Address
Form of workSenior Director of Digital Marketingand Engagement
Hiring Department: Strategic Marketing and Communications
Location: Chicago, IL
Requisition ID: 1021144
Posting Close Date: 11/29/2023
Salary Range: $105, 000-135,000
About the University of Illinois Chicago
UIC is among the nation's preeminent urban public research universities, a Carnegie RU/VH research institution, and the largest university in Chicago. UIC serves over 34,000 students, comprising one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation and is designated as a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPSI) and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Through its 16 colleges, UIC produces nationally and internationally recognized multidisciplinary academic programs in concert with civic, corporate and community partners worldwide, including a full complement of health sciences colleges. By emphasizing cutting-edge and transformational research along with a commitment to the success of all students, UIC embodies the dynamic, vibrant and engaged urban university. Recent "Best Colleges" rankings published by U.S. News & World Report, found UIC climbed up in its rankings among top public schools in the nation and among all national universities. UIC has nearly 260,000 alumni, and is one of the largest employers in the city of Chicago.
Around 80% of undergraduates receive financial assistance; 54% receive Pell grants and 47% of freshmen are first generation college students. With one of the largest colleges of medicine in the nation, and colleges of dentistry, pharmacy, public health, nursing, social work and applied health sciences, UIC is the state's principal educator of health professionals and a major healthcare provider to underserved communities. UIC students become professionals in fields ranging from business and engineering to education, liberal arts and sciences, urban planning, law and social work, as well as architecture, design and the arts. Located just west of Chicago's loop, UIC is an integral part of the educational, technological and cultural fabric of Chicago.
Job Summary
The Senior Director of Digital Marketing & Engagement leads a digital team within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Marketing and Communications (OVCSMC) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). The Senior Director holds a mission-critical leadership position responsible for defining and implementing a compelling digital brand experience that aligns our constituents, elevates UIC's reputation, enhances audience engagement and fosters meaningful connections with our diverse community across all our digital products, platforms and outreach tools. Led by the mission of inform, inspire and engage, this role necessitates a dynamic and forward-thinking leader who bridges the divide between technology, ingenuity and marketing trends through Digital Marketing strategies to bolster UIC.
Reporting to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Marketing, the Senior Director will build and lead a talented team, select and oversee outside agency partners and martech vendors, and will deeply collaborate with other school and unit-based digital communication leads, partners in technology solutions and a wide variety of partners across the university to ensure a seamless and engaging digital experience for UIC - one that is informed by data and analytics along with optimization and is ultimately seamless across channels.
Duties & Responsibilities
Digital Brand Strategy:
- Develop and execute a comprehensive and data-informed digital brand strategy that aligns with UIC's mission, values and strategic objectives.
- Foster a cohesive digital brand identity, ensuring consistent representation across all digital platforms, including UIC's websites, social media channels, email and other digital channels.
- Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) and partner across the university related to Digital Marketing and digital experience initiatives.
Customer Experience Strategy:
- Constructs the vision for our stakeholder user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) to ensure affirmative user interactions that harmonize and elevate web and digital components with UIC and its aspirations.
- Lead initiatives to analyze and understand user behavior, preferences, and pain points throughout the journey for a variety of stakeholders end-users (students, parents, staff, faculty, alumni, donors, etc.).
- Identify opportunities to optimize the digital user experience, leveraging data-driven insights and user feedback.
Website Strategic Oversight:- Oversee the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of UIC's website and other digital platforms and tools in collaboration with relevant partners across the university.
- Collaborate with UX/UI designers and developers to create intuitive, accessible and visually engaging digital experiences that anchor marketing strategic priorities.
Content Strategy:
- Work closely with content teams to develop compelling and relevant content tailored to the audience and platform, follows SEO best practices and resonates with UIC's diverse audiences of internal and external end-users and constituents.
- Ensure digital content reflects the university's brand voice and aligns with Marketing and communication objectives.
Digital Marketing Integration:
- Collaborate with information technology and marketing to integrate martech tools and digital media initiatives into the broader digital experience, ensuring a unified and data-informed brand experience.
- Work with marketing to ensure digital content is easily discoverable at the right time and in the right channel, by leveraging paid and earned marketing tools that connect seamlessly to the digital experience.
Data Analysis and Insights:
- Utilize data and analytics tools and metrics to track digital performance, analyze user behavior and derive actionable insights.
- Demonstrated mastery in analytics and business matters as related to SEO, SEM, UI/UX across CRM and email tools like Salesforce and WebTools and CMS tools such as WordPress. Ultimately capable of steering decisions grounded and supported by data.
- Present data-driven recommendations to stakeholders and senior leadership to inform strategic decision-making.
- Conducts ongoing research of Digital strategies across the industry, including peer, target and aspirational institutions to inform and elevate leadership's awareness, strategy and decision-making.
- Help to foster a culture of accountability by reinforcing results and outcomes tied to Digital Marketing efforts.
Technology and Innovation:
- Stay current with digital trends, emerging technologies and best practices to continuously innovate and enhance UIC's digital experiences.
- Evaluate and implement new digital tools and technologies to improve user engagement and drive positive outcomes.
Team Leadership and Development:- Demonstrated triumph in assembling and guiding high-performing, harmonious, cross-functional/cross-disciplinary teams, with the ability to foster relationships and cooperate across UIC and be a partner
- Lead and inspire a high-performing team of Digital professionals, fostering a culture of creativity, collaboration, accountability and growth.
- Provide mentorship and support to team members, encouraging learning and development and overall skill enhancement. Other duties as assigned and as they emerge in an ever-evolving Marketing and communications landscape built on advancing the mission, vision and purpose of UIC.
Commitment to the mission and values of UIC, including a strong commitment to accessibility and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree and at least five years of experience in Digital Marketing, digital product or digital experience, with at least two years of experience leading a team.
- Strong understanding of Digital Marketing and product strategies and user experience principles.
- Thorough comprehension of web interface principles and better practices encompassing SEO, SEM, UI/UX and testing.
- Demonstrated experience developing a digital strategy, roadmap and overseeing execution through to a successful conclusion.
- Demonstrated success optimizing digital experiences, resulting in increased user engagement and brand impact.
- Proficiency working with various content management systems (CMS) and marketing automation tools to deliver digital products and experiences.
- Experience working within agile development practices and using tools like Jira to plan the work.
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to leverage data to inform decisions using relevant analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Tableau, etc).
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively and influence cross-functional teams and senior leadership.
Preferred Qualifications:- Master's degree in marketing, information technology, business or a related field.
- Significant experience (10+ years) in leadership positions with increasing responsibility, overseeing large digital product strategies and/or digital initiatives.
- Background in higher education or within a large and matrixed enterprise or non-profit.
- Proven experience selecting and integrating martech tools into the overall digital experience across a large and complex institution, working to influence adoption amongst constituents.
- Experience delivering personalized digital experiences that connect online and offline activities.
- Demonstrated understanding of accessibility issues and direct experience delivering consistently compliant digital experiences.
- Strong understanding of SEO/SEM best practices and implementation.
- Experience with customer journey mapping tools and techniques.
- Familiarity with creative tools such as the Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma and others.
- Participation and leadership of RFP processes and managing vendor procurement from start to finish.
- Demonstrated experience executing Digital Marketing and media campaigns that drive engagement and deliver specific outcomes connected to the overall digital experience.
- Strong project management abilities, with a track record of successfully planning and delivering complex digital projects on time and within budget.
For fullest consideration please upload a cover letter, resume and three references
The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify.
The university provides accommodations to applicants and employees. Request an Accommodation
Hiring Department: Strategic Marketing and Communications
Location: Chicago, IL
Requisition ID: 1021144
Posting Close Date: 11/29/2023
Salary Range: $105, 000-135,000
About the University of Illinois Chicago
UIC is among the nation's preeminent urban public research universities, a Carnegie RU/VH research institution, and the largest university in Chicago. UIC serves over 34,000 students, comprising one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation and is designated as a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPSI) and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Through its 16 colleges, UIC produces nationally and internationally recognized multidisciplinary academic programs in concert with civic, corporate and community partners worldwide, including a full complement of health sciences colleges. By emphasizing cutting-edge and transformational research along with a commitment to the success of all students, UIC embodies the dynamic, vibrant and engaged urban university. Recent "Best Colleges" rankings published by U.S. News & World Report, found UIC climbed up in its rankings among top public schools in the nation and among all national universities. UIC has nearly 260,000 alumni, and is one of the largest employers in the city of Chicago.
Around 80% of undergraduates receive financial assistance; 54% receive Pell grants and 47% of freshmen are first generation college students. With one of the largest colleges of medicine in the nation, and colleges of dentistry, pharmacy, public health, nursing, social work and applied health sciences, UIC is the state's principal educator of health professionals and a major healthcare provider to underserved communities. UIC students become professionals in fields ranging from business and engineering to education, liberal arts and sciences, urban planning, law and social work, as well as architecture, design and the arts. Located just west of Chicago's loop, UIC is an integral part of the educational, technological and cultural fabric of Chicago.
Job Summary
The Senior Director of Digital Marketing & Engagement leads a digital team within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Marketing and Communications (OVCSMC) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). The Senior Director holds a mission-critical leadership position responsible for defining and implementing a compelling digital brand experience that aligns our constituents, elevates UIC's reputation, enhances audience engagement and fosters meaningful connections with our diverse community across all our digital products, platforms and outreach tools. Led by the mission of inform, inspire and engage, this role necessitates a dynamic and forward-thinking leader who bridges the divide between technology, ingenuity and marketing trends through Digital Marketing strategies to bolster UIC.
Reporting to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Marketing, the Senior Director will build and lead a talented team, select and oversee outside agency partners and martech vendors, and will deeply collaborate with other school and unit-based digital communication leads, partners in technology solutions and a wide variety of partners across the university to ensure a seamless and engaging digital experience for UIC - one that is informed by data and analytics along with optimization and is ultimately seamless across channels.
Duties & Responsibilities
Digital Brand Strategy:
- Develop and execute a comprehensive and data-informed digital brand strategy that aligns with UIC's mission, values and strategic objectives.
- Foster a cohesive digital brand identity, ensuring consistent representation across all digital platforms, including UIC's websites, social media channels, email and other digital channels.
- Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) and partner across the university related to Digital Marketing and digital experience initiatives.
Customer Experience Strategy:
- Constructs the vision for our stakeholder user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) to ensure affirmative user interactions that harmonize and elevate web and digital components with UIC and its aspirations.
- Lead initiatives to analyze and understand user behavior, preferences, and pain points throughout the journey for a variety of stakeholders end-users (students, parents, staff, faculty, alumni, donors, etc.).
- Identify opportunities to optimize the digital user experience, leveraging data-driven insights and user feedback.
Website Strategic Oversight:- Oversee the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of UIC's website and other digital platforms and tools in collaboration with relevant partners across the university.
- Collaborate with UX/UI designers and developers to create intuitive, accessible and visually engaging digital experiences that anchor marketing strategic priorities.
Content Strategy:
- Work closely with content teams to develop compelling and relevant content tailored to the audience and platform, follows SEO best practices and resonates with UIC's diverse audiences of internal and external end-users and constituents.
- Ensure digital content reflects the university's brand voice and aligns with Marketing and communication objectives.
Digital Marketing Integration:
- Collaborate with information technology and marketing to integrate martech tools and digital media initiatives into the broader digital experience, ensuring a unified and data-informed brand experience.
- Work with marketing to ensure digital content is easily discoverable at the right time and in the right channel, by leveraging paid and earned marketing tools that connect seamlessly to the digital experience.
Data Analysis and Insights:
- Utilize data and analytics tools and metrics to track digital performance, analyze user behavior and derive actionable insights.
- Demonstrated mastery in analytics and business matters as related to SEO, SEM, UI/UX across CRM and email tools like Salesforce and WebTools and CMS tools such as WordPress. Ultimately capable of steering decisions grounded and supported by data.
- Present data-driven recommendations to stakeholders and senior leadership to inform strategic decision-making.
- Conducts ongoing research of Digital strategies across the industry, including peer, target and aspirational institutions to inform and elevate leadership's awareness, strategy and decision-making.
- Help to foster a culture of accountability by reinforcing results and outcomes tied to Digital Marketing efforts.
Technology and Innovation:
- Stay current with digital trends, emerging technologies and best practices to continuously innovate and enhance UIC's digital experiences.
- Evaluate and implement new digital tools and technologies to improve user engagement and drive positive outcomes.
Team Leadership and Development:- Demonstrated triumph in assembling and guiding high-performing, harmonious, cross-functional/cross-disciplinary teams, with the ability to foster relationships and cooperate across UIC and be a partner
- Lead and inspire a high-performing team of Digital professionals, fostering a culture of creativity, collaboration, accountability and growth.
- Provide mentorship and support to team members, encouraging learning and development and overall skill enhancement. Other duties as assigned and as they emerge in an ever-evolving Marketing and communications landscape built on advancing the mission, vision and purpose of UIC.
Commitment to the mission and values of UIC, including a strong commitment to accessibility and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree and at least five years of experience in Digital Marketing, digital product or digital experience, with at least two years of experience leading a team.
- Strong understanding of Digital Marketing and product strategies and user experience principles.
- Thorough comprehension of web interface principles and better practices encompassing SEO, SEM, UI/UX and testing.
- Demonstrated experience developing a digital strategy, roadmap and overseeing execution through to a successful conclusion.
- Demonstrated success optimizing digital experiences, resulting in increased user engagement and brand impact.
- Proficiency working with various content management systems (CMS) and marketing automation tools to deliver digital products and experiences.
- Experience working within agile development practices and using tools like Jira to plan the work.
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to leverage data to inform decisions using relevant analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Tableau, etc).
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively and influence cross-functional teams and senior leadership.
Preferred Qualifications:- Master's degree in marketing, information technology, business or a related field.
- Significant experience (10+ years) in leadership positions with increasing responsibility, overseeing large digital product strategies and/or digital initiatives.
- Background in higher education or within a large and matrixed enterprise or non-profit.
- Proven experience selecting and integrating martech tools into the overall digital experience across a large and complex institution, working to influence adoption amongst constituents.
- Experience delivering personalized digital experiences that connect online and offline activities.
- Demonstrated understanding of accessibility issues and direct experience delivering consistently compliant digital experiences.
- Strong understanding of SEO/SEM best practices and implementation.
- Experience with customer journey mapping tools and techniques.
- Familiarity with creative tools such as the Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma and others.
- Participation and leadership of RFP processes and managing vendor procurement from start to finish.
- Demonstrated experience executing Digital Marketing and media campaigns that drive engagement and deliver specific outcomes connected to the overall digital experience.
- Strong project management abilities, with a track record of successfully planning and delivering complex digital projects on time and within budget.
For fullest consideration please upload a cover letter, resume and three references
The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify.
The university provides accommodations to applicants and employees. Request an Accommodation
