Assistant Vice President, Marketing Strategy and Planning

About the position

Reporting to the Vice President for Communications and Marketing, the Assistant Vice President, Marketing Strategy and Planning creates comprehensive, data-informed strategies that leverage paid, earned, shared and owned media to advance top-line revenue growth through effective brand activation, student recruitment marketing, and initiatives to build awareness and engagement with key publics. The AVP integrates artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to optimize marketing performance, strengthen value proposition messaging, and improve conversion rates across the marketing funnel. The AVP also works closely with the AVPs for Strategic Content and Strategic Distribution to ensure operational excellence in the design and execution of major marketing and communications projects and manage the work of agencies and other suppliers. Through an advanced knowledge of contemporary marketing strategies, AI-powered analytics, and collaborative and collegial working styles, the AVP executes projects, manages resources, analyzes data and assists in the management of strategic operations.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the VP to develop comprehensive marketing and communications strategies aligned with the University's major goals and objectives and provide a strategic framework to support UCM's effectiveness and increase its impact.
• Lead strategic partnership with Enrollment Management to optimize student recruitment marketing, improve conversion rates, and strengthen value proposition messaging across all touchpoints in the enrollment funnel.
• Leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to analyze marketing performance, predict campaign outcomes, identify optimization opportunities, and personalize messaging strategies.
• Advise the VP on the purchase and implementation of new tools, communications methods and external services to enhance the effectiveness of UCM's operations, with particular emphasis on AI-powered marketing technologies and data analytics platforms.
• Work closely with other leaders in University Communications and Marketing and in key partner organizations, including (but not limited to) Enrollment Management, Online Services and Academic Affairs, to facilitate effective collaboration to advance multiple priorities and serve the needs of multiple constituencies.
• Serve as primary strategic liaison with Enrollment Management leadership to ensure marketing initiatives directly support enrollment goals, address competitive positioning challenges, and maximize yield from marketing investments.
• Cultivate strong relationships with university leaders and with decentralized communications and marketing professionals and with UCM's agencies and suppliers, to ensure productive partnerships that advance institutional goals.
• Lead cross-functional planning processes to ensure that marketing and communications initiatives are strategically designed, data-informed, and measurable.
• Develop and implement AI-assisted marketing strategies that improve audience targeting, message optimization, and campaign performance measurement.
• Oversee the division's project management and research and analytics staff, ensuring efficient project administration and effective use of data in formulating and evaluating strategies and tactics.
• Deploy advanced analytics and AI tools to identify areas for growth and innovation through data analysis, research, market trends, and competitive intelligence.
• Analyze pricing perception, value proposition effectiveness, and competitive positioning to inform strategic messaging and campaign development in partnership with Enrollment Management.
• Develop and maintain AI-enhanced marketing dashboards and reporting systems to track performance across paid, earned, shared and owned media, with particular focus on conversion metrics and enrollment funnel optimization.
• Serve as lead planner and day to day point of contact with major clients and partners, including Enrollment Management and Academic Affairs.
• Conduct regular performance evaluations of marketing initiatives using AI-powered analytics and adjust strategies as needed to improve yield and competitive positioning.
• Facilitate quarterly and annual planning sessions within UCM and with its major clients and partners, with emphasis on data-driven insights and AI-assisted strategic planning.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in a related field.
• Minimum five (5) years of professional experience in planning and managing integrated marketing and communication activities, or a related field.
• Minimum three (3) years of professional supervisory experience.
• Demonstrated excellence in creating comprehensive research based strategic communication and marketing plans that integrate paid, earned, shared and owned (PESO) media.
• Facilitating the implementation of plans and evaluating the outcomes of plans.
• Applying data and metrics to improve performance.
• Managing relationships with clients and partners, ensuring alignment and optimizing outcomes.
• Communicating clearly and effectively.
• Leading change.
• Working productively and harmoniously with people of diverse backgrounds at all levels of the organization.
• Familiarity with the fundamentals of project management, qualitative and quantitative marketing and communications research, strategic content production and distribution, budgeting and resource management, artificial intelligence applications in marketing and data analytics, enrollment management and student recruitment marketing strategies.

Nice-to-haves

• Master's degree from an accredited university in a related field.
• Earned credentials that demonstrate advanced knowledge, skills and abilities related to the position, such as the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) or Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP) designations, or certifications in marketing analytics, AI/machine learning applications, or digital marketing optimization.
• Experience serving a higher education institution.
• Experience in working with sales management leaders and teams.
• Experience in lead generation marketing.
• Utilizing AI and advanced analytics tools to optimize marketing strategies and measure performance.
• Additional years of experience as a communications and marketing manager.

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Retirement plans
• Tuition assistance