Associate Director, Advancement Communications

Brandeis University seeks to hire an Associate Director of Communications to oversee all editorial content created for Institutional Advancement marketing channels, including websites, email marketing, publications, and social media. Reporting to the executive director of advancement communications, the associate director will collaborate within the IA communications team, across the IA division, and with the University Marketing Communications division along with other campus partners outside IA to advance fundraising and alumni engagement through effective and compelling marketing communications.

In this position, there is the opportunity to work a hybrid schedule - 3 days in the office and 2 days working remotely.

To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume/CV.

Job Duties:

CONTENT STRATEGY

• Sets overall content strategy for IA, in partnership with the executive director.
• Generate content ideas and repurposes existing content in order to create integrated marketing campaigns across channels
• Create and maintain story/content idea database
• Create and maintain editorial calendar(s)
• Build strong working relationships with clients and stakeholders across and outside Advancement so they regard team as trusted advisors.

WRITING

• Serves as lead writer for Institutional Advancement; personally, writes high-priority projects
• Assigns writing assignments to staff and freelance writers; serves as editor and coach
• Writes content for all channels, including websites, broadcast email, brochures, appeals, and more.

EDITING AND COACHING

• Edit the work of other IA writers.
• Educate colleagues and clients and advocate for engaging, concise, audience-focused content
• Maintain and enforce IA editorial style guide
• Establish a proofreading process to ensure all communications are reviewed before they are published.

MANAGEMENT

• Supervise the Integrated Content Strategy Manager.  Set annual goals and conduct annual performance reviews. Establish priorities and monitor work output.
• Serve as a mentor and coach to manager and other colleagues.

Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Marketing, or a related field required plus 5-8 years of relevant professional experience. At least 2 years’ experience supervising staff.

Additional Requirements:

• Experience in higher education preferred, as well as knowledge of alumni relations and especially development/fundraising.
• Sophisticated, versatile writer able to write compelling content for different audiences and different mediums (e.g. articles, appeals, brochures, video, social media).  Able to seamlessly embed key marketing messages within content while telling engaging stories.
• Strategic mindset with demonstrated ability to align content choices and creation with organizational priorities.
• Ability to balance competing interests of internal stakeholders while putting our audiences first.
• Knowledge of best practices and trends in marketing communications. Curiosity and commitment to learning/growth.
• Experience working with graphic designers and photographers helpful
• Strong organizational, interpersonal, analytical, and project management skills.
• Proficiency in office applications (Brandeis uses the Google Workspace suite and MS Office) with an ability to become comfortable and productive with our alumni and donor systems. (We recently converted to Ascend, a Salesforce CRM for higher education.)
• Demonstrates sound judgment and discretion when dealing with highly confidential information about alumni, donors, and other constituents.
• Must be willing and able to work occasional evenings and weekends as needed to cover events and/or meet deadlines.

Equal Opportunity Statement