| Department: School of Professional Studies
Salary/Grade: EXS/9 Job Summary: You are: a rising marketing leader with a track record of taking innovative risks and driving results. You pride yourself in being an early adopter of new media and technologies. You're ready to lead a team of ambitious and smart marketing strategists. We are: the School of Professional Studies at top-ranked Northwestern University and we are changing the face of higher education through our dedication to leverage the most innovative technology to support the needs to working professionals seeking to enhance their skills and take on new educational and professional challenges. You will succeed as our next Associate Director of Marketing if you have experience leading high-performing marketing teams and are looking to grow your leadership skills in a positive, collaborative, results-focused environment. You can show how you have applied technology and data to increase marketing reach, grow demand and find efficiencies. You're not afraid to get your hands dirty and dive into the details when your guidance and expertise is needed, but know when to give your team space to grow, innovate and experiment. Our team is located on the downtown Chicago campus of Northwestern University, next door to both Northwestern Law and Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. We are right off of Michigan Avenue, in an exciting and supportive office environment. In addition to joining a collaborative team that values personal growth and team collaboration, Northwestern University employees take advantage of excellent healthcare, education, and retirement benefits, as well as generous paid time off and great views of Lake Michigan. Specific Responsibilities: Marketing strategy and expertise - Create, manage, implement and optimize marketing strategies and integrated marketing plans to build awareness, drive interest and increase enrollment for all SPS degree, certificate, credit and non-credit programming. Oversee, guide and direct internal team and external agency(s) in the development and execution of these plans.
- In collaboration with the Senior Director of Marketing and Enrollment Management and Academic Directors, Assistant Directors and Assistant Deans, lead annual marketing planning process including, but not limited to, budget allocation, program-specific strategies, target market analysis and strategies, proposals for innovation and improvement.
- Work closely with Creative Director and team in the implementation of integrated marketing plans. Assist in the development of content management and distribution plans.
- Manage external agency(s) responsible for campaign management. Includes reconciling internal data vs. agency information to track performance and key KPIs, consistently monitoring all available platform analytics and effectively coordinating and managing campaigns with vendor representatives and agency partners.
Marketing budget management and performance measurement - Analyze enrollment patterns, demographics, effectiveness of historical marketing efforts, etc. of the portfolio, and continually evaluate competitive environment and identify new program opportunities. Provide ongoing reporting demonstrating marketing performance by program and analysis of trends with an emphasis on ideas for innovation and improvement. Identify new data points and/or avenues for measuring marketing effectiveness.
- Working closely with finance leadership and with the Senior Director, oversee marketing strategy team in planning, execution, creative, post-campaign, measurement and budget reconciliation for all programs.
- Collaborate with Assistant Director and Enrollment Advising team to obtain an ongoing understanding of audience feedback to improve marketing strategies and tactics.
- Develop, maintain and improve strategies and systems for reporting to track campaign performance including, but not limited to, cost-per-lead, cost-per-click, click-through rates, landing page tracking, source and quality of leads, leads to student conversion, etc.
- Ongoing and regular analysis and management of campaign performance to meet or exceed marketing goals, while managing to a fixed advertising budget.
Team management and leadership - Supervises and provides leadership and direction to six (6) FTE direct reports, including three (3) Marketing Planning Strategists, two (2) Marketing Assistants and one (1) Events Coordinator.
- Develop an effective, cohesive and high-performing marketing team.
- Manage the on-boarding, training, evaluation and professional development of all team members.
Event marketing expertise - Manage events team, responsible for the strategic planning and implementation of 90+ annual prospective online and in-person special events to promote SPS programs
- Collaborate with Senior Director, Marketing and Enrollment Management team, and Academics teams to envision innovative ideas for event format, delivery, content, event promotions, competition, etc., ensuring integration of event strategy into overall marketing strategies.
Cross-school and inter-University collaboration - Collaborate with partners around the University in order to ensure marketing strategies represent a holistic view and align with the goals of the school and University. Integrate most directly with creative, enrollment management, enrollment management systems, and marketing finance.
- Liaise with academic departments to stay informed of program and industry updates, changes and launches.
- Facilitate collaboration and coordination with academics team/faculty, student services and alumni relations teams to produce engaging, thought-leadership driven content relevant to all SPS audiences.
- Work with Northwestern University’s global marketing team to understand and incorporate University-wide best practices, brand standards and look/tone/feel, showcase SPS content and marketing efforts, etc.
Front desk management - Oversee staffing and training of Chicago Front Desk position responsible for front-line customer service including, but not limited to, answering the general SPS phone line, general SPS email, and maintaining SPS internal blog. Maximize the productivity of the position by providing marketing assistance to cross-functional teams across SPS as needed/applicable.
Environmental and competitive analysis - Regularly monitor the competitive (higher education, marketing and media, etc.) landscape and stay current with trends, testing new approaches and adopting best-practice strategies across all marketing disciplines to bring creativity and innovation to the SPS marketing approach.
Miscellaneous - Other duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications: - Bachelor’s degree in marketing or related field.
- Four (4) years of work in marketing, with experience in digital marketing.
- Experience in managing to a fixed budget.
Minimum Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities.) - Demonstrated capacity for developing, implementing and measuring integrated marketing plans (media planning, buying, etc).
- Demonstrated understanding of the entire consumer decision lifecycle.
- Strong understanding and proficiency in digital marketing (e.g. SEO, SEM, PPC) and social media (organic and paid).
- Working knowledge of Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and other online advertising management tools.
- Experience in working with cross-functional teams and a strong sense of teamwork.
- Research and market analysis skills.
- Basic data analysis skills.
- Strong communications and presentation skills.
- Demonstrated problem solving skills.
- Demonstrated project management and organizational skills.
- Demonstrated initiative and flexibility.
Preferred Qualifications: - Master’s degree.
- Six (6) years of work in marketing.
- Direct supervisory experience.
Preferred Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities) - Demonstrated success in determining ROI of integrated marketing plans.
- Demonstrated excellence in problem solving and creating innovative solutions.
- Experience in leading cross-functional teams.
- Excellent communications and presentation skills.
- Strong research and market analysis skills.
- Experience and proficiency in data analysis.
- Experience working with a customer relationship management system (CRM).
Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. Hiring is contingent upon eligibility to work in the United States.
|
