Director of Communications (Maryland Carey Law)

The University of Maryland Baltimore Francis King Carey School of Law is currently seeking a Director of Communications. This position is responsible for leading, developing, and implementing a comprehensive communications and marketing strategy to enhance the school’s reputation and the reputation of its programs and faculty, to promote its image with a variety of internal and external audiences, including prospective and current students, alumni, and donors.  Working with internal resources and external partners, this role will focus on enhancing our digital brand presence and will seek to enhance online communities across our web platforms and social media channels. This position is responsible for elevating the work of all law school units through integrated strategic communications efforts. The director will be responsible for strengthening the school’s internal and external communication processes and procedures. This position will also focus on conducting market research and analyzing data to identify opportunities, trends, and challenges relevant to strategic marketing, communications, and public relations efforts. This position will report to the Associate Dean for External Relations and will manage a team of direct reports in the department.

BENEFITS (Exempt Regular):

UMB offers a comprehensive benefits package that prioritizes wellness, work/life balance, and professional development. This position participates in a retirement program (pension or optional retirement plan/ORP) that must be selected and is effective on your date of hire. Exempt regular staff receive a generous paid leave package that includes over 4 weeks of vacation accrued each year, 16 paid holidays, 3 personal leave, unlimited accrual of sick time, and comprehensive health insurance; professional learning and development programs; tuition remission for employees and their dependents at any University System of Maryland school; and flexible work schedules and teleworking options (if applicable per job).

UMB is Ranked Among the Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes 2022 & 2023.

PRIMARY DUTIES:

• Lead and manage all aspects of the marketing and communications functions for Maryland Carey Law.
• Develop and implement strategic public relations and communications plans to shape the organization's image and brand reputation. Develop and manage ongoing campaigns and one-time efforts designed to create general awareness, promote programs, connect with donors, and engage applicants, while working to build deeper relationships with both existing student and alumni audiences.
• Responsible for content planning, as well as managing the voice and perception of our brand across Maryland Carey Law’s digital and print communications.
• Oversee the creation and distribution of various publications and other materials (e.g., annual magazine, program newsletters, press releases, presentations) to effectively engage target audiences.
• Oversee content of the Maryland Carey Law website. Develop and implement website policies.
• Establish online marketing goals, growth strategies, and measurement metrics for various online audiences.
• Lead crisis communications planning and oversee responses to issues or incidents that require PR intervention.
• Work closely with admissions and development teams and other internal stakeholders to conceive, develop, and implement online marketing campaigns and efforts to drive lead generation, to enhance advocacy and information sharing, and to promote conversion/donation across online channels to efficiently hit KPIs and goals. Develop performance media plans to maximize impact on acquisition, donation, ROI and revenue.
• Collaborate with admissions leadership regarding student recruitment in the JD, MSL, and LL.M programs. 
• Collaborate with alumni relations and development leadership regarding alumni and external constituencies.
• Collaborate with other internal stakeholders (e.g., faculty, programs, other departments) regarding strategic marketing and communications.
• Develop, manage, and grow social media presence and outreach across all social channels as well as proactively develop and plan editorial content calendar including all of Maryland Carey Law’s areas of focus such as key school milestones, alumni achievements, rankings and competitive performance, donor campaigns, and other elements of a preeminent learning institution. Set the tone and voice across platforms and outward communication of messaging and responses including monitoring of conversations and proactively managing potential issues.
• Oversee and work with relevant partners on digital media plans including paid search, programmatic display, programmatic video, mobile, and social, and work with team and agency partners to monitor performance goals and objectives. Oversee management of external marketing and communication firms and freelance writers, as needed.
• Lead SEO and SEM campaigns to drive quality engagement, traffic, and conversions.
• Develop and manage budget for marketing and communications activities; track and make adjustments to plans, as required.
• Provide ongoing research on peer institutions to measure Maryland Carey Law’s presence in critical areas such as recruitment and admissions, alumni communications and relations, donor relations and philanthropy, communications efforts, and global positioning.
• Oversee development of assets for online marketing and fundraising. Collaborate with UMB internal resources as well as outside agencies/resources as needed (e.g. designers, developers, writers, videographers) to develop effective assets (e.g. videos, branded banners, gifs, newsletters, e-appeals etc.) to support online initiatives and ensure an effective, on-brand representation of Maryland Carey Law online.
• Provide ongoing development and maintenance of a marketing toolbox for Maryland Carey Law’s leadership that ties to relevant external events to ensure communications such as fast facts, etc. are relevant, meet the needs of different audiences and can be visible across multiple channels.
• Maintain key online metrics, testing and reporting.
• Represent Maryland Carey Law through participation in campus meeting and special projects. Build effective relationships with a broad range of members of the Maryland Carey Law community, provide guidance on a wide range of publication needs in both print and electronic media, and coordinate use of constituent data with other departments.
• Provide leadership to the communications team. Ensure the department’s work is integrated, mutually supportive, and aligned with institutional goals. Define clear project objectives, scope, and deliverables to drive impactful outcomes.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  

Education: Bachelor’s in Marketing, English, Journalism, Public Relations, Communications, or related field.
Experience: Six (6) years of experience in marketing, communications, or media, public, or client relations. Experience in higher education preferred.

Supervisory Experience: Two (2) years of experience at a management or leadership level.
 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Deep understanding of online marketing fundamentals (paid, earned, owned) including SEM, SEO, display, retargeting, social media (paid and organic) and email marketing (list acquisition/exchange).
• Familiarity and experience with email service providers, email segmentation, targeting and A/B testing tools to maximize response rates.
• Comfortable working with creative teams to develop and produce effective campaigns, and product/engineering teams to optimize websites and landing pages.
• Familiarity with quantitative and qualitative data collection.
• Highly collaborative and skilled manager capable of leading a multi-cultural team to meet demanding deadlines.
• First-hand experience managing digital marketing, in particular strategic planning, brand building, website management, content generation and marketing, digital advertising, social media management and managing digital asset development.
• Experience partnering with development teams and overall understanding of website design with regard to functionality and navigation.
• Experience with business strategies as well as managing and maintaining content for social channels.
• Experience with Google Analytics, Sprinklr, Hootsuite, etc., and web content management systems. Strong MS Office Suite Skills (Excel, Word and PowerPoint).

HIRING RANGE: $119,000 - $130,000 per year (Commensurate with education and experience)

UMB is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law or policy. For assistance related to employment, please contact the Staffing department at [email protected] .

If you anticipate needing a reasonable accommodation for a disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), during any part of the employment process, please submit a UMB Job Applicant Accommodation Request . You may also contact [email protected] . Please note that only inquiries concerning an ADA request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.