Director, Recruitment Marketing

The Director of Recruitment Marketing leads and manages the undergraduate and graduate student recruitment marketing activities for Rowan University, serving as a key member of the leadership team within the Division of Strategic Enrollment Management. Reporting to the Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Enrollment Management, the Director of Recruitment Marketing collaborates with members of the Division to drive the recruitment and admission of both domestic and international students, and to help achieve enrollment objectives, academic program priorities, and financial targets.

The Director of Recruitment Marketing manages a team of seventeen full-time staff and various agency/vendor partners to create strategic, performance/direct-response marketing plans, and to manage the integrated digital marketing and communications functions for student recruitment across all mediums and channels, from planning to implementation to analytics, measuring the performance of each vehicle. These vehicles include, but are not limited to, digital and print advertising, search engine marketing, broadcast and out-of-home media, social media, and content marketing. The Director will develop a detailed understanding of student segments and behavior, strategically manage approximately $4MM in marketing budget, and lead the recruitment marketing team in executing cutting-edge multi-channel enrollment marketing campaigns that turn market and audience insights into prospect-centric strategy and marketing campaigns to generate awareness and efficiently drive prospective students into the enrollment communications pipeline.

A strategic thinker, strong communicator, and active listener, the Director of Recruitment Marketing works with the Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Enrollment Management to ensure the university brand positioning is translated for the colleges, schools, and individual degree and certificate programs, in close collaboration with the university academic units to ensure clear communication of the university’s academic approach and benefits, and in partnership with other members of the Division of Strategic Enrollment Management to align marketing strategy with recruitment goals. The Director has accountability for identifying insights about prospective students that ensure their needs and motivations are forefront in guiding marketing messaging and creativity, and for identifying differentiating and compelling ways to motivate candidates to engage with Rowan University.

Primary Responsibilities

Marketing Strategy and Planning

• Work closely with the Assistant Vice President of Marketing & Enrollment Management to develop and implement a sophisticated and sustained multi-channel marketing and communications plan to achieve aggressive undergraduate and graduate enrollment goals.
• Develop strategic marketing campaign plans and budgets tied to key enrollment objectives and designed to engage key market segments and target audiences (undergraduate, graduate, transfer, international, parents, high school students, etc.) via performance/direct-response approaches and channels including, but not limited to:
  • direct response marketing via traditional, digital, and social media and use of strategic landing pages
  • development of quality web content integrating keywords and search engine optimization (SEO), conversation rate optimization (CRO, and user experience (UX) best practices
  • search engine marketing, remarketing, and pay per click (PPC) strategies
  • print, digital, and social media advertising
• Meet regularly with division senior leadership as well as groups external to the division to promote knowledge sharing as well as to provide briefs on work progress.

Marketing Execution and Brand Leadership

• Apply project management best practices across unit operations.
• Oversee new program launches and ongoing marketing for graduate and online degree programs, including development of recruitment materials and website presence, and supervise team members in establishing success metrics that align with enrollment and university marketing goals, optimizing media buy performance, and publishing regular reports to AVP and VP.
• Lead creative briefings and manage recruitment marketing team members in development of printed and digital/video recruitment materials, website presence and external campaigns (e.g., advertising, sponsored content, and events).
• Develop content strategy and campaigns aligned with short-term and long-term marketing targets. Oversee creative development and implementation.
• Support efforts to unify marketing and communications efforts across the University.
• Maintain brand standards for visuals, style, voice for marketing and internal and external communications in print, digital, photography, graphics.
• Establish and continually develop new creative approaches in-house, including visual style, graphics, and logo treatments for use in internal and external print and digital campaigns.

Market Evaluation and Campaign Analysis

• Analyze data and metrics to test and enhance recruitment marketing campaigns, strategies, and marketing initiatives.
• Assess paid media providers and research suppliers.
• Monitor industry development to identify and recommend opportunities for systems and infrastructure improvements in the areas of marketing automation, web platforms, market research, audience insights, and data collection and analysis.
• Provide market research on student and labor trends to inform program development and marketing.
• Partner with academic program directors and the Provost’s Office to provide essential marketplace data and insights to the development of new programs and ensure ongoing relevance of all program offerings.
• Initiate and analyze quantitative and qualitative research and investigate/source external database options that can provide quantitative market intelligence.

Personnel, Budget, and Resource Management

• Perform data-driven analyses of all aspects of recruitment and prospective student and influencer interactions, providing recommendations for improvement.
• Monitors budget to ensure projects are estimated accurately.
• Coach, mentor, develop, and supervise recruitment marketing team members, including oversight of new employee onboarding, to ensure optimal service delivery through performance management and professional development.
• Empower employees to take responsibility for their jobs and goals. Delegate responsibility and expect accountability and regular feedback.
• Lead recruitment marketing team members in identifying opportunities for additional collaboration and creating greater efficiencies, and implementing new processes and activities, accordingly. Be a torchbearer for forward-looking media and communications/experience opportunities.
• Be an active and contributing member of an exceptional team by building and promoting positive professional working relationships across campus.
• Conduct other duties as assigned by the Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Enrollment Management.

Required

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's Degree, Master’s preferred.
• Seven to ten years of in marketing leadership.
• At least five (5) years of direct supervisory experience and a demonstrated ability to manage and lead a high-functioning marketing team.
• At least eight (8) years of experience developing and managing multi-channel performance/direct-response marketing and communication plans.
• Demonstrated track record designing and leading successful digital marketing initiatives, including web-based marketing, social media, paid search, and SEO, including identification of vendors and analysis of performance and return on investment.
• Significant experience using data analytics and insights to inform marketing planning and strategy.
• Experience using advanced digital marketing tools and analytics to track and continuously improve results.
• Experience leading staff and agency/vendor partners to deliver timely, high-quality marketing campaigns.
• Knowledge and experience with best-practice marketing campaign planning tools, website SEO/CRO techniques, and project management systems like Basecamp or Asana in a marketing context.
• Strong record of successful outcomes in the development and achievement of marketing goals.
• Experience developing, implementing, and evaluating marketing strategies that support organizational priorities.
• Strong technical, organizational, and data management skills, with experience adapting and advancing the use of technology, including customer relationship management, data analysis, and business intelligence.
• Proven ability to motivate, inspire, collaborate, drive change, and make tough decisions, with demonstrated experience effectively supervising the work and directing the actions of others.
• Strong, demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all its forms.
• Commitment to innovation with the ability to implement new approaches for achieving marketing goals.
• Strong experience and competence with successful budget development and management.
• Significant understanding of CMS systems and CRM tools.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present dynamically to a variety of constituencies.
• Demonstrated commitment and ability to build and manage productive relationships with a diverse group and constituents in support of organizational mission.
• Understanding of compliance and regulations related to marketing, communications, website development, and data collection and use.

Preferred

• Experience working in a university setting.
• Experience working in an agency.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the process of market research and digital benchmarking in the context of higher education programs.
• University admissions and recruitment marketing experience.
• Expertise in cutting-edge audience profiling techniques, modelling look-alike prospects, demographics and behavioral profiling, buyer journey analysis and persona development.

Note: Rowan University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values diverse people and abilities. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the US, and the university will not sponsor an applicant for a work visa for this position.