Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Digital Learning - UTK

University of Tennessee•Knoxville, IA

7h•$210,000 - $225,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Chief Marketing & Communications Officer (CMCO), Head of Growth provides strategic leadership for marketing, communications, brand management, enrollment growth, and audience engagement for the University of Tennessee's fully online programs. Reporting to the Vice Dean of Digital Learning, this position serves as the lead marketing and communications executive for online programs and collaborates closely with academic colleges, enrollment management, university communications and marketing, and university partners to accelerate awareness, reputation, enrollment, and revenue growth for online and professional education offerings. The CMCO, Head of Growth establishes the enterprise growth strategy for Digital Learning (DL) and ensures the effective execution of integrated marketing, communications, and enrollment initiatives through organizational leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and measurable performance outcomes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree
Seven (7) or more years of progressively responsible leadership experience in marketing, communications, enrollment growth, business development, or related functions.
Significant leadership experience within higher education, including demonstrated success navigating shared governance, building consensus among diverse stakeholders, and advancing strategic initiatives through influence rather than direct authority.
Experience leading cross-functional teams and enterprise-level strategic initiatives.
Demonstrated success developing and executing data-informed marketing and growth strategies.
Strong understanding of online higher education markets, learner behavior, and enrollment management practices.
Demonstrated commitment to incorporating developing learner, faculty, employer, and partner perspectives through active listening, market awareness, and continuous environmental scanning.
Strong understanding of the current marketing environment, including how to best utilize AEO/AIO/SEO as well as how to integrate traditional and digital strategies.
Knowledge and experience about how to utilize CRM, preferably Salesforce and Slate.
Strong management capabilities and proven experience in managing and developing teams.
Demonstrated strategic leadership, planning, change management and process improvement skills.
Ability to lead through subordinate leaders by establishing strategic direction, empowering operational decision-making, and holding teams accountable for organizational outcomes.
Ability to challenge assumptions, be challenged yourself, adapt strategies in response to evidence, and foster a culture that values curiosity, continuous learning and constructive feedback.
Ability to inspire trust and work collegially with all appropriate stakeholders, including competency in influencing a wide range of people at various levels across complex organizational structures to achieve results in a collaborative decision-making environment.
Skill in communicating complex organizational performance information through concise executive reports, presentations and recommendations that support strategic decision-making.
Ability to establish measurable performance expectations and hold teams accountable for achieving strategic outcomes, including through effective budget management and resource allocation.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in marketing, communications, higher education or a related field.
Senior executive leadership experience within a university, online education organization, or comparable educational enterprise.
Experience launching or scaling online academic programs.
Experience leading marketing technology, CRM, customer journey optimization, or enrollment funnel transformation initiatives.
Experience working with professional, continuing, executive, or workforce education programs.
Demonstrated experience supporting online education, digital learning, online program enrollment growth, or related initiatives.
Knowledge of emerging trends in digital learning, artificial intelligence, lifelong learning, and alternative credentials.
Experience leveraging advanced analytics and predictive modeling to drive growth strategies.
Strong understanding of public higher education environments and shared governance structures.

Responsibilities

Lead and continuously refine Digital Learning’s enterprise growth strategy for online programs, aligning expansion decisions with institutional priorities, capacity, market demand, and long-term financial sustainability.
Build an executive performance framework that integrates marketing, enrollment, student success, and financial KPIs—translating data into actionable recommendations for leadership decisions and resource allocation.
Identify new market and partnership opportunities, learner segments, and program growth areas, and collaborate with academic and university leaders to ensure strategic alignment.
Lead brand positioning, messaging, and market differentiation while setting strategy for integrated campaigns across digital, social, email, web, paid media, content, and emerging channels.
Leverage AEO/AIO/SEO and analytics to drive awareness and growth, evaluate marketing performance to ensure investments deliver measurable enrollment and learner-success outcomes, and partner with the University Office of Communications and Marketing and academic colleges to maintain UT brand consistency and alignment.
Lead strategic communications for Digital Learning and Vols Online, overseeing conversion, yield, and retention messaging for prospective and current students and partners.
Develop communications plans for program launches, enrollment campaigns, major initiatives, internal and executive communications, and collaborate with university marketing and communications teams to maximize visibility.
Advise leadership on communications strategy, reputation management, and stakeholder engagement.
Set strategic priorities, performance expectations, and accountability through subordinate leaders, and foster a collaborative, innovative, continuous-improvement culture.
Oversee budgets, vendors, and agency partners; partner with technology leadership to align marketing technology investments with integrated processes, data-driven decisions, and measurable institutional value.
Translate complex information into clear priorities and recommendations.
Ensure responsible resource stewardship by evaluating marketing spend against outcomes and reallocating as needed, while building trusted relationships across Digital Learning, colleges, faculty, and university leadership through transparency and collaboration.
Analyze enrollment, market, financial, and learner performance trends to inform strategy and investment priorities.
Lead forecasting and performance reporting for growth initiatives, set performance expectations, and evaluate results to recommend where resources should be expanded, reallocated, or discontinued.
Partner with other Digital Learning leaders to keep strategies aligned with changing learner needs, market conditions, and institutional objectives.