Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications, Operations

Fort Lewis College•Durango, CO

3d•$67,500 - $71,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications Operations serves as the operational deputy to the Director of Marketing & Communications. This position translates institutional priorities into coordinated work by leading department operations, project and capacity management, staff supervision, and cross-functional implementation. The Associate Director works across creative, content, media relations, social media, executive and internal communications, photography, video, and web. The role requires design and production experience sufficient to review work and provide creative feedback.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in marketing, communications, design, business administration, project management, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
4 or more years of progressively responsible experience in marketing, communications, creative services, project management, or a related environment.
Experience leading operations for a multidisciplinary in-house marketing, communications, or creative team.
Demonstrated success managing concurrent, cross-functional projects from intake through delivery.
Working proficiency with Adobe Creative Cloud, particularly InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop, sufficient to review files and provide informed creative feedback.
Experience with project- or work-management systems and process improvement.
Strong judgment, organization, facilitation, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and student success, as well as experience working with broadly diverse communities.

Nice To Haves

Experience managing vendors, contracts, purchasing, print production, and budgets.
Knowledge of integrated marketing and communications workflows across print, digital, web, social, photography, video, media relations, and executive communications.
Demonstrated ability to use approved artificial intelligence tools responsibly and effectively to support planning, content or creative development, workflow improvement, or decision-making within the position’s area of responsibility. Ability to critically evaluate AI-generated outputs and to apply institutional policies and professional judgment when using AI-enabled tools.
Experience using data to assess workload, resource use, and delivery performance.
Experience in higher education, nonprofit, or public-sector communications.
Familiarity with Fort Lewis College, its mission, and its institutional culture.

Responsibilities

Leads department operations and project portfolio management by moving department work from request through completion in alignment with institutional priorities, department capacity, and established decision-making processes.
Manages intake, scoping, prioritization, assignment, schedules, review, and project closeout.
Maintains the department portfolio, production calendar, workload view, and status reporting.
Assigns and rebalances work within established priorities; negotiates routine scope and timelines and elevates institutional priority or resource conflicts to the Director.
Identifies risks, dependencies, capacity constraints, and stalled decisions and coordinates resolution.
Supervises designated creative and production staff and coordinates team accountability, workload management, and professional development in support of a collaborative department culture.
Sets expectations, conducts evaluations and regular check-ins, provides coaching and development, and addresses performance concerns.
Balances workload, coordinates coverage and handoffs, and clarifies roles and responsibilities.
Facilitates team meetings, project reviews, conflict resolution, and coordination of interns, freelancers, and temporary support.
Organizes cross-functional implementation of marketing and communications strategies established by the Director and relevant functional leads by translating priorities into coordinated work plans, deliverables, timelines, and review processes.
Develops integrated work plans with clear objectives, deliverables, owners, milestones, and review points.
Coordinates contributions across content, creative, web, media relations, social media, photography, video, in conjunction with executive and internal communications.
Keeps work aligned as priorities or scope change and provides the Director with concise status and resource recommendations.
Maintains functional leads' authority for discipline-specific strategy and quality decisions.
Coordinates routine stakeholder relationships and creative production processes by clarifying scope, timelines, approvals, production requirements, and handoffs with campus partners and department contributors.
Clarifies project scope, roles, timelines, approvals, and deliverables with campus partners and communicates material changes.
Reviews concepts and production files for alignment with the project brief, audience, channel, and production requirements.
Uses Adobe Creative Cloud as needed to review files, troubleshoot workflow, or make limited production adjustments.
Provides constructive creative feedback in coordination with the Designer/Brand Manager and other functional leads.
Manages administrative systems, vendor coordination, purchasing workflows, and process improvements that support timely, accountable department delivery.
Coordinates vendors, estimates, purchasing, contracts, proofs, invoices, and production schedules.
Monitors operational expenditures and supports budget and resource planning.
Evaluates workflow performance and maintains practical processes, documentation, and continuity plans.