Although The Brothers Brick has always been committed to diversity and inclusion in both the LEGO builders we feature and our own team members, ranging from the builders in Asia that we specifically featured on Pan-Pacific Bricks or our longstanding commitment to including LGBTQ+ staff on our team, we know that we can do better. During our interview with Ekow Nimako last month, we recommitted to ensuring that our own team better represents the real diversity of the LEGO community we’re a part of. The specific roles we’re looking to fill from members of the community are Contributor (Writer) and Social Media Manager.

Contributor profile & expectations

We welcome all applications, but one look at our Contributors page today (in July 2020) shows that we’re currently skewed, with a few important exceptions, very heavily toward caucasian men. Again, we can do better.

As a TBB Contributor, you’ll collaborate with the rest of our team to highlight the news you find, showcase your favorite LEGO models from other builders, and even show off whatever you build yourself. You will be writing 3-4 new articles each week. But all that sounds easier than it actually is.

To help make sure that you’re successful as a new Contributor, here’s what we’re looking for:

• Adult LEGO builder (AFOL) aged 18 or older.
• Established track record in the AFOL community, whether on Instagram, Flickr, a LEGO fan forum, or somewhere else.
• Good communicator and writer, as evidenced in comments and forum/group discussions.
• Previous web writing experience a strong plus.

We recognize that you’re doing this during your free time. Your time commitment as a Contributor will vary depending on how quickly you typically write, how much you want to be engaged with team discussions on Slack, and so on. Some writers meet expectations within no more than an hour or two per week, while others also like to socialize, help out in multiple areas (like social media, below), build sets for review, or simply take a bit longer to craft the perfect article.

Social Media Manager profile & expectations

In addition to the core website, TBB has a strong presence on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter, with active discussions among our readers. We’d like to improve our presence and growth on each of these platforms through more consistent engagement with our readers. If you have professional experience in community engagement or social media management and would like to apply your skillset to helping support the largest LEGO fan community on the web, we want to hear from you.

We’re looking for someone with the following background and skillset:

• Experience running social media engagement at scale (hundreds of thousands of followers across multiple channels, millions of monthly reach).
• Familiarity with The Brothers Brick and the broader AFOL community.
• Strong written communication skills.
• Strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, with a willingness to wade into challenging conversations where needed.
• Knowledge of social media management tools and technology, with a willingness to recommend new platforms or systems to improve growth and engagement.
• Ability to maintain high confidentiality and discretion for embargoed news and other information you may learn through non-disclosure agreements between TBB and its partners, including the world’s largest toy manufacturer.

Responsibilities will be shared with several current team members, and the likely time commitment would be several hours per week, though more availability could produce even stronger results.

Since we’re looking for specialists with professional experience rather than general LEGO writers, please include a link to your LinkedIn profile in your application. We’ll follow up with the most promising candidates to request a résumé/CV.

TBB team roles are unpaid — The Brothers Brick is run by a bunch of passionate volunteers who write about LEGO in their spare time. All money the site earns through the support of our loyal readers goes toward server and bandwidth costs, purchasing products to review, ensuring timely news coverage of important events, sponsoring contests and fan events like BrickCon and Japan Brickfest, and helping out the LEGO fan community wherever we can.

Even though both roles are volunteer positions, being a TBB Contributor provides a genuine opportunity to participate in one of the top hobby sites in the world. If you don’t have prior web writing experience, you’ll have the opportunity to learn or improve on tangible professional skills such as writing for the web, headline writing, search engine optimization, and social media strategy. More than one TBB “alumni” has successfully referenced experience earned through contributing as a team member during professional job interviews with well-known international companies.

To apply for either or both roles, please use our standard contributor application form and indicate which role you’re interested in.