Employment Opportunities at North Central College
Director of Marketing
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Posting Details
Position Information
Posting Number S000981
Position Title Director of Marketing
Department Institutional Communication
Division Institutional Communication
Supervisor Title Vice President for Communication and Marketing
Status Full Time Regular
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? No
Employment Conditions An offer of employment is contingent upon successful completion of the College's background screening process.
Number of Vacancies 1
Posting Detail Information
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
Applicant Documents
Required Documents
Resume
Cover Letter/Letter of Interest
Optional Documents
