Associate Director of Performance Marketing

Chicago, IL (On-site)

$65K/yr – $78K/yrMid Level5+ years expFull time

Posted 14 hrs ago

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Job Summary

Own and lead integrated digital marketing programs that drive enrollment through multi‑channel campaigns, advertising optimization, analytics, and vendor partnerships.

  • Owns multi‑channel campaign design and optimization against enrollment goals
  • Leads budget planning, performance analysis, and leadership reporting
  • Collaborates across web, editorial, enrollment, and academic teams to align content and user experience

Job Description

Responsibilities

  • Develops and executes integrated digital marketing strategies that support undergraduate and graduate enrollment goals.
  • Manages and optimizes paid advertising campaigns across Google Ads, Bing, Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok platforms.
  • Oversees SEO/SEM initiatives to improve website visibility, search rankings, organic traffic, and conversion performance.
  • Designs and implements multi-channel campaigns that maintain consistent institutional branding and messaging.
  • Conducts A/B testing and campaign analysis to improve click-through rates, conversion rates, lead quality, and return on investment.
  • Utilizes analytics and reporting tools to monitor campaign performance and provide actionable insights to leadership and stakeholders.
  • Serves as the primary liaison with external media vendors and agency partners to ensure campaign alignment, budget efficiency, and performance optimization.
  • Collaborates with web, editorial, enrollment, and academic teams to enhance website content, landing pages, and user experience strategies.
  • Develops and manages email marketing campaigns, automated workflows, and lead nurturing strategies to support prospective student engagement.
  • Conducts market research and audience segmentation analysis to identify recruitment opportunities and improve marketing effectiveness.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business Administration, or a related field. Master’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or related field preferred.
  • Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in digital marketing, performance marketing, or enrollment marketing.
  • Demonstrated experience managing and optimizing multi-channel digital advertising budgets.
  • Experience with marketing automation systems, CRM platforms (such as Slate), and content management systems (CMS).
  • Experience analyzing campaign performance data and presenting actionable insights to leadership.
  • Higher education marketing experience preferred.
  • Strong knowledge of paid search, SEO/SEM, paid social media, email marketing, and conversion-focused digital marketing strategies.
  • Proficiency with marketing analytics platforms, CRM systems, marketing automation tools, and content management systems (CMS).
  • Ability to analyze campaign performance data, interpret metrics, and make strategic, data-driven recommendations.
  • Knowledge of lead generation, acquisition funnels, audience segmentation, and marketing attribution methodologies.

Preferred

  • Master’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or related field preferred.
  • Higher education marketing experience preferred.

Benefits

  • Benefits
  • PTO Overview
School of the Art Institute of Chicago logo

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

For more than 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top four graduate fine arts programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, and LeRoy Neiman. For more information, please visit saic.edu.

Chicago, Illinois, USA
2K employees (174 in marketing)

Traffic Signals

Monthly Visitors
297K
Monthly Google Ads Budget
$11.2K
Traffic Source Mix
Search
53.8%
Direct
39.9%
Referral
5%
Social
0.8%
Paid
0.3%

Headcount Trend

Current headcount: ~2K

Marketing Team

Marketing Team Size
43 (2% of company)
Median Tenure
4.8 years
Marketing Roles Posted (Last 30 Days)
2

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