Communications Director

University of Wisconsin Madison • Madison, WI

4d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Communications Director works to magnify engagement in the arts across multiple audiences, advance goals and priorities of the campus arts community, and build on a national profile for the arts at UW-Madison. The Communications Director leads a group of 6 professional communications staff, oversees the department's strategy and budget, determines the personnel resource allocation plan, and ensures a cohesive voice and brand identity for all communications. The Communications Director develops and implements a strategic communications plan for the area. The Communications Director reports to the Senior Director for Arts and Media and serves on the leadership team, working collaboratively on the implementation of a strategic vision for the arts on campus. The Communications Director may be asked to represent the Senior Director at appropriate meetings and events with stakeholders and is responsible for building and maintaining strong relationships with high-level campus communicators, the media, and professional organizations. This position also works closely with colleagues in the arts across campus in conjunction with the Office of Strategic Communication on aligning with campus branding and communications. The department the Communications Director oversees is the Division of the Arts communications team which currently includes specialists in web design, writing, video, and social media. The Communications Director oversees specific internal, local and national strategies for those units as well as collaborating with individual faculty and staff, departments, non-academic units, and deans to uplift and promote their priorities in the arts and media and collectively raise the profile of arts and culture initiatives through all media. This position is expected to attend events hosted by the Division of the Arts and campus arts partners as assigned, including some evening and weekend events. The Senior Director for Arts and Media reports to the Provost's Office and serves as a connector and supporter of the arts across campus. In support of the Senior Director's role, the Communications team promotes and provides resources for interdisciplinary collaborations, faculty, staff and student projects, and artist-in-residency programs. It does this through direct promotion in all media, and through supporting other units' efforts in these areas. This support can be both directly in the form of content creation, or indirect in ways that units or individuals identify needs. All work should lead to an ever-healthier arts and culture ecosystem throughout campus and greater visibility of that work to the state, the nation and the world.

Requirements

• Minimum of five years related professional experience
• Specialized knowledge or professional experience in one or more areas including strategic communications, public relations, marketing, media relations, journalism, brand strategy, or visual communications
• Experience engaging multiple types of audiences through different channels and a variety of media
• Exceptional communicator and editor with a clear, compelling, and accessible voice.
• Experience managing complex communications initiatives and programs
• Minimum two years experience supervising professional staff
• Minimum two years experience building and managing budgets

Nice To Haves

• Work experience related to the arts and/or higher education
• Experience or specialized knowledge building a national profile for an organization
• Understanding and experience monitoring trends in communications and technology and how they apply in the higher education context

Responsibilities

• Creates communications content
• Develops, implements, and monitors strategic communication initiatives for designated audiences and internal stakeholders to maximize engagement and strengthen collaboration efforts
• Identifies, establishes, and directs media relationships and partnerships with internal and external sources
• Audits and directs day-to-day operational plans to align with strategic initiatives and to meet established objectives
• Identifies, proposes, and implements new or revived operational policies and procedures
• Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees

Benefits

• generous paid-time off
• competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance
• tax-advantaged savings accounts
• participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior