Director Communications & Marketing

Johns Hopkins Sightline: Unleash Your Impact

The Johns Hopkins Sightline Business Modernization Project is more than just a job - it's a mission. We're tearing down walls to unleash the full potential of our people. Baltimore, ranked a top 2024 destination by the New York Times, is your backdrop as you join a dynamic and entrepreneurial team to reimagine the way Johns Hopkins works. We're not just simplifying processes and transforming technology - we're empowering people to focus on what matters most: research, teaching, patient care and community impact.

Does this sound like you?

• Thrive in fast-paced environments with daily new challenges and opportunities.
• Are passionate about simplifying complex systems to change people’s lives.
• Believe in transformation that empowers, not hinders, the front-line people.
• Have experience in process improvement, technology implementation, or project management.
• Enjoy analytical thinking and problem solving.
• Communicate clearly with a team.
• Possess a desire to grow and learn.

Joining Sightline means you’ll

• Work with cutting-edge technology.
• Join a collaborative team of experts in higher education and healthcare.
• Build new skills with a team that encourages creativity, innovation, and personal growth.
• Gain valuable experience and expertise in process improvement, technology implementation, and change management.
• Enjoy a competitive salary and benefits package that includes health insurance, retirement savings plans, telework options, and generous paid time off.

Become an architect of change and help shape the future of Johns Hopkins University and Medicine alongside a passionate team in Baltimore's vibrant hub.

Sightline is a multi-year initiative that leverages a cross-disciplinary, inter-entity team and hundreds of stakeholders in selecting and implementing the next ERP software platform for the Johns Hopkins enterprise, enabling broader operational transformation. Sightline’s scope includes business transformation related to processes, policies and other operating considerations that will impact employees working within administrative support functions as well as mission critical staff focused on teaching, research and patient care.

We are seeking a Director of Communications & Marketing who will report to the Executive Director of Change Management.

The Sightline program will be focused on change management and communications as it relates to changes in technology, policy, and process redesign. This role will be responsible for ensuring impacts of such changes and redesign efforts are well known, communicated, and understood throughout the Hopkins community by impacted stakeholders and cohorts.

The Director Communications & Marketing is a key member of the Sightline – Business Modernization Project’s Change Management team and provides leadership, oversight and management of the Project’s communications and marketing efforts.

The candidate plans, organizes, leads and directs multiple initiatives in support of the Change Management portfolio. The candidate possesses superior interpersonal, communications and collaboration skills to foster transparent and service-oriented relationships throughout the University and Health System. The candidate also supervises Communications Specialists on the project and works in an integrated manner with the other areas of the Change Management team, and the other functional teams on the project.

This role provides oversight to the operational, strategic, and support messaging for the Sightline project, defining a consistent voice for project, directing communications pacing, audience segmentation, and message delivery. The manager will strategically guide growth and maintenance of the Sightline website to ensure content serves project communications and engagement goals.

The director designs and executes promotional campaigns for Sightline activities, including in-person and virtual events that support the project’s change network and other project priorities/initiatives. This role identifies opportunities to recognize stakeholders, teams, and successes that highlight the accomplishments of the Sightline Project, and organizes information, writes press releases, and executes outreach to build awareness.

The Director must maintain close contact and collaboration with communications offices at the University and Health System in addition to cross-disciplinary teams working on Sightline, managing all communications and engagement related advisory committees, and establishing appropriate approval frameworks and governance for broad communications moments.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

• The responsibilities listed below are typical examples of the work performed by this position.
• Not all duties assigned to this position are included, nor is it expected that everyone in this position will be assigned every job responsibility.

Strategic Planning

• As a member of the Project Sightline leadership team, lead strategic and tactical initiatives by prioritizing, developing and implementing those initiatives in order to achieve institutional goals.
• Provides information that executive leadership need to make strategic decisions.
• Balances available personnel and funding resources in support of meeting operational and strategic initiatives.
• Supervises the broader Communications team on the project.

Relationship Management

• Represent the Sightline Change Management Team in executive meetings both within and outside of Johns Hopkins.
• Manage customer relationships inside and outside of Johns Hopkins.
• Create and promote the highest quality of services and support for the project team and project stakeholders.
• Foster a collaborative, transparent and consensus-building environment.

Staff Management

• Develop and implement strategies to attract and maintain a highly skilled and engaged team of 2-3 Communications Specialists by recruiting, selecting and developing talent, supporting mentorship, workforce development and succession planning and leveraging the capabilities of new and existing talent.
• Ensures staff provide high levels of customer service, both internally and externally.
• Cultivates an environment in which staff respect and adhere to integrity and ethics by integrating those values into work processes.

Program Responsibilities

• Serve as a thought leader in helping Sightline clearly communicate complex technical and operational transformation ideas, how changes will impact work, and a vision for the future-state of administrative services and processes across Johns Hopkins.
• Responsible for developing, maintaining, and updating the Sightline Communications Plan in a manner that integrates with the project’s segmented stakeholders, Project timelines and phases, extent of change, and degree of impact.
• Integrate closely with the Office of Change Management’s other teams to include but not limited to Program Management, Readiness & Engagement, and Training & Development.
• Oversee and manage any consulting engagements to assure delivery of services are on time and within budget. Develops scopes of work for consulting engagements required throughout the project as it pertains to the communications portfolio.
• Oversee newsletter strategy for Sightline, including managing internal communications calendars, training teams to use newsletter templates, and writing or approving messaging.
• Set themes, tone, and messaging for Sightline throughout all phases of the project, to include University and Health System leadership messaging.
• Review and edit mission-critical communications centered around the Sightline project.
• Lead promotion of Sightline programs and events, developing and executing outreach plans in partnership with communications offices and cross-institutional teams.
• Develop and deliver the Sightline web content and messaging working closely with the web manager(s).
• Lead copy curation, writing, and editing of periodic reports and project updates for University and Health System leadership engaged with Sightline, including the Project’s Steering Committee, Academic and Health System Leadership, University Trustees and Health System Board Members.
• Develop stories and lead content creation for Sightline to effectively push out project updates and information: newsletter, broad community broadcasts, segmented communications, project webpage, etc.
• Oversee and manage the Sightline Communications & Engagement Advisory Committee to assure coordination with University and Health System Communications leadership and teams, and to solicit appropriate feedback on content and messaging.

Special Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Excellent management and project management skills.
• Able to interact well with all levels of management.
• Builds highly successful teams.
• Collaborates with peers, colleagues and staff, exercises persuasion and objectivity.
• Ability to prioritize work and ensure projects are completed on time.
• Superior written and oral communications skills.
• Exemplary customer service skills and ability to exemplify and instill this orientation throughout the department.
• Strong leadership skills, able to achieve results in a large, complex setting.
• Diplomatic, creative, innovative, able to work effectively at both the strategic and detail level.
• Organizational skills, ability to prioritize conflicting demands.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Communications, Marketing or related field.
• Eight years related experience.
• Additional experience may substitute for required education to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.
• Excellent writing, editing, and interpersonal skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience producing and executing internal communications plans or promotional campaigns.
• Experience building relationships across an academic/medical institution to support the messaging needs of a large department.
• Familiarity with building messaging strategies for institutional leaders.
• Fluency in multiple communications and marketing channels.

Classified Title: Director Communications & Marketing
Role/Level/Range: L/04/LE
Starting Salary Range: $85,400 - $149,500 Annually (Commensurate with experience)
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: Mon-Fri 8:30am-5:00pm
Exempt Status: Exempt
Location: Mount Washington Campus
Department name: Sightline
Personnel area: University Administration