Position Description

The Position

Reporting to the Associate Vice-President, Marketing & Communications, the Director of Marketing (DM) is responsible for the marketing of all academic and professional programs and translating institutional marketing objectives and strategy into annual program-specific promotional plans. As part of that work, the DM participates in program development with faculty, leads the development of marketing content and provides strategic direction to the admissions department in the development of prospect funnel communication plans.

The DM also leads the creative services team of designers and communicators to produce the content and collateral for all university marketing initiatives. To ensure effective and cohesive marketing, the DM consults with each department about their needs and provides strategic direction for events, flagship publications, internal communications and a wide variety of other requests. An area of special focus is collaborating with the external relations department in the development and execution of their multi-channel, segmented, mass communications to donors, alumni, parents and other stakeholder audiences.

The Director, Marketing is a 100% FTE role

Responsibilities

Academic Program Development - The DM provides marketing insight throughout the process of academic program development for undergraduate, graduate and professional (GAP) areas, participating in program development ideation through final proposals to ensure program offerings align with market opportunities. The DM also conducts and contributes “desk research” on market, industry and competitor trends and programming to ensure relevance, marketability and viability and will also develop program nomenclature and content for marketing such as program names, course names and descriptions, etc. that accurately captures the learning outcomes of the program with consideration of market trends and industry best practices.

Academic Program Marketing - Bringing together objectives from academic areas, Marketing and Admissions, the DM will develop plans to market each program to segmented audiences. The DM will develop targeted, program-specific, multi-channel plans that include print/radio/digital advertising, events and sponsorships, PR opportunities, networking and word of mouth tactics. The DM also writes, edits and directs the development of marketing content for all program-specific advertising and collateral, maintaining brand identity and messaging standards ensuring cohesive and consistent application across all channels and platforms. The will be involved in interdepartmental collaboration to ensure integration of broad, institutional marketing initiatives with program-specific plans.

Admissions Communications Planning - The DM collaborates closely with the Admissions Operations Manager and Communications Specialist to integrate program-specific marketing with prospect funnel communications.

External Relations Communications Planning - The DM collaborates closely with the Directors of Donor Relations and Strategic Relations to develop annual communication plans, content and collateral, providing strategic direction and ensuring cohesive and consistent application of brand identity and communication standards across all channels and platforms.

Creative Services Leadership - The DM leads the Creative Services team of designers and communicators who create content and collateral for all of the University’s marketing initiatives.

Preferred Skills and Attributes

• Expert knowledge of marketing strategy, practices and techniques across all platforms and tactics
• Familiarity with online digital marketing analytics
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to write, edit and direct marketing messaging (advertisements, email and web content, social media posts, print collateral, event information, personal and mass communications, fundraising content, reports, video scripts and proposals
• Ability to manage institutional brand voice across marketing and communications messaging.
• Ability to translate strategic objectives into multi-channel, segmented marketing plans - over a calendar year and within specific projects/events and lead a team to execute the plan.
• An understanding of sales cycles, communication flows, video development and production, website management, digital marketing analytics and strategies, advertising purchasing, etc.
• Ability to assess risk and make marketing decisions in collaboration with senior leaders based on risks and benefits
• Ability to lead the creative services team in an area of high public visibility and to raise awareness about the reception of messages among senior leadership and other internal stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal and networking skills to work cross-departmentally, providing insight and gaining cooperation to execute plans.
• Customer service orientation, balancing the client’s requirements with effective and aligned marketing practices.
• Deadline-oriented project management - can plan and direct the activities of self and others to ensure that projects meet deadlines
• Ability to plan, manage and monitor budgets; able to negotiate pricing agreements with outside vendors where applicable and can articulate return on investment of institutional marketing efforts
• Demonstrated research and analytical skills for the purposes of academic program development and industry trends and best practices.
• A thorough knowledge of all aspects of a university’s basic operation to be able to guide and support many different departments in their efforts to market their initiatives.

Education, Training & Certifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in marketing, media, communications, journalism or digital media and a post-grad certificate in strategic communications management or similar
• 3 or more years experience in successfully directing institutional marketing and communications
• 5 or more years experience in marketing and communications management
• Other Requirements
• Understanding of Redeemer University (mission, values, and Reformed Christian identity)

The Application Process

Applicants are requested to email their application materials (cover letter, resume, and statement of faith) in one combined pdf document. The statement of faith should articulate your faith perspective and its relation to the mission of Redeemer University. A range of qualifications are evaluated including distinguishing characteristics that demonstrate congruence with our identity as a university in the Protestant and Reformed Christian tradition. Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.