Director of Alumni Communications and Marketing Programs

Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. We thrive on finding and cultivating talented people who are passionate about what they do. Join us and be a part of the diverse Caltech community.

Job Summary

The California Institute of Technology ("Caltech" or "Institute") values the unique character of its alumni who are making extraordinary contributions in science, engineering, and society around the world. The Director of Alumni Communications and Marketing Programs is an entrepreneurial self-starter that supports the work of the Alumni Relations Office and facilitates sustaining and deepening lifelong and mutually beneficial relationships between alumni and the Caltech community.

Within the division of Advancement and Alumni Relations (AAR), this position reports directly to the Assistant Vice President, Alumni Relations and CEO of the Caltech Alumni Association (CAA) (501c3). The Director develops strategy and leads all aspects of alumni communication, event and program marketing, and digital engagement through printed materials, the web, Techer Professional Network, Anthology, social media and other related platforms. The Director's work is executed in partnership with Advancement Communications.

Requiring strong management, thoughtful and strategic marketing and communications skills, ability to segment multi-faceted audiences, use data analysis to inform strategy and decision making. This position is responsible for fostering productive relationships with academic departments, alumni affinity groups, peer organizations, team members, and campus colleagues to advance alumni relations efforts.

Essential Job Duties

• Leads efforts to develop, implement and monitor the alumni relations strategic marketing and communications plan, and all program management and evaluation efforts.
• Build and leverage mutually beneficial working relationships with academic departments, administrative units, peer institutions, external vendors and organizations to advance Caltech's alumni relations efforts.
• Within the communications and marketing guidelines of AAR, seeks out and oversees content creation and acquisition, brand alignment, and data informed marketing for all alumni relations programs that require branded and signature marketing:
  
  
  
  • Sets strategies for communication and marketing segmentation and measures effectiveness and return on effort and target audience impact.
  • Directs branded content and marketing program initiatives, including marketing plan development, segmentation and messaging strategy, and vendor selection.
  • Creates content and opportunities for enhanced information exchanges between and among alumni and between and among alumni, student, faculty and staff.
  • Performs regular audience and market segmented research to identify opportunities to improveeffectiveness, internal processes and provide analysis and recommendations to management.
  • Directs and implements marketing plan for revenue initiatives, alumni services, and alumni events and programming.
  • Manages content creation and segmented distribution for alumni stories including web, print, and Techer magazine for various target audiences.
  • Monitors, leverages and repurposes Caltech news, information and achievements to share with alumni globally in a timely manner.
  
  
  
  
• As a member of the Alumni Relations management team, this position plays an integral role in creating a positive team culture and the development of annual strategic and operating plans to meet key objectives.
• In compliance and alignment with Caltech and AAR branding and communications brand policies and procedures, develops and implements brand standards to include all messaging, artwork, emails, websites,alumni email service, electronic and print communications, promotions, and alumni experiences.
• Sets strategy and manages the virtual alumni community focused on alumni career networking and works in partnership with campus career services to develop and implement a robust alumni/student mentorship/coaching program.
• Works in collaboration with AVP and Director of Finance and Facilities to manage and track budget for marketing and communications efforts for events, contractors, print and virtual assets.
• Reports on marketing and communication goals and trends to the Caltech Alumni Association Board and the AAR division and other constituents as requested. Creates accurate, longitudinal, data-forward presentations that share the successes and opportunities for alumni engagement through marketing and communications.
• Supervises alumni relations communication and marketing team members. Hires, develops, evaluates, and manages the performance of staff.
• Participates in alumni relations experiences (including evenings and weekends), CAA Board of Directors meetings, AAR and alumni relations staff meetings, and represents the Alumni Association and Caltech across campus and in the alumni community.
• Produces documents and reports, and other duties as assigned by the AVP.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience with seven or more years of experience in alumni and/or development communications, marketing, or branding.
• Prior management/supervisory experience, with the ability to exercise leadership skills including diplomacy, confidentiality, and business acumen.
• Detailed project management experience and ability to present information to an audience.
• Database Experience, with proficiency using software such as PeopleGrove, Encompass Anthology, Asana, Squarespace, Advance, Zoom, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft applications, etc.
• Strong communicator with excellent written, verbal, and social media skills. Will have an eye on the current digital environment and an interest in or experience with social media marketing trends and digital strategy.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and diplomacy with proven experience developing relationships with volunteers.
• Ability to work well under pressure and lead multiple short and long-term projects simultaneously setting and meeting deadlines.
• Ability to work productively in complex organizations and on a team with multiple ongoing projects with differing priorities.
• Some travel, evening and weekend work required.
• Demonstrate the ability to practice and adhere to organizational values.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in higher education, in alumni relations and/or advancement.
• An authentic curiosity about science and technology, a strong appreciation for the extraordinary intellectual accomplishments and challenges of Caltech students, alumni and faculty, and patience to learn the unique culture of Caltech.
• Degree in marketing and branding, communication, advertising, public relations, art or photography.

• Required Documents
• Resume.
• Cover Letter.