Director, Communications and Marketing
About Queen’s University
Queen’s University is the Canadian research intensive university with a transformative student learning experience. Here the employment experience is as diverse as it is interesting. We have opportunities in multiple areas of globally recognized research, faculty administration, engineering & construction, athletics & recreation, power generation, corporate shared services, and many more.
We are committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcome applications from individuals from equity seeking groups such as women, racialized/visible minorities, Indigenous/Aboriginal peoples, persons with a disability, persons who identify in the LGBTQ+ community and others who reflect the diversity of Canadian society.
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Job Summary
The Director, Communications and Marketing is a member of the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) Leadership Team and is responsible for the overall vision, strategy, and leadership of the Faculty’s communications and marketing portfolio. The Director works in a highly consultative environment, with Faculty and campus partners, to build and strengthen relationships that cultivate engagement and interest in the institution, elevate and differentiate FAS from its competitors and comparators, both internal and external, and amongst diverse stakeholders. Additionally, this position provides coaching and leadership to the FAS Communications and Marketing team in support of the Faculty’s objectives. This position currently has five team members.
Job Description

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• University degree in Business, Journalism, Public Relations, Communications or related field.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive experience and a demonstrated track record of success in a senior leadership role within a large, complex, multi-stakeholder organization, focused on strategic communications and marketing, and leading teams.
• Demonstrated strategic communications acumen with multiple content formats and content marketing expertise
• Exceptional writing skills
• Proven management and leadership experience, with a demonstrated ability to promote inclusion in the workplace and effectively organize, motivate, and direct professional staff and colleagues to achieve objectives; and works effectively with senior leadership.
• Experience working in a post-secondary field preferred.
• Comprehensive knowledge of accessibility issues, and federal and provincial legislation pertaining to electronic communications regarding accessibility, privacy, electronic security, and anti-spam.
• Demonstrated successfully experience in strategy development, project planning and implementation.
• Experience with strategic budget and financial management, including budget forecasting.
• Consideration may be given to equivalent combination or education and experience.

SPECIAL SKILLS:

• Strategic planning skills to provide clear, focused leadership and advice on communications and marketing initiatives for FAS.
• Excellent business insight, with the ability to place communications and marketing objectives in a larger organizational context and use this knowledge to make strategic choices in developing and managing a variety of projects.
• Ability to match the interests of internal and external stakeholders with the strategic needs of the institution.
• Exceptional writing, editing, and verbal communications skills to develop, implement, and oversee comprehensive and measurable strategic communications and marketing plans and products, with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Recognize diversity of abilities and adapt content, tone, medium and style to audience to be inclusive.
• Strong analytical and interpretive skills, with the ability to think about institutional information in an interdisciplinary way, and strategically use information gleaned through market research to improve and enhance communications and marketing initiatives to target audiences.
• Ability to recognize and make complex decisions with good judgement and acute sensitivity to the political environment and their implications on brand image, reputation, and goals.
• Ability to become rapidly familiar with changing new technology and trends, assess innovation for institutional benefit and impact.
• Proactively identify operational improvements to the unit necessary to deliver required services.
• Capacity to build consensus, recognize decision-making responsibilities across units, and work collaboratively to achieve superior outcomes.
• Strong interpersonal, coaching, and relationship building skills required to work well in a complex, decentralized environment with a wide variety of constituents. Ability to build / nurture strong relationships, in addition to the ability to work constructively in a consultative environment.
• Ability to cope with multiple demands and resolve priority conflicts while working under time constraints and deadlines.

SKILLS

• Collaboration
• Communications
• Relationship Building

Strategic Planning and Program Management

• Oversees FAS communications and marketing team and initiatives through consultation with key stakeholders.
• Develops, directs, and implements integrated communications and marketing strategies centered on the engagement of FAS faculty, staff, and students through consultation with key stakeholders and team members.
• Strengthens relationships within the Faculty (between faculty office units, individual academic departments, and faculty members, staff, and students), through clear and consistent messaging.
• Provides advice to the Faculty’s leadership team on strategic communications and marketing to support the Faculty Office strategic initiatives.
• Takes initiative and ensures that FAS stays abreast of new and emerging communications and marketing practices, as well as marketing trends in both traditional and non-traditional platforms.
• Measures the effectiveness and efficiency of programs, initiatives and expenditures, and takes corrective action where and when needed. Uses data analytics to inform strategy and measure performance to ensure objectives are delivered according to plan.
• Conducts comprehensive market research in support of new program developments using both primary and secondary methods such as focus groups, surveys, and environmental scans; analyzes data and prepares reports required to formulate, execute, evaluate and benchmark strategic and priority driven implementation plans; reports findings to the FAS leadership team and other senior stakeholders; and implements changes in strategy as required.
• Works closely and collaboratively with University Relations to ensure that external communication and marketing strategies and programs designed to enhance FAS’s brand, image, and reputation are aligned with those activities that enhance and protect the reputation of Queen’s overall.
• Ensures strategic communications and marketing initiatives are timely, error free, and of high-quality, in accordance with the university’s brand and visual identity standards.

Administration

• Oversees the department’s budget and participates in budget submission activities including analyzing data, forecasting resources, and developing and preparing annual budget documents.
• Provides budget and staffing leadership for the Communications and Marketing team
• Oversees communications tools for FAS including the Faculty’s website, e-Newsletters, Faculty social media platforms, and face to face strategies.
• Writes, edits, and oversees other communications for the Faculty including key messages, speeches, Q’s and A’s, stories, and web content.
• Oversees speech writing and remarks for the Dean.
• Represents FAS on university-wide committees and working groups where a communications presence is required.
• Undertakes other duties as assigned in support of FAS.
• Plans, prioritizes and manages the work of employees, providing strategic and tactical advice, guidance and coaching.
• Identifies the need for staff resources, and makes recommendations regarding employee selection for the department.
• Manages performance by establishing performance standards, reviewing and evaluating performance and conducting formal performance reviews on an ongoing basis.
• Assesses staff training and development needs and ensures that employees receive training required to improve and sustain successful performance.
• Investigates, addresses and resolves employee/labour relations issues, including making decisions regarding disciplinary and discharge matters.