Western Governors University
Sr. Director, Marketing & Communications - Leavitt School of Health
Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84193
If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country-and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future-consider WGU as the next step in your career.Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.The Sr. Director, Marketing & Communications - Leavitt School of Health, will develop and execute strategies for critical school priorities, including brand development and new student enrollment across a range of health professions programs. This role involves generating insights into audience needs, product-market fit, and competitive landscape to shape messaging and growth strategies. The Sr. Director will collaborate with senior leaders to set targets, manage budgets, and report on outcomes with strong accountability for school- and program-level performance. In all of these responsibilities, this role acts as a crucial link between MarCom and the Academic organization.The Sr. Director will lead a dedicated team of marketing and communications professionals, partnering with centralized services to drive initiatives. The ideal candidate will have exceptional communications, strategic planning, and stakeholder management skills, as well as a strong background in product marketing and comfort managing across various marketing and communications disciplines.Essential Functions and Responsibilities:Manage a direct budget of $5-10M (or more) dedicated to school-specific brand development and growth initiatives; additionally, provide strategic guidance and influence a larger budget managed cross-functionally.
Build relationships of trust with executive leaders across the academic organization, c-suite, MarCom, Strategic Partnerships, and university-wide; facilitate strong cross-organizational information sharing and cooperative strategy development.
Be the expert in all marketing and communications activities and internal and external factors influencing portfolio performance.
Represent MarCom in cross-functional reporting and other settings, including interfacing regularly with executive leadership and demonstrating strong accountability for performance.
Assist with setting school-specific performance targets for readiness and certificate offerings and provide regular reporting, forecasts, and root-cause insights to inform ongoing adjustments to drive KPIs.
Work closely with internal and/or agency creative, media, web, and other teams to ensure that campaign needs are accurate, on time, on brand, and performance-optimized.
Some travel required (up to 20%)
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:Significant client or key stakeholder management experience.
Executive-level communication ability. Must be able to clearly and persuasively communicate both verbally and in writing with staff at all levels of the university.
Strong quantitative and strategic analysis skills. Must be able to gather and analyze structured and unstructured data and research to identify significant trends, implications, and opportunities.
Ownership mentality and drive for continuous improvement.
Experience developing models to forecast marketing performance based on historical trends, spending, market conditions, etc.
Fluency in a wide variety of marketing and communications disciplines, including brand, traditional, and digital media, SEO, content marketing, and conference and event marketing.
Proven success in bringing new products and/or services to market.
Exceptional project management and organization skills.
Direct people leadership, including hiring, coaching, and managing to achieve performance targets.
Drive and ability to influence others to act without direct reporting authority, including senior executives.
Qualifications:Minimum Qualifications:Meaningful client/stakeholder management experience.
Product marketing experience.
Demonstrated track record of managing multiple complex projects at one time.
Bachelor's degree.
Twelve (12+) years of marketing experience.
Five (5+) years of people leadership experience
Preferred Qualifications:Client-facing agency experience.
Industry experience in higher education and/or areas relevant to WGU schools (e.g., healthcare, K12 education, IT).
MBA, MS Marketing, or other relevant graduate degree.
Working ConditionsThis role is based in WGU's Salt Lake City office and requires 3+ days of in-office work per week
#LI-HYBRID#LI-ZARDThe salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
Pay Range: $157,200.00 - $282,900.00 WGU will accept applications for this position until 12:00 AM ET, 11/04/2024
How to apply: apply onlineFull-time Regular Positions (FT classification, standard working hours = 40)This is a full-time, regular position that is eligible for 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.
The University is an equal opportunity employer.All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.
Build relationships of trust with executive leaders across the academic organization, c-suite, MarCom, Strategic Partnerships, and university-wide; facilitate strong cross-organizational information sharing and cooperative strategy development.
Be the expert in all marketing and communications activities and internal and external factors influencing portfolio performance.
Represent MarCom in cross-functional reporting and other settings, including interfacing regularly with executive leadership and demonstrating strong accountability for performance.
Assist with setting school-specific performance targets for readiness and certificate offerings and provide regular reporting, forecasts, and root-cause insights to inform ongoing adjustments to drive KPIs.
Work closely with internal and/or agency creative, media, web, and other teams to ensure that campaign needs are accurate, on time, on brand, and performance-optimized.
Some travel required (up to 20%)
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:Significant client or key stakeholder management experience.
Executive-level communication ability. Must be able to clearly and persuasively communicate both verbally and in writing with staff at all levels of the university.
Strong quantitative and strategic analysis skills. Must be able to gather and analyze structured and unstructured data and research to identify significant trends, implications, and opportunities.
Ownership mentality and drive for continuous improvement.
Experience developing models to forecast marketing performance based on historical trends, spending, market conditions, etc.
Fluency in a wide variety of marketing and communications disciplines, including brand, traditional, and digital media, SEO, content marketing, and conference and event marketing.
Proven success in bringing new products and/or services to market.
Exceptional project management and organization skills.
Direct people leadership, including hiring, coaching, and managing to achieve performance targets.
Drive and ability to influence others to act without direct reporting authority, including senior executives.
Qualifications:Minimum Qualifications:Meaningful client/stakeholder management experience.
Product marketing experience.
Demonstrated track record of managing multiple complex projects at one time.
Bachelor's degree.
Twelve (12+) years of marketing experience.
Five (5+) years of people leadership experience
Preferred Qualifications:Client-facing agency experience.
Industry experience in higher education and/or areas relevant to WGU schools (e.g., healthcare, K12 education, IT).
MBA, MS Marketing, or other relevant graduate degree.
Working ConditionsThis role is based in WGU's Salt Lake City office and requires 3+ days of in-office work per week
#LI-HYBRID#LI-ZARDThe salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
Pay Range: $157,200.00 - $282,900.00 WGU will accept applications for this position until 12:00 AM ET, 11/04/2024
How to apply: apply onlineFull-time Regular Positions (FT classification, standard working hours = 40)This is a full-time, regular position that is eligible for 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.
The University is an equal opportunity employer.All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.