Responsibilities

• Operationalize and continue to mature the department’s annual performance effectiveness plan, championing the program with energy and discipline until data-informed decision-making becomes second nature to our entire department during the regular planning and execution of our work.
• Help teams move beyond activity-based reporting toward a deeper understanding of outcomes, impact, audience behavior, and strategic effectiveness.
• Oversee large-scale annual brand perception studies and smaller pulse studies to assess audience sentiment, brand awareness, and gaps in knowledge.
• Analyze performance across paid, earned, shared, owned, and brand-related channels to assess how effectively University Communications is reaching, engaging, and influencing key audiences.
• Analyze and report on the performance of content, channels, initiatives, and campaigns to determine their impact and effectiveness.
• Design and implement A/B tests to evaluate and refine communication strategies, ensuring that messaging resonates effectively with target audiences across various platforms and demographics.
• Serve as a consultative partner to teams across University Communications, helping colleagues interpret data and apply insights to planning and execution.
• Provide a clear, evidence-informed point of view on how results should shape communications strategy, content development, channel planning, and audience engagement.
• Translate complex data and research findings into concise, compelling narratives for leaders, communicators, and cross-functional partners.
• Provide training on interpreting and utilizing data, including metrics, trends, audience engagement, and brand perception.

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, data analytics, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in marketing research, data analytics, business intelligence, or a related field.
• Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Expertise in evaluating marketing metrics, audience behavior, and brand health.
• Proven ability to translate research data into actionable insights that inform strategic decisions.
• Experience with A/B testing, social sentiment analysis, and online reputation management.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex data and research findings clearly to non-technical audiences and demonstrate how insights can be applied to their strategies and work.
• Strong leadership skills, with experience in managing research programs and driving data-informed decision-making.
• Strong consultative skills, with the ability to collaborate across teams and influence work through insight, evidence, and clear recommendations.
• Excellent organizational and project-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and recurring reporting cycles.
• High attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy, clarity, and usefulness.
• Curiosity, sound judgment, and the ability to ask strong questions that help teams better understand performance and audience behavior.

Nice to have

• Proficiency with tools such as Excel, Snowflake, GA4, Data Studio, SQL, and other tools used for data manipulation, analysis, and reporting.
• Experience with web and social media analytics, media monitoring, email analytics, and campaign reporting.
• Experience in higher education, nonprofit, agency, media, marketing, or other complex mission-driven organizations.
• Experience helping teams adopt new measurement practices, dashboards, reporting processes, or data-informed ways of working.
• Project management experience.

Benefits

• This is an exempt-level, benefited position. Learn more about UVA benefits.