Executive Director of Digital Experience

The Executive Director of Digital Experience is a key leader in the Communications & Marketing division, responsible for shaping the college’s digital ecosystem to drive enrollment growth, audience engagement, and institutional visibility. This role oversees two teams managing social media, digital signage and web.

This leader plays a critical role in the college’s future strategy, ensuring that its digital presence evolves to meet the needs of prospective and current students, faculty, staff, and community stakeholders.

They work closely with communications, marketing, and creative services leadership to prioritize content, optimize distribution, and create a seamless, user-centered digital experience.

This leader focuses on overseeing a team of channel strategists and digital experience architects, ensuring that web, social media, digital signage, and future digital platforms align with institutional goals, best practices, and audience behaviors.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. People leadership: Working manager overseeing layered team of professionals across digital experience – web, social media and digital signage. Fosters a culture of creativity, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making. Supervises and leads assigned staff by setting goals, assigning tasks, managing work schedules and workloads, evaluating performance, and making employment decisions, including hiring and termination.
2. Digital strategy and leadership: Develops and executes a comprehensive digital experience strategy that enhances brand awareness, audience engagement, and enrollment growth. Oversees the college’s digital ecosystem, including the main website, social media, digital signage, and emerging digital platforms. May include oversite for college’s eCommerce websites over time. Ensures an integrated and cohesive user experience across all digital channels, aligning with the college’s priorities and brand identity.
3. Digital transformation thought leadership: Serves as a thought leader on digital transformation, continuously evaluating trends, tools, and innovations to keep the institution ahead of the curve.
4. Web and digital platform oversight: Directly manages the Director of Digital Experience – Web, ensuring the college website and microsites are optimized for lead generation, accessibility, and usability. Oversees web governance, ensuring content owners across campus follow best practices in UX, SEO, and accessibility compliance. Leverages data to refine user journeys, site architecture, and conversion optimization strategies.
5. Social media and digital engagement oversight: Oversees the social and digital signage team, ensuring a cohesive and strategic approach to social media, digital signage, and other digital touchpoints. Guides the college’s organic social media strategy, ensuring it drives engagement, brand awareness, and reputation management. Ensures proactive and reactive engagement strategies are in place for social media, balancing audience engagement with institutional messaging needs.
6. Data-driven decision making: Strong familiarity with digital-forward and analytics tools, such as Meltwater, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, MuckRack, Google Analytics, Looker Studio and others. Leverage tools to derive insights and apply learnings to better optimize user experience, lead generation and conversion. Leads a data-informed approach to digital strategy, using web analytics, social media insights, and audience engagement metrics to inform decisions. Regularly reports on digital performance KPIs, providing insights to leadership on opportunities for optimization.
7. Content optimization: Leads efforts to optimize content, navigation, and user experiences based on audience insights, accessibility standards, and institutional objectives.
8. Cross-collaboration: Works closely with internal client leaders, and partners with enrollment, student affairs, and academic leadership to ensure digital strategies support recruitment, retention, and student engagement. Collaborates with marketing, communications, and creative services leadership to align digital strategies with institutional storytelling and messaging priorities.
9. Digital liaison: Acts as the digital liaison for cross-functional college teams, ensuring digital channels amplify key institutional initiatives.
10. Digital literacy: Considers, develops and partners with other organizations to implement digital literacy programs, where possible, to provide continuous learning opportunities for faculty and staff. 
11. Process development: Develops processes to prioritize content across digital channels, maximizing engagement and effectiveness. Advises on best practices for multichannel distribution, audience segmentation, and personalized engagement. Partners with project management office to constantly evaluate process optimization. 
12. Crisis communications: Supports crisis communication and reputation management efforts across digital channels.
13.  Digital innovation and future readiness: Stays ahead of emerging digital trends, platforms, and tools, positioning the college for future growth. Identifies and recommends new digital initiatives that align with audience preferences and technological advancements. Leads efforts to integrate AI, automation, personalization, and other digital innovations into the institution’s digital strategy.
14.  Performs other duties as assigned. 

Minimum Requirements and Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Digital Communications, Marketing, UX Design, Data Analytics, or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in digital strategy, web management, social media, or digital marketing, preferably in higher education or mission-driven organizations.
• Proven leadership experience, including managing teams and overseeing multiple digital platforms.
• Strong understanding of website governance, UX/UI best practices, accessibility standards (ADA/WCAG), and SEO.
• Experience leveraging data, analytics, and audience insights to inform digital strategy.
• Familiarity with social media strategy, content distribution, engagement tactics, and community management.

Additional Information

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Worker Characteristics:

• Experience with content planning, editorial calendar management, and project management tools (e.g., Asana, Trello, Monday.com).
• Proficiency in social media analytics, performance tracking, and digital marketing metrics.
• Ability to craft compelling, audience-driven storytelling across digital channels.
• Understanding of best practices in storytelling through digital media
• Self-starter with excellent organizational skills with proven track record in project management and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Experience with project management tools and digital workflow systems (e.g., Asana, Trello, Monday.com).
• Experience working in higher education, nonprofit, or government settings.
• Experience leading multi-channel digital campaigns and audience engagement strategies.
• Understanding of programmatic advertising, personalization strategies, and AI-driven engagement.
• Ability to navigate complex institutional environments, build consensus, and drive digital transformation.
• Knowledge of ADA compliance, accessibility best practices, and inclusive content strategies.
• Experience working with media relations, PR, or crisis communications.
• Strong analytical skills proven marketing analytics experience
• Team-player with a positive outlook

Working Conditions:

In-office working environment during typical operating hours for college. Some minor lifting of equipment. Some light walking between college buildings. Occasional after-hours work when supporting crisis situations. 

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