The Digital Communications Manager owns the school’s digital infrastructure and communications platforms, ensuring that the website, email channels, parent and employee portals, and digital analytics function as a cohesive, high-performing system. This role is the department’s digital operations expert — technically fluent, detail-oriented, and deeply invested in the user experience of every digital touchpoint the school maintains. It is a critical partner to every other role on the team, providing the infrastructure through which the department’s content and campaigns reach their audiences.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Website Management & Strategy
- Own all aspects of the school’s public-facing website and internal pages in the FinalSite CMS — including content updates, navigation, home page refreshes, and major annual projects.
- Proactively monitor the website to ensure content is current, accurate, and on-brand; establish a regular content audit cadence.
- Manage additional microsites and maintain consistency across all school-owned digital properties.
- Partner with IT to report and resolve technical issues; serve as the primary contact for the website provider and technical support.
- Respond to emergency or critical website issues as needed.
Email & Portal Management
- Own the setup, scheduling, and transmission of all internal and external email communications through FinalSite and GiveCampus, including distribution list management, templates, and channel configuration.
- Manage Veracross parent and employee portals — setup, content, organization, maintenance, and troubleshooting.
- Manage web forms — creation, updating, data management, and distribution.
- Send push notifications for regular updates and emergency messages through the school’s text platform and app.
- Maintain third-party educational directories and listings — photography, school profile, and reviews.
- Support and train employees on digital tools and processes as needed.
Analytics & SEO
- Own the school’s SEO strategy and implementation across all web properties.
- Track and report on website performance, email metrics, and digital engagement; present findings to the Director on a regular cadence.
- Monitor community feedback and survey responses across digital platforms; surface insights that inform communications strategy.
- Liaise with IT, database managers, and Advancement on list management and data sharing related to digital communications.
Qualifications
Candidate Profile
The right person for this role is genuinely energized by digital systems and the user experience they create. They are technically confident — comfortable in a CMS, fluent in email platforms, and able to troubleshoot without panicking — and a conscientious, dynamic communicator. They understand that digital infrastructure is a communications function, not just a technical one, and they take pride in the quality and reliability of the digital experience they maintain. They are proactive, detail-oriented, and highly organized, with the good judgment to prioritize competing demands without constant direction.
This role requires strong written communication skills; the Digital Communications Manager writes and edits newsletters, email copy, portal content, web page updates, and other digital communications with clarity, accuracy, and consistent adherence to the school’s brand voice.
Education and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, Journalism, Media Studies, or a related field.
- 5+ years of experience in digital communications, web management, or a related role.
Skills
- Deep proficiency in CMS platforms; FinalSite experience strongly preferred.
- Strong writing and editing skills, particularly for digital formats — email, web, and portal content.
- Experience with email marketing platforms and audience segmentation.
- Working knowledge of HTML; comfortable editing templates and troubleshooting display issues.
- Familiarity with SEO principles and Google Analytics or comparable analytics platforms.
- Experience with portal or database systems (Veracross, Raiser’s Edge, SchoolAdmin, or similar).
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
- Familiarity with independent school or nonprofit environments is preferred.
- Comfort with occasional after-hours availability for emergency communications.
Working Conditions and Environment
- Intermittently lift, carry, push, and pull up to 25 pounds.
- Continuously see, sit, balance, grasp, and have repetitive use of arms, wrists, hands, and fingers; and some fine finger dexterity.
- Frequently talk and hear.
- Intermittently stand, stoop, bend, twist, crouch, kneel, crawl, walk, climb stairs, step stools and ladders, operate foot and hand controls, squeeze, and reach above shoulders.
- Exposure to dust, chemicals, fumes, flammables, grease, dirt, stacked materials, electrical equipment, machinery, low to medium noise levels, and moderate indoor temperatures of heat and cold.
- Long or odd hours, as needed