Responsibilities

• Set the direction. Develop and lead a comprehensive, school-wide marketing, communications, and brand strategy aligned with the Dean's priorities and the school's strategic plan.
• Advise at the top. Serve as a senior advisor to the Dean and leadership team on positioning, reputation, audience strategy, and external messaging.
• Build and lead the team. Directly supervise the Communications Manager and social media interns; recruit, onboard, and develop talent; build an accountable, collaborative team culture with clear roles and high standards.
• Manage partners and budget. Steward the function's budget and external vendor partnerships, including agencies, photographers, videographers, and media buyers, to extend the team's capacity and protect quality.
• Own the brand. Define and steward the school's brand identity, voice, and visual standards, ensuring a consistent and elevated presence across every audience and channel.
• Lead PR. Lead earned-media and public relations strategy, building relationships with national, regional, and trade outlets to elevate faculty thought leadership, student outcomes, and school milestones.
• Tell the story. Oversee signature storytelling and content production across web, email, social, video, print, and event collateral, ensuring a consistent voice and visual identity at every touchpoint.
• Partner with development. Partner closely with the school's development and alumni relations teams to align marketing strategy with fundraising priorities, campaign messaging, and donor-facing communications.
• Make the case. Lead the creation of case-for-support materials, campaign collateral, donor stories, impact reports, and stewardship communications that support the Dean and the development team in advancing the school's philanthropic priorities.
• Engage alumni. Elevate alumni storytelling and engagement programming so that alumni see themselves, and want to stay close to the school across the full arc of their careers.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required. Advanced degree preferred (MBA, master’s in marketing, communications, business, or a related field).
• At least five years of experience, 3 years supervisory or team leadership experience.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing a comprehensive, multi-channel marketing, communications, or external engagement strategy.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience writing for and presenting to senior audiences.
• Working knowledge of digital marketing, CRM or marketing automation platforms, web content management, and marketing analytics.

Preferred

• Experience.Ten or more years of progressively responsible leadership experience in marketing, communications, advancement, public relations, or a closely related external-facing function.
• Senior leadership. Significant senior-level experience leading marketing, communications, or brand functions in higher education, advancement and philanthropy, professional services, or a comparably complex mission-driven environment.
• Advancement partnership. Demonstrated track record of partnering with development, advancement, or alumni teams to advance fundraising, donor engagement, and constituent relationships.
• Recruitment marketing. Experience leading recruitment, enrollment, or audience-acquisition marketing, ideally across multiple programs or product lines.
• People and budget leadership. Proven success building and leading high-performing teams, and managing meaningful budgets with discipline and transparency.
• Stakeholder navigation. Experience operating in a federated environment with many internal stakeholders and bringing them into alignment without heavy-handed control.
• Storytelling. A storyteller at heart, with a strong editorial instinct and the ability to translate complex ideas into clear, human narratives.
• Strategic judgment. Strategic and analytical, able to set direction, prioritize ruthlessly, and use data to make and defend decisions.
• Brand instinct. Sophisticated brand sensibility, with an eye for visual quality and a commitment to consistency.
• Executive presence. Skilled communicator and trusted advisor who can move comfortably between the Dean's office, faculty, donors, alumni, students, and the press.