Director, Marketing - Pathways- Salt Lake City, Utah

If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country-and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future-consider WGU as the next step in your career.Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.What You'll Do:The Director, Marketing- Pathways is responsible for the development and execution of marketing and communication strategies that support brand development, new student growth, and other priorities for non-degree offerings-i.e., courses, certificates, and readiness pathways.Among the Director's responsibilities is ownership for the development of rich insights into audience needs, product market fit, competitive landscape, etc., and the translation of such into messaging and actionable product development and growth strategies (i.e., "product marketing"). This role promotes the awareness and positive reputation of the university among key target audiences through effective use of media, engagements, special events, campaigns, content, promotions, and other related activities.The Director, Marketing- Pathways acts as a critical bridge between Academy and the Marketing & Communications team. This role will spend relatively equal time interfacing with Academy leaders and members of the Marketing team and will also work with School Marketing leadership in growing pathways for degree programs in tight collaboration with academic school leadership.In addition to the essential functions of their role, Senior Leaders play a pivotal role in shaping strategic plans, providing direction, and setting goals for their department or function. Senior Leaders are accountable for actions that impact function or multiple department budgets and possess a high financial acumen. Senior Leaders establish policies, practices and procedures that have a significant impact on the organization. These roles effectively cascade functional organizational people practices to their direct reports.Main Responsibilities Include:Build relationships of trust with Academy, school, and Marketing leaders to facilitate strong cross organizational information sharing and cooperative strategy development.

Be the expert in all marketing activities and internal and external factors influencing portfolio performance.

Represent Marketing in cross-functional reporting and other settings, including interfacing with executive leadership.

Assist with setting school-specific performance targets for readiness and certificate offerings, and provide regular reporting, forecasts, and root-cause insights to inform ongoing adjustments to drive KPIs.

Drive readiness- and certificate-specific marketing initiatives, partnering with various teams across Marketing to translate strategies into tactical execution.

Responsible for planning and implementing strategies and tactics to build and maintain a positive reputation and gain publicity for activities, programs, and events related to the portfolio of university offerings.

Work closely with internal and/or agency creative teams to ensure that creative requests are accurate, on time, and on brand.

Expert in all internal and external factors that affect performance including the evolving portfolio of academic course and program offerings, industry associations and employer partnerships, target audiences, market demand trends, and competitor behavior.

Drive action to grow the impact of current portfolio offerings as well as participating in identifying opportunities for portfolio expansion, partnerships, and other growth opportunities.

Works in daily partnership with senior executives and other leaders to set performance targets and budgets, develop supporting strategies, execute on specific initiatives, and forecast and report on results.

Responsible for understanding and communicating with cross-organizational partners regarding marketing spend and performance metrics

Review and reconcile P&L spend and invoicing vs. budget monthly.

Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities. The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice.Knowledge, Skill and Abilities You'll Need to be Successful:Significant client or key stakeholder management experience.

Executive-level communication ability. Must be able to clearly and persuasively communicate both verbally and in writing with staff at all levels of the university.

Exceptional ability to build trust and wield strong influence across each of these organizations is critical to the success of this role.

Strong quantitative and strategic analysis skills. Must be able to gather and analyze structured and unstructured data and research to identify significant trends, implications, and opportunities.

Experience developing models to forecast marketing performance based on historical trends, spend, market conditions, etc.

Fluency in a wide variety of marketing disciplines, including traditional and digital media, SEO, content marketing, and conference and event marketing.

Proven success in bringing new products and/or services to market.

Exceptional project management and organization skills.

Direct people leadership, including hiring, coaching, and managing to achieve performance targets.

Drive and ability to influence others to act without direct reporting authority.

What is Required:Minimum Qualifications:Bachelor's degree in marketing.

Ten or more years of related marketing experience.

5 or more years of people leadership experience.

Five or more years of product marketing experience.

Meaningful client/stakeholder management experience.

Demonstrated track record of managing multiple complex projects at one time.

*Must be located in Utah, within a commutable distance to Salt Lake City

Preferred Qualifications:Client-facing agency experience.

Two years of experience in SaaS or tech environment.

Industry experience in higher education and/or areas relevant to WGU schools (e.g., healthcare, K12 education, IT)

Physical Requirements:Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.

Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.

Disclaimer:

This Job Description has been designed to indicate the general nature, essential duties, and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this classification. It does not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications that are required of the employee to do this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. This Job Description does not constitute a contract of employment and the University may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.#LI-BS1#LI-Hybrid#D&I#AAThe salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Pay Range: $122,100.00 - $219,800.00 WGU will accept applications for this position until 12:00 AM ET, 08/26/2024

How to apply: apply onlineFull-time Regular Positions (FT classification, standard working hours = 40)This is a full-time, regular position that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

The University is an equal opportunity employer.All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.