Senior Strategic Partner Manager (Enrollment Marketing Focus)

Position Summary
With a primary focus on recruitment marketing, the senior strategic partner manager will serve as the consultant connecting with the Office of Admissions and other units on campus to support effective marketing and communications to drive action along the enrollment journey. This position will partner in developing an overall effective marketing strategy based on research and data. The position will help manage recruitment-focused marketing research projects, drive strategic projects with longer time horizons and manage innovation initiatives. The senior strategic partner manager also will plan, develop, and manage strategies and tactics to improve prospect experience and enhance critical touchpoints within the prospect’s recruitment journey, particularly focusing on integration of experience across the digital ecosystem. The senior strategic partner manager also will help shape critical touchpoints within the enrolled student experience, particularly during initial transition.

Duties and Responsibilities

Recruitment Marketing

• Builds and maintains positive, productive relationships between University Communications and Admissions to create and implement joint strategic plans to meet university’s recruitment goals; facilitates collaboration among units across campus and engages strategic communicators in joint work to support university’s recruitment goals
• Leverages and brings to bear resources and expertise of central communications and marketing organization to support MSU’s recruitment goals for domestic in-state, out-of-state and international students, working with all areas in University Communications
• Partners with Admissions and other campus units to manage relationships with vendors working in the recruitment space including domestic out-of-state and international markets, ensuring brand cohesion and effective return on investment
• Champions audience-centered communication that enhances the student recruitment experience from lead generation through enrollment with focus on a powerful and cohesive brand experience across the enterprise.
• Gathers deep audience insight, including helping to manage research projects such as journey mapping and persona definition; develops ways to sustain market intelligence of changing needs of prospective students and their parents, including unique needs of in-state, out-of-state and international students
• Optimizes marketing strategy at all stages along the prospective student journey using audience insight, marketing research and analytics
• Develops and drives longer-term strategic projects to enhance enrollment marketing effectiveness over time and leads innovation initiatives to bring new technologies, techniques, practices and ideas into the practice of enrollment marketing at MSU
• Plans, develops and manages strategies and tactics to enhance critical touchpoints within the prospect’s journey, focusing on critical digital touchpoints and on integration across the entire digital ecosystem including mobile, web platform CMS, social, email, video content and paid media support
• Manages paid components of recruitment advertising, connecting essential partners in Admissions, University Communications and agencies

Persistence of Current Students

• Collaborate to develop and drive strategies that support university efforts to ensure student success through persistence and graduation
• Act as key contact with campus partners who play an essential role in the student journey, including: Residential and Hospitality Services (RHS), units in the Office of the Provost and Student Affairs and Services, as well as other campus partners
• Collaborate with college strategic partners to connect, advance and elevate student success efforts happening across campus

Strategic Partnership

• Connect the work of Admissions and Student Success with academic colleges and other strategic partner units across campus in alignment with priority Strategic Partner leaders have placed on recruitment and persistence
• Participate in collaborative content planning and serves as driver for joint content projects
• Helps identify and coordinate additional external partners to develop content and add capacity as needed
• Assist with hiring, evaluation and talent development for unit communicators focused on students; helps ensure communicators have necessary skills and identifies skill development needs and opportunities
• Contribute to identification and development of joint training and educational efforts including new communicator orientation, University Communicators Network, annual communicators conference and other opportunities
• Lead special projects as assigned

Required Education/Experience

• Completion of a 4-year bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Business, Marketing, Advertising, or Public Relations
• Five to eight years of related and progressively more responsible or expansive work experience in strategic communications and/or marketing communications
• Recruitment marketing experience
• Supervision and project management

Desired Experience

• More than 10 years of related and progressively more responsible or expansive work experience in strategic communications and/or marketing communications
• Admissions recruitment marketing experience in large university among out-of-state and international students
• Knowledge equivalent to that which normally would be acquired by completing an additional two-year master’s degree program in journalism, business, marketing, advertising, English, or public relations
• Passionate about developing and executing breakthrough ideas to elevate affinity and esteem that advance recruitment marketing goals
• Relationship management experience is a bonus; experience working in higher education in a large university environment or experience working in a large, matrixed organization
• A passion for content marketing and a solid understanding of how earned, owned, paid, and shared media work together to carry an organization’s message
• Outstanding relationship skills; demonstrates poise, inspires trust; brings people together; shows expertise but leaves room for others
• Proven track record of demonstrated success in building collaborative, productive partnerships resulting in communications products that achieve results
• Has the confidence to operate independently in a fast-paced environment, but has a proven "team player" mentality and demonstrates leadership and accountability
• Demonstrated track record of using analytics to improve and plan content; familiarity with and interest in marketing technology
• Experience in comprehensive, integrated marketing communications planning and content strategy
• Excellent communication and relationship skills

Required Application Materials

Resume

Cover Letter

3 Professional References

Work Hours

STANDARD 8-5