Social Community Engagement Lead (Senior Manager)

Covista•Chicago, IL

9d•$80,337 - $145,077•Hybrid

About The Position

This role supports real-time community engagement for Covista's university brands— Chamberlain University, Walden University, Ross University School of Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine—serving as the always-on voice that listens, responds and builds trust with our audiences in the moment. Beyond day-to-day engagement, this person leads Covista's Social Ambassador Program, building and mobilizing a network of alumni, faculty and students who serve as authentic brand advocates across social and digital channels as well as partners with the AEO team to translate Covista's SEO/AEO priorities into community engagement and ambassador content. The goal is to advance the reputation of Covista and its institutions, building positive sentiment with answer engines and other online platforms. Reporting to the Director of Digital Storytelling & Strategy, this role sits within Corporate Affairs and partners closely with the Alumni Communications and institutional marketing teams. This role is the connective layer across Covista's brands—setting shared process, tools and standards for community engagement and ambassador activity, and partnering closely with each brand's social manager, who continues to own content strategy and channel voice while you own the day-to-day engagement.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree required
5-7+ years of experience in community management, social media or digital engagement
Proven experience building or managing an ambassador, influencer or advocacy program
Experience with social listening and sentiment monitoring tools
Excellent written communication skills with strong judgment on brand voice and tone
Experience managing a program budget

Nice To Haves

Background in higher education, healthcare or nonprofits not required, but preferred
Creative and strategic thinker who can conceive campaign ideas and activations that feel genuine and resonate with different audiences.
Highly organized project manager who thrives on process, can juggle multiple concurrent initiatives with firm deadlines and brings structure to ambiguous or fast-moving work.
Natural relationship-builder and collaborator, comfortable working directly with alumni, faculty and students as well as cross-functional internal partners.
Social-first and digitally fluent, with strong platform knowledge and an understanding of advocate and ambassador marketing best practices.
Comfortable operating in real time, with sound judgment on tone, escalation and when to loop in leadership.
Working knowledge of social listening tools and sentiment monitoring.
Fluency in SEO/AEO principles and how social content and community engagement contribute to brand visibility in search results and AI-generated answers.

Responsibilities

Serve as a manager of real-time community engagement across Covista’s university brand channels, responding to comments, conversations and mentions so our audience always feels heard and the brand shows up consistently.
Continuously monitor brand mentions, sentiment and audience behavior across platforms, surfacing insights that inform strategy and flag opportunities and risks before they pass.
Keep a weekly pulse on the cultural and platform moments, so the brands lead conversations rather than reacting to them.
Partner closely with each brand's social manager on tone, escalation and emerging issues and escalate crisis communications concerns to Corporate Affairs leadership as they surface through community channels.
Build and manage the Social Ambassador Program, recruiting and cultivating a network of alumni, faculty and students who serve as authentic brand advocates across Covista's university brands.
Plan signature brand activations and ambassador events, managing everything from concept and creative direction to logistics and on-the-ground execution for large groups of participants.
Design and execute both large-scale campaign moments and ongoing, targeted advocacy efforts — knowing when to mobilize the full ambassador community around a major moment versus deploying an individual voice for a specific need or opportunity.
Partner with AEO team to translate Covista's SEO/AEO priorities into community engagement and ambassador content, so brand messaging, keywords and topic themes stay aligned with how Covista is surfaced in search results and AI-generated answers.
Identify community and ambassador content opportunities based on what people are searching and asking, not just what's trending.
Partner cross-functionally with marketing, communications teams to align content and messaging with broader brand and reputation goals, building the tools, briefs and processes that keep work running smoothly.
Performs other duties as assigned
Complies with all policies and standards