Assistant Director, Marketing and Communications, University Career Center

UVA Health•Charlottesville, VA

2d•$65,000 - $72,000•Onsite

About The Position

Under the leadership of the Associate Director for Assessment and Career Outcomes, the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications elevates awareness and engagement with the University Career Center’s services, events, and outcomes. This role leads marketing strategy and oversees day-to-day execution across digital channels, campaigns, and creative production, translating the needs of students, employers, and campus partners into clear, compelling messages that drive action. The Assistant Director is part strategist, part storyteller, and part project manager: building campaigns for advising, fairs and recruiting, applied learning, pre-professional programs, and first-destination outcomes while protecting brand standards and measuring results. The University Career Center engages and supports students in the discovery and pursuit of meaningful lives. We do this by encouraging exploration, offering customized coaching and advising, fostering tailored connections, creating innovative programming, curating relevant content and technologies, developing essential skills, and facilitating transformative experiences. UCCs values are intentionality, open & clear communication, student-centered, solutions-oriented, and kindness.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism, Design, or related field (or equivalent experience).
3+ years of professional marketing/communications experience, ideally in higher education, nonprofit, or mission-driven organization.
Demonstrated skill in campaign planning, copywriting, and content production across email, web, and social.
Proficiency with common tools: email/marketing automation (e.g., Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Slate, Mailchimp), CMS (e.g., Drupal/WordPress/uConnect), social schedulers, Adobe Creative Cloud/Canva, and basic analytics (Google Analytics, Data Studio/Looker Studio).
Strong project management; comfortable juggling multiple deadlines in a fast, cyclical environment.
Commitment to equity-minded and accessible communications (plain language, alt text, captions, inclusive imagery).

Nice To Haves

Experience in marketing career services or student success programs.
Familiarity with Handshake, event platforms, and basic HTML/CSS for email.
Proficiency with leveraging social media platforms for marketing and communication (IG, Facebook…)
Ability to craft short-form video (shooting, editing, subtitles) for Reels/TikTok/YouTube Shorts.
Experience with A/B testing and building dashboards (Tableau/Power BI/Looker Studio).
Supervisory experience with student employees or interns.

Responsibilities

Collaborate to develop the annual marketing plan and channel strategy aligned to center goals (advising utilization, event attendance, employer engagement, outcomes storytelling).
Create campaign roadmaps that include audiences, value propositions, key messages, offers, and call-to-actions (CTAs), and measurement plans.
Maintain an editorial calendar integrated with academic cycles and recruiting timelines.
Produce and edit student-centered content (email, web, social, SMS, video, print) that turns services into clear benefits.
Write copy for campaigns, landing pages, slide decks, and employer spotlights; ensure accessibility and inclusive language.
Manage creative assets (photos and videos), templates, and brand guides.
Oversee day-to-day execution for email, social, web/CMS, and digital signage; publish, schedule, and monitor.
Build segmented email journeys (first-years, liberal arts, pre-health/pre-law, international students, graduate students).
Coordinate paid/boosted posts and retargeting with campus partners when appropriate.
Drive recruitment for career fairs, info sessions, treks, workshops, and coaching initiatives; develop toolkits for staff/faculty partners and student organizations.
Collaborate with Employer Engagement to market On-Grounds Interviewing and employer showcases.
Partner with web manager/IT/uConnect account representative to keep pages current and optimized for conversion; curate resources by career communities and affinities.
Conduct basic usability checks; recommend improvements to navigation, content hierarchy, and search.
Build campaign dashboards; track open/click rates, page views, RSVPs/attendances, advisor bookings, and employer engagement.
Run A/B tests on subject lines, CTAs, and landing pages; translate insights into actionable next steps.
Contribute to semester marketing impact reports for leadership.
Train staff on brand voice, asset use, and basic messaging.
Liaise with pan-university messengers including Student Affairs Communications, schools/colleges, Alumni/Advancement, and Athletics for cross-promotion.