Responsibilities

• Set the vision and operating strategy for WGU’s organic social, creator, community and owned content functions, in partnership with the Senior Director, and oversee execution — aligning channels, calendars, and creator partnerships to brand priorities and enrollment goals.
• Lead and develop a mid-sized team (5–8) of social strategists, editors, content producers/writers, and community managers, including two direct managers; set hiring plans, performance standards, and career development paths.
• Own organic social strategy across LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and emerging platforms — including channel positioning, content franchises, community management, and platform-specific creative that earns culture relevance and inspires conversation, not just consumption..
• Build and scale WGU’s influencer and creator ecosystem, moving from one-off campaigns to always-on partnerships with creators, students and alumni as long-term brand collaborators; oversee talent sourcing, agency relationships, contracting, briefing, content review and performance measurement.
• Develop WGU’s community strategy across owned and paid social media platforms – turning prospective students, current students, alumni, employer partners and otherwise into active participants, advocates and storytellers who extend WGU’s reach and mission
• Oversee WGU’s owned channels and brand content function, including thought leadership, newsletters and additional corporate content outputs
• Build a measurement framework that ties audience growth, engagement, share of voice, and content performance to brand health, heightened awareness and enrollment outcomes; report results to the Senior Director and senior leadership on a recurring cadence.
• Embed AI and emerging-platform fluency into the team’s workflow — from ideation and drafting to production, optimization, and analytics — while safeguarding accuracy, brand voice, and editorial quality.
• Partner with PR/Communications, Brand, Lifecycle Marketing, Alumni, Performance/Paid Media, Enrollment, and Academic leadership to ensure content is integrated, mission-aligned, and supports cross-functional campaigns.
• Own agency, freelancer, and creator budgets, with guidance and sign-off from the Senior Director; negotiate contracts and rate cards; and continuously rebalance investment toward the highest-ROI channels and partners.

Requirements

• Education
• Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communications, English, Marketing, or a related field.
• Experience
• 7+ years of progressive experience in social media, creator marketing, owned/editorial content and/or community strategy, including experience building social-first brands or creator programs at scale.
• 3+ years in a people-management role, including managing managers and building or scaling content or social teams.
• Demonstrated track record of growing audiences and engagement across multiple owned and earned channels.
• Experience operating at the intersection of editorial and performance — using analytics to inform content decisions and demonstrate business impact.
• Experience working with or leading influencer, creator, or ambassador programs at scale.
• Experience in lieu of education
• Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager.

Preferred

• Prior experience in higher education, or a mission-driven consumer brand preferred.
• Background as a working journalist, editor, or newsroom leader.
• Hands-on experience deploying generative AI in content workflows (briefing, drafting, optimization, distribution).
• Experience presenting to and influencing senior leadership stakeholders on brand and content strategy.

Benefits

• bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.