Executive Director, Marketing and Communications
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Job no: 506275
Work @type: Full-Time
Location: University City - Philadelphia, PA
Categories: Drexel University, College of Engineering
Job Summary
The Executive Director of Marketing & Communications is responsible for providing strategic vision, leadership, and implementation of a comprehensive marketing and communications strategies to both elevate the visibility, reputation and impact of the College, as well as support revenue generation across undergraduate, graduate, and online programs. Reporting directly to the Dean of the College of Engineering & Computing (CoEC), or their designee, the Executive Director advances the College's competitive positioning across regional, national and international markets through data-driven, integrated marketing campaigns that align with Drexel's institutional strategy, while leading efforts to support key priorities in recruitment, retention, fundraising and strategic initiatives.
The role manages the CoEC communications and marketing budget and is expected to anticipate and leverage emerging marketing technologies (CRM automation, digital advertising, analytics, and AI-driven content tools), develop strategic plans for measuring results and use relevant metrics to drive recruitment performance, brand engagement, and ROI. This role will be responsible and serve as the College lead in coordination with University Marketing & Communications (UMAC) to manage brand consistency, standards, and brand alignment through all executions, and ensure compliance with communication and marketing policies and procedures established at the University.
The successful candidate will be a strong leader and team builder with proven experience in developing and managing high-performing teams and strategic communications and marketing efforts. The Executive Director will expertise that aligns with the functions of this team and will serve as the College's chief marketing strategist, translating institutional goals into actionable marketing plans that generates measurable growth in revenue (enrollment and philanthropy) and academic reputation (research visibility). Strong time management skills, intellectual curiosity, sound problem-solving and decision-making abilities, creative and innovative thinking, excellent written and oral communication skills, and the ability to work independently and as part of a team are essential to this position.
Essential Functions
Strategic Leadership & Vision:
Lead the integration and strategic direction of a unified CoEC Marketing and Communications team that aligns brand, recruitment, and revenue objectives across Biomed, CCI, and CoE.
Develop and execute a comprehensive strategy that communicates CoEC's vision, accomplishments, and impact-enhancing visibility, reputation, and rankings nationally and internationally, both internally and externally.
Partner with the CoEC leadership, specifically the Dean, Offices of Graduate and Undergraduate Students Services, Enrollment Management, and Finance to set and achieve annual enrollment and revenue targets through coordinated marketing strategies.
Use data and market research to inform decision-making, experiment quickly, and scale programs that produce measurable results. Ensure all tactics align with a clear strategic framework.
Team Building & Operational Management:
Build and lead a high-performing, collaborative team, fostering a culture of innovation, collegiality, and alignment with institutional priorities.
Nuture relationships with UMAC and Enrollment Management & Student Success (EMSS) to align priorities, strategies and tactics. Advise CoEC leadership, faculty and staff with respect to Unviersity brand platforms, insights, policies and central strategies.
Act as the college-level resource for all marketing and communications needs at the college, monitor and advocate for adherence to related policies, guidelines and initiatives.
Contribute to the Drexel marketing and communications community by participating in planned events, sharing best practices, surfacing opportunities, and other activities to elevate the university strategically and operationally.
Manage the communications and marketing budget, ensuring efficient use of resources to support strategic initiatives.
Create, document, and update workflows to ensure consistent execution of communications and marketing efforts.
Effectively onboard new team members as well as providing professional development of team members.
Branding & Integrated Communications:
Coordinate all aspects of College-wide branding, communications and marketing, ensuring alignment with University guidelines and strategic priorities.
Develop and implement an integrated communications strategy across web, social media, print, and other platforms.
Within the University brand framework, advance a differentiated CoEC brand narrative highlighting innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and student outcomes, ensuring consistent storytelling across all channels.
Develop a bank of CoEC content that that can be shared across units to amplifying storytelling.
Lead CoEC crisis, strategic and executive communications in collaboration with College leadership and the Office of University Marketing & Communications. Ensuring coordination with UMAC on all communication topics that rise to university-level.
Lead and support CoEC leadership and internal communications, including leadership messaging, speeches, presentations, and video scripts.
Recruitment Marketing & Enrollment Support: In partnership with EMSS, lead and collaborate on the development and execution of performance-based recruitment marketing strategies -spanning domestic, international, and online audiences.
Design campaigns that support prospective student engagement across all stages of the application funnel (admit-to-confirm for undergraduate market; prospects-to-confirm for graduate market), targeting both domestic and international audiences.
Integrate digital advertising, paid search, SEO, CRM automation, and social media retargeting into a unified demand-generation model that feeds directly into enrollment pipelines. This work should be collaborative with UMAC and their vendors, if appropriate.
Develop clear roles and responsibilities for CoEC Marketing & Communications team and have a very clear understanding of the roles/responsibilities of the University Marketing & Communications team.
Technology, Analytics & Innovation: Champion the use of advanced marketing technologies (CRM systems, marketing automation, analytics dashboards, SEO, AI-assisted content generation) to increase reach, personalization, and efficiency.
Build a data-driven culture of continuous improvement by defining, monitoring, and reporting key marketing performance metrics.
Establish marketing KPIs tied to applications, deposits, and yield; track campaign ROI and continuously optimize resource allocation based on data analytics.
Partner with IT and institutional data teams to ensure marketing platforms are integrated with enrollment and advancement systems for full-funnel visibility.
Stakeholder Engagement & Reputation Building:
Strengthen the College's visibility and reputation among key stakeholders including alumni, donors, rankings bodies, and academic peers. Work with UMAC and their Media Relations team to surface stories, research and/or faculty experts for earned and social media placements.
Oversee community outreach and manage special projects, events, and programs that enhance the College's public profile.
Collaborate with Instituti
