Director of Marketing

Supervisor Title Vice President for Communication and Marketing

Status

Status Full Time Regular

Salary Range

Salary Range $70,000 - $95,000

Position Summary

This is a director-level opportunity for a creative, strategic, hands‑on marketer to build institutional marketing capacity within an established communications, content, and creative services team at a mission-driven college.

The Director of Marketing serves as a key member of the Office of Institutional Communication and Marketing ( OICM ) and provides leadership for the College’s institutional marketing, brand visibility, and top‑of‑funnel audience development efforts. Reporting to the Vice President for Communication and Marketing, the Director brings strategic marketing expertise, creative thinking, and hands‑on execution to the work of expanding awareness of the College and strengthening the institution’s presence among prospective students and families, alumni, donors, community partners, and other external audiences.

The Director will be a representative of the College’s brand identity and visibility, working in close collaboration with colleagues who lead institutional voice, messaging, media relations, internal communications, editorial content, social media, presidential voice, and creative services. Success in this position will require a highly collaborative, team‑oriented leader who can bring marketing discipline and fresh perspective to an institutional strategic priority: to position North Central College for the future given current challenges facing higher education.

The Director will initially play a central role in two major institutional priorities: leading the marketing strategy for a comprehensive redesign of the College website and developing a broad top‑of‑funnel marketing and audience development campaign designed to expand the College’s exposure and strengthen its reputation in key markets. The position will oversee the website as a gateway institutional marketing platform, helping ensure that it effectively presents the College’s value, advances brand visibility, supports audience engagement, and reflects best practices in user experience, accessibility, search, content strategy, and digital performance.

The ideal candidate will combine the creativity and market orientation of an experienced marketing professional with the judgment, adaptability, and mission focus needed to succeed in higher education. This position is an excellent opportunity for someone with agency, corporate, healthcare, nonprofit or higher education experience to promote the College’s work, which is to communicate the value of a transformative educational experience in ways that are authentic, compelling and strategically aligned.

Description of Key Responsibilities

• Provide hands‑on leadership for the College’s institutional marketing, brand visibility, and top‑of‑funnel audience development efforts, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities and the direction of the Vice President for Communication and Marketing.
• Serve as a strategic marketing partner to the Vice President for Communication and Marketing, contributing ideas, analysis, recommendations, and executional support for initiatives that strengthen the College’s visibility, reputation, and competitive position.
• Lead the development and implementation of institutional marketing strategies designed to expand awareness of the College among key external audiences important to the College’s mission and future.
• Develop and execute broad top‑of‑funnel marketing campaigns that increase the College’s exposure in key markets and communicate its distinctive value in a compelling, authentic, and mission‑aligned manner.
• Steward the College’s institutional brand identity in close collaboration with colleagues responsible for institutional voice, messaging, storytelling, editorial content, creative services, and communications strategy.
• Provide marketing leadership for the comprehensive redesign of the College website, including marketing strategy, audience pathways, user experience, vendor coordination, implementation support, post‑launch optimization, and ongoing strategy.
• Oversee the College website as a primary institutional marketing platform, using audience insights, analytics, content strategy, accessibility standards, search best practices, and digital performance measures to improve visibility, engagement, and effectiveness.
• Collaborate with colleagues in admissions, advancement, athletics, academic affairs, student affairs, and other areas to ensure institutional marketing efforts support broad College priorities while remaining coordinated with unit‑specific communications and marketing needs.
• Partner effectively with colleagues in institutional communication to ensure that marketing strategy, brand visibility, institutional voice, storytelling, media relations, internal communications, creative services, and editorial content work together in a coordinated and mutually reinforcing way.
• Develop creative briefs, campaign plans, audience strategies, project scopes, and other planning tools that translate institutional priorities into actionable marketing work.
• Manage relationships with external vendors, agencies, consultants, web partners, and other service providers, ensuring quality, timeliness, brand alignment, and fiscal responsibility.
• Use research, data, analytics, and market insights to inform marketing strategy, evaluate campaign effectiveness, and recommend adjustments that improve reach, engagement, and performance.
• Monitor market trends, audience behavior, competitive positioning, and emerging marketing practices, including appropriate uses of artificial intelligence and digital tools, to strengthen the College’s marketing effectiveness.
• Support the development of processes, workflows, and project management practices that allow marketing work to be prioritized, coordinated, executed, and assessed effectively.
• Contribute directly to marketing planning, campaign development, project management, vendor coordination, and campaign execution as a hands‑on member of the team.
• Represent the Office of Institutional Communication and Marketing on College‑wide initiatives and committees as appropriate.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Significant, progressively responsible experience in marketing, brand strategy, digital marketing, campaign development, or a related field, with demonstrated ability to develop and execute strategies that expand awareness, visibility, engagement, and reputation.
• Strong understanding of institutional marketing, brand positioning, audience development, and top‑of‑funnel strategy in a complex organizational environment. Strong understanding of brand identity, brand architecture, creative strategy, campaign development, and the ways visual identity, messaging, audience experience, and institutional reputation work together.
• Demonstrated ability to serve as both a strategic thinker and hands‑on practitioner, contributing directly to marketing planning, campaign development, project management, vendor coordination, content development, and execution.
• Experience developing marketing campaigns across multiple channels, including digital, web, paid, earned, owned, and shared platforms.
• Demonstrated understanding of website strategy as a central marketing function, including user experience, audience pathways, content strategy, search performance, accessibility, analytics, content governance, and ongoing optimization.
• Ability to use research, data, analytics, market insights, and performance metrics to inform strategy, evaluate effectiveness, and recommend adjustments that improve reach, engagement, and performance.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage complex, cross‑functional projects; coordinate timelines, deliverables, and partners; and maintain momentum from strategy through execution.
• Ability to develop and use creative briefs, campaign plans, audience strategies, project scopes, and other planning tools that support clear direction, efficient execution, and strong outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to manage relationships with external vendors, agencies, consultants, designers, web partners, and other service providers with attention to quality, brand alignment, budget, deadlines, and accountability.
• Strong creative judgment and the ability to evaluate marketing concepts, visual direction, campaign ideas, web experiences, and audience‑facing materials for strategic fit and effectiveness.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to articulate marketing strategy, present recommendations, and collaborate effectively with colleagues who lead institutional voice, storytelling, media relations, internal communications, editorial content, and creative services.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to build trust, collaborate across functions, influence without direct authority, and work productively with senior leadership, faculty, staff, students, external partners, and community stakeholders.
• Ability to operate effectively in a mission‑driven, service‑oriented environment, with a strong appreciation for the distinctive nature of higher education.
• Familiarity with emerging marketing practices and technologies, including appropriate uses of artificial intelligence and digital tools to improve marketing effectiveness, workflow, and audience engagement.
• Demonstrated professionalism, integrity, sound judgment, and discretion.

Distinguishing Characteristics

The Director of Marketing is a newly created position within the Office of Institutional Communication and Marketing, established to strengthen the College’s institutional marketing capacity and expand its visibility among key external audiences, while complementing the communications, storytelling, editorial, and creative expertise already present in the office.
The Director serves as a hands‑on marketing expert and strategic contributor to the Vice President for Communication and Marketing. The position requires the ability to move fluidly between strategy and execution: developing marketing concepts, shaping campaign direction, guiding digital and web strategy, managing projects and partners, and helping translate institutional priorities into effective marketing approaches.
The person in this role will work with an experienced communications team whose members lead institutional voice, storytelling, media relations, internal communications, editorial content, and creative services. Building strong, respectful, and productive partnerships with colleagues across the office and throughout the College, the Director of Marketing will ensure that brand visibility, marketing strategy, and institutional messaging work together in a coordinated and mission‑aligned way.
The position is also distinguished by its responsibility for the College’s website as a primary institutional marketing platform. The Director will provide leadership for the marketing strategy, user experience, audience pathways, vendor coordination, and ongoing performance of the website, with particular attention to how the site advances visibility, reputation, engagement, and institutional priorities.
This role is well suited for a creative, collaborative, and highly organized marketing professional who brings strong judgment, initiative, and executional discipline to generate awareness and interest in a competitive environment while appreciating the transformative impact of mission-driven higher education.

Education/Training

Bachelor’s degree required in marketing, communications, public relations, journalism, business, digital media, or a related field. A master’s degree or other advanced training in marketing, business, communications, digital strategy, or a related field is preferred.

Experience

A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in marketing, brand strategy, digital marketing, campaign development, website strategy, or a related field is required; ten or more years is preferred. The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience developing and executing marketing strategies that expand visibility, strengthen brand awareness, deepen audience engagement, and improve marketing performance. Experience in agency, corporate, healthcare, nonprofit, higher education, or other complex, mission-driven environments is relevant, with higher education experience preferred but not required.

Licenses or Certifications

Certification: Professional certifications or advanced training in marketing, digital marketing, analytics, project management, web strategy, accessibility, artificial intelligence, or related fields are preferred but not required.

Is This a Temporary Position?

Is This a Temporary Position? No

Employment Conditions

An offer of employment is contingent upon successful completion of the College’s background screening process.

Number of Vacancies

Number of Vacancies 1

EEO Statement

North Central College is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce. NCC provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, please notify the Office of Human Resources. Determinations for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case‑by‑case basis.

Close Date

Open Until Filled Yes

Additional Information

The pay offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on factors including (but not limited to) the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and training.
North Central College provides a comprehensive benefits package, which includes:

• All-inclusive medical, dental and vision group insurance
• Health and dependent care savings plans
• Employer-paid life, AD&D and disability group insurance
• 403(b) retirement plan with employer contributions
• Employee assistance plan resources
• Tuition waiver for full‑time employees, spouse and dependent children
• Generous paid time off plans, including 3 weeks vacation to start
• 15 paid holidays per year, including 5 days during NCC Winter Break
• Free access to campus health center, fitness and athletic facilities, and library
• Employee discount program

Posting Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

• * Are you authorized to work in the US?
  • YES
  • NO
• * Will you now or in the future require sponsorship for work authorization?
  • YES
  • NO