Drexel University · 18 hours ago
Executive Director, Marketing and Communications
Philadelphia, PA
Full-time
Onsite
Director/Executive
$108K/yr - $162K/yr
10+ years expDrexel University is a prominent institution seeking an Executive Director of Marketing & Communications. This role is responsible for providing strategic vision and leadership to enhance the College's visibility and support revenue generation through comprehensive marketing strategies.
Higher Education
Responsibilities
Lead the integration and strategic direction of a unified CoEC Marketing and Communications team that aligns brand, recruitment, and revenue objectives across Biomed, CCI, and CoE
Develop and execute a comprehensive strategy that communicates CoEC’s vision, accomplishments, and impact—enhancing visibility, reputation, and rankings nationally and internationally, both internally and externally
Partner with the CoEC leadership, specifically the Dean, Offices of Graduate and Undergraduate Students Services, Enrollment Management, and Finance to set and achieve annual enrollment and revenue targets through coordinated marketing strategies
Use data and market research to inform decision-making, experiment quickly, and scale programs that produce measurable results. Ensure all tactics align with a clear strategic framework
Build and lead a high-performing, collaborative team, fostering a culture of innovation, collegiality, and alignment with institutional priorities
Nuture relationships with UMAC and Enrollment Management & Student Success (EMSS) to align priorities, strategies and tactics. Advise CoEC leadership, faculty and staff with respect to Unviersity brand platforms, insights, policies and central strategies
Act as the college-level resource for all marketing and communications needs at the college, monitor and advocate for adherence to related policies, guidelines and initiatives
Contribute to the Drexel marketing and communications community by participating in planned events, sharing best practices, surfacing opportunities, and other activities to elevate the university strategically and operationally
Manage the communications and marketing budget, ensuring efficient use of resources to support strategic initiatives
Create, document, and update workflows to ensure consistent execution of communications and marketing efforts
Effectively onboard new team members as well as providing professional development of team members
Coordinate all aspects of College-wide branding, communications and marketing, ensuring alignment with University guidelines and strategic priorities
Develop and implement an integrated communications strategy across web, social media, print, and other platforms
Within the University brand framework, advance a differentiated CoEC brand narrative highlighting innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and student outcomes, ensuring consistent storytelling across all channels
Develop a bank of CoEC content that that can be shared across units to amplifying storytelling
Lead CoEC crisis, strategic and executive communications in collaboration with College leadership and the Office of University Marketing & Communications. Ensuring coordination with UMAC on all communication topics that rise to university-level
Lead and support CoEC leadership and internal communications, including leadership messaging, speeches, presentations, and video scripts
In partnership with EMSS, lead and collaborate on the development and execution of performance-based recruitment marketing strategies —spanning domestic, international, and online audiences
Design campaigns that support prospective student engagement across all stages of the application funnel (admit-to-confirm for undergraduate market; prospects-to-confirm for graduate market), targeting both domestic and international audiences
Integrate digital advertising, paid search, SEO, CRM automation, and social media retargeting into a unified demand-generation model that feeds directly into enrollment pipelines. This work should be collaborative with UMAC and their vendors, if appropriate
Develop clear roles and responsibilities for CoEC Marketing & Communications team and have a very clear understanding of the roles/responsibilities of the University Marketing & Communications team
Champion the use of advanced marketing technologies (CRM systems, marketing automation, analytics dashboards, SEO, AI-assisted content generation) to increase reach, personalization, and efficiency
Build a data-driven culture of continuous improvement by defining, monitoring, and reporting key marketing performance metrics
Establish marketing KPIs tied to applications, deposits, and yield; track campaign ROI and continuously optimize resource allocation based on data analytics
Partner with IT and institutional data teams to ensure marketing platforms are integrated with enrollment and advancement systems for full-funnel visibility
Strengthen the College’s visibility and reputation among key stakeholders including alumni, donors, rankings bodies, and academic peers. Work with UMAC and their Media Relations team to surface stories, research and/or faculty experts for earned and social media placements
Oversee community outreach and manage special projects, events, and programs that enhance the College’s public profile
Collaborate with Institutional Advancement to design campaigns that advance philanthropic goals and highlight impact stories tied to donor investment
Other duties as assigned
Qualification
Required
Minimum of a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Communications, Public Relations, Digital Media, or relevant fields or the equivalent combination of education and work experience
Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience
Proven experience in planning and executing integrated communication strategies across channels, including web, social media, print and other media
Demonstrated success in managing digital marketing campaigns, including CRM, and SEO strategies
Exceptional written and oral communication skills with the ability to translate technical content into clear, compelling messages
Experience managing creative processes for web and printed marketing materials
Strong project planning and management skills, with a track record of engaging diverse teams and stakeholders
Experience cultivating academic, industry and/or community partnerships to support strategic goals
Demonstrated ability to connect marketing performance metrics to enrollment and revenue outcomes
Experience with CRM platforms (i.e., Slate, Salesforce), digital analytics tools and automation platforms
A collaborative leader and team builder with intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, and the ability to work independently and within a team
Preferred
Master's degree in Marketing, communications, public relations, digital media or relevant fields
Experience in project management
Documented accomplishments in leading or coordinating significant communications, marketing, and/or partnership initiatives are a major plus
Knowledge of higher education marketplace in the US and/or internationally is preferred
Experience in growth marketing, enrollment marketing, or performance-based marketing models
Passionate, creative and adaptive communicator with an outcome-driven, strategic mindset is highly desired
Company
Drexel University
Drexel is an academically comprehensive and globally engaged urban R1 research university, known for the nation’s premier co-operative education program.
10001+ employees
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageLeadership Team
Larry Keiser, PhD
Co-Founder: Education, Learning and Brain Science (E-LaBS) Research Collaborative
Tamara Galoyan
Co-Director & Co-Founder, Education, Learning, and Brain Sciences (E-LaBS) Research Lab
Recent News
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2024-03-23
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2023-09-27
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