Director, Marketing & Communications

Department: Education & Social Policy
Salary/Grade: EXS/11

Job Summary:

The School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) is seeking a dynamic leader who will shape and oversee all marketing and communications efforts for the SESP community-including public relations, program recruitment, admissions, and outreach initiatives-driving impact, visibility, and engagement at every level. Working in close partnership with the Dean and SESP senior leadership, the Director must be able to strengthen the SESP brand and develop impactful marketing content and strategies that showcase and share the power of education. Main responsibilities include strategy and planning (branding, prospect/lead generation, student recruitment, event planning for admissions and key stakeholder outreach), digital communications (website development and maintenance, social media, online magazine/blogs), content (written and visual communications), contact management (databases/lists for audience segmentation), special events (lecture series, webinars), advertising (digital and traditional), and partnerships with marketing and communications service providers. The Director must be an influential leader who drives strategy through data and best practices, inspires and manages a team, and collaborates with SESP leadership to set objectives and metrics that align resources with the school's top priorities.

*Note: Not all aspects of the job are covered by this job description.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Develops and lead SESP's marketing and communication strategy aligned with the university brand and enrollment goals.
• Oversee all marketing, recruitment, and advertising budgets, annual planning, and crisis communications.
• Supervise team operations, project prioritization, implementation, and performance.
• Act as primary liaison with Deans, faculty, OGMC, and key campus partners.
• Works with key personnel to create and maintain a directory of key organizational partners to support student recruitment, placement, and career services.
• Creates and implements a comprehensive communication strategy to engage partners and facilitate connections that help our programs meet their strategic objectives.
• Lead strategic communications, oversee dashboards, and ensure brand consistency and integration across content, digital, and engagement functions.
• Guide recruitment marketing for MS programs in collaboration with admissions and program leaders.
• Manages SESP's advertising strategy, including all advertising budgets, spending, and adjustments to achieve program recruitment and admissions goals.
• Oversees the quality and management of all SESP lead data in Salesforce (e.g., prospective students, partners, donors, etc.), internal audiences (e.g., students, staff, and faculty), and external stakeholders (e.g., alumni, board members, donors, org. partners, etc.), ensuring data integrity for effective segmentation, communication, outreach, and reporting.
• Collaborates with SESP admissions, Student Affairs, and IT teams to ensure data structure alignment and quality for communications with leads and external and internal audiences (students, staff, faculty).
• Manage a school-wide editorial and event calendar and content roadmap.
• Works with Program Directors to identify admissions events/topics that will attract and engage prospective students. Creates a schedule of events for each program to help drive the flow of marketing and communications
• Leads a team of 4+ direct reports

Miscellaneous

Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, public relations or related field.
• A minimum of 10 years related experience marketing, reputation management, with increasing levels of responsibility within a complex organization.
• Demonstrated ability to create compelling and effective marketing communications content that engages target audiences
• Demonstrated ability to work with and counsel senior leadership and navigate complex crisis and issues management.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively design and implement marketing strategies in a large, decentralized environment; ability to develop a variety of high impact web, electronic, and print marketing materials.
• Broad and deep experience with web and digital marketing tools.
• Experience working with Salesforce to ensure data integrity for effective segmentation, communication, outreach, and reporting.

Preferred Qualifications:

• A master's degree in marketing, communications, media, journalism or related field
• Marketing and communications experience in a higher education or nonprofit setting
• Proficient in HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, InDesign, social media platforms and content management systems

Target hiring range for this position will be $110,000 - $130,000 per year. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant's education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

Benefits:
At Northwestern, we are proud to provide meaningful, competitive, high-quality health care plans, retirement benefits, tuition discounts and more! Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/index.html to learn more.

Work-Life and Wellness:
Northwestern offers comprehensive programs and services to help you and your family navigate life's challenges and opportunities, and adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles.
We support flexible work arrangements where possible and programs to help you locate and pay for quality, affordable childcare and senior/adult care. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/work-life/index.html to learn more.

Professional Growth & Development:
Northwestern supports employee career development in all circumstances whether your workspace is on campus or at home. If you're interested in developing your professional potential or continuing your formal education, we offer a variety of tools and resources. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/learning/index.html to learn more.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics, including disability and veteran status. View Northwestern's non-discrimination statement. Job applicants who wish to request an accommodation in the application or hiring process should contact the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance. View additional information on the accommodations process.

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