Horsesmouth is a new online social network with a real social purpose, currently in beta at www.horsesmouth.co.uk. Already named one of the top 20 UK web2.0 start-ups, horsesmouth will launch a significantly revised site in October this year. Horsesmouth is an online community for universal (aged16plus), informal online mentoring. It connects people seeking support, guidance and inspiration on the important issues in life, career and education with others who are willing to share their personal experiences. Horsesmouth has been developed as a social enterprise, and will build revenue from a mix of advertising, sponsorship, partnership and white-labelling its underlying technology. Basically the site is like an e-bay of life experiences and puts “user generated content” to the best possible use. The site is supported by Edge, a private educational foundation, and v, a government backed youth volunteering charity. Sustainability of the site will depend on a mix of revenue from sponsorship, marketing partnerships, white labelling and ongoing public funding.
After a year in design and development, principally using outside contractors, the site is ready to go to market and a full time in-house team of key managers is sought: a Visionary Editor, a Passionate Salesman and a Technical Magician!
Web Manager (Visionary Editor) c. £30 - 40k
Will “own” and manage the horsesmouth.co.uk site and community on a daily basis. They will create, generate and drive the topics, content and tools that will inspire, motivate and build the community and which keeps it fresh, rewarding and self generating. The Web Manager will act as first point of contact between the user community and horsesmouth and will work in partnership with and provide key inputs to the Technical Manager and the Business Development Manager as well as to the CEO. They will drive and execute link strategy for the site and will oversee SEO and SEM strategy and analytics. They will also report on site activity and will manage and liaise with the outsourced moderation team. They will also supervise the horsesmouth blog and ensure key inputs are regularly provided. The successful candidate will need to show a strong track record in a similar role, either, as a web manager or site editor, and ideally with user-generated content or community sites. You must be familiar with web content management and analytics systems and must be able to make basic HTML changes to the system. Excellent written and other presentational skills are a must and public speaking experience is an advantage.
Business Development Manager (Passionate Salesperson) c. £50-60k
Will “sell” and evangelise the site to sponsors, advertisers and promotional partners. Will drive and deliver revenue from a mix of sources including sponsorship, advertising and membership and marketing partnerships. The Business Development Manager will also drive a model and plan for white labelling/ customising the technology platform to private companies. We are looking to recruit an individual with a 3-5 year track record in online business development, ideally within a media, software or training/KM organisation.
Demonstrable familiarity with online advertising, sponsorship and marketing along with experience in working with third party networks and agencies. Excellent presentation skills both written and verbal are mandatory. (This role does not require fundraising).
Technical Product Manager (Technical Magician) c. £40 – 50k
Will lead the technical design, development and release process for horsesmouth. This will involve developing detailed functional specifications, prioritising new developments and managing third party suppliers to build and release new functionality. It will also involve keeping a horizon view on new functions and technologies that might be relevant to horsesmouth. The technical product manager will also supervise quality assurance for the live site.
We are looking to recruit a candidate with 3-7 years of product management experience, ideally within a media company, and with evidence of product development using “web 2.0” technologies and approaches. Evidence of a strong technical networking background is required, with competence in HTML, asp.net and MySQL essential. The role will involve working as part of the horsesmouth team, and the site’s customers, and so strong presentation and communication skills are essential.