story is told in harmony, where every note, from a social media post to a community event, works together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. You will help us tune every part of the organization to the same key, so our work resonates as one.

How You’ll Make an Impact

Your days will blend strategic leadership with hands-on collaboration in a role where creativity, connection, and momentum are part of the everyday rhythm. One day you might be shaping a province-wide audience engagement campaign; the next, ensuring a fundraising appeal, media interview, and a concert in CKUA’s Beresh Arts Den all share the same clear, consistent voice. You will work closely with colleagues across CKUA to align messaging, guide communications, and create experiences that connect with both new and longtime supporters.

You will oversee both the creative and strategic sides of CKUA’s communications, from proactive storytelling and media engagement to responsive messaging when the moment calls for it. You will ensure our public voice is authentic, inclusive, and aligned, and you will keep internal communications clear and connected so our teams stay informed and engaged.

You will guide your team with curiosity and care, supporting their growth while encouraging new ideas. You will keep your ear to the ground, listening to audiences, gathering insights, and ensuring our strategies stay in tune with the communities we serve.

This is a role where strategy meets hands-on leadership. While you will set direction and guide the big picture, you will also roll up your sleeves, whether that is reviewing campaign creative, refining a press release, pitching in on a major event, or helping shape a public statement under deadline.

Why Choose CKUA

CKUA is a one-of-a-kind place where people bring both heart and expertise to what they do, and where culture, community, and curiosity are part of everyday life, whether that is in our historic Alberta Hotel building or at a music festival stage across the province. We are a registered charity and nonprofit public broadcaster with nearly a century of history and an even more exciting future ahead. Our programming connects people through music, stories, and a shared sense of wonder about the world.

Here, you will be building something lasting, shaping how CKUA’s voice is heard, seen, and felt across Alberta and beyond. It is a future where culture thrives, artists are supported, and communities feel connected. You will work in an environment that blends strategy with spontaneity, and where success looks like collaboration, creativity, and shared impact.

You will join a team of passionate, values-driven people who care about the work and the people doing it. This is a place where you can show up as yourself, contribute meaningfully, and help set the tempo for what comes next.

What We Offer

Purpose That Hits All the Right Notes – Lead work that fuels culture, connection, and creativity across Alberta.

A Seat at the Strategy Table – Be part of shaping CKUA’s next chapter, with a voice that influences the big picture.

Room to Make Your Mark – Bring your ideas to life and see them create lasting impact in communities across the province.

A Role With Reach – Build relationships with artists, cultural leaders, media, and partners who are shaping Alberta’s creative future.

A Workplace That Feels Like a Community – Join a team that values kindness, authenticity, and collaboration, where your work is seen and appreciated.

Flexibility and Balance – A hybrid work model with room for autonomy, creativity, and meaningful work-life integration.

Benefits That Back You Up – CKUA’s total rewards includes a comprehensive health and dental coverage, plus a pension plan.

A Workspace with Character – Our historic downtown Edmonton building is full of warmth, history, and just the right number of vinyl records.

Work That Leaves a Legacy – Play a key role in shaping CKUA’s next century and ensuring its cultural impact continues for generations to come.

What You Bring

You are a proven and trusted leader who thrives on connecting people, ideas, and priorities. You have led multi-disciplinary teams, built brands that resonate, and created strategies that inspire action. You understand how to move seamlessly between big-picture vision and hands-on execution.

You are a natural collaborator who believes the best work happens when every part of the organization is playing from the same songbook. You know how to navigate complex projects, build meaningful partnerships, and keep messaging consistent, even when timelines are tight. You measure success not only through creative output but also through tangible results like audience growth, engagement, event participation, partner satisfaction, and brand strength.

You bring expertise in both proactive and responsive communications, from media relations to internal updates, ensuring that every message strengthens connection and trust. Your leadership style is values-driven, inclusive, and grounded in the belief that creativity and strategy work best when they work together.

If you see yourself shaping CKUA’s voice, connecting communities, and leading with both vision and heart, this might be your next stage.

Additional Information

This is a full-time position based in CKUA’s downtown Edmonton office, located in the historic Alberta Hotel and offering a hybrid working environment. The salary range for this position starts at $100,400 per year and includes a comprehensive benefits package. While we know salary is important, CKUA offers more than just a paycheque, you’ll be joining a creative, community-focused workplace and benefiting from a strong total rewards program.

How to Apply

If you’re ready to bring your heart, mind, and storytelling leadership across marketing, communications, and community connection to an organization that unites people through music, arts, and culture, we’d love to hear from you.

Please apply online at https://ckua.com/careers/  This position will be posted until our unicorn (read: ideal candidate) is found. 

CKUA welcomes applications from all qualified individuals. We are particularly interested in and encourage applications from equity-seeking communities, including women, racialized and Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions.

CKUA is a donor-supported arts organization that inspires and connects through the power of music, arts, culture and story. With a focus on musical discovery, we showcase the best creative work from Alberta and beyond and deliver it on-air, online and in-person.

In the spirit of our journey to promote reconciliation, we honour the truth of the shared history and acknowledge that we operate on Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 territories.

Treaty 6 territory is the traditional gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples including the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakoda, Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway, Saulteaux/Anishinaabe and many others whose histories, languages and cultures continue to influence our vibrant community of Amiskwaciwaskahigan, also known as Edmonton. Treaty 7 is the traditional lands of the Blackfoot Confederacy which includes the Siksika, Kainai and Pikani, the Tsuut’ina and the Stoney Nakoda nations including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley nations. We also recognize the Métis people and the Inuit who make their home in Mohkins’tsis, also known as Calgary.