Communications and Marketing Strategist

Staff – Non Union

Job Category
M&P – AAPS

Job Profile
AAPS Salaried – Information Services, Level B

Job Title
Communications and Marketing Strategist

Department
Communication and Marketing Management | Communications | Faculty of Arts

Compensation Range
$6,551.00 – $9,418.83 CAD Monthly

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date
March 26, 2024

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.

Job End Date

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

Job Description Summary
Develops, leads, and implements communications and marketing plans, programs, and activities to promote the value of the Faculty of Arts and improve the university experience for current and prospective Arts students. Participates in an integrated and coordinated approach to developing communications strategies and policies.  
Organizational Status

Reports to the Manager, Communications and Marketing and works collaboratively within the Arts Communications team, the Arts Communications Network, and Arts ISIT. Maintains strong working relationships with Arts faculty and staff, campus-wide service providers, and other campus communicators.

Work Performed

• Plans and implements well-coordinated, effective communications and marketing plans and vehicles for Arts including the Dean’s Office and units across the faculty.

• Develops and revises communications strategies for student-facing communications channels in Arts. Drafts strategies and policies to ensure alignment on internal and external communication and marketing guidelines, shares best practices, and maintains UBC brand standards.   

• Responsible for researching, writing, editing, and curating content and preparing communication plans, advertising copy, reports, articles, announcements, scripts, and news releases. Consults with content providers and units within the faculty on messages, audience, delivery and best practices for internal and external communications. Determines the appropriate communication channel and distribution of messages.

• Solicits, curates, and develops student story opportunities for distribution to Arts students through editorials, social media, newsletters, and other channels. Supports various student communication goals and priorities. 

• Generates campaigns, public relations, and marketing activities designed to raise the profile of the Faculty of Arts to faculty, students, researchers and the community. Identifies and coordinates opportunities with other campus communicators to cross-promote the faculty effectively across campus. 

• Promotes Arts programming and events in support of the faculty’s strategic vision and objectives. 

• Oversees design and production of effective and visually appealing communications and promotional materials and digital assets to support the needs of clients in units across the faculty. Materials include digital and physical signage, newsletters, presentations, campaign materials, promotional products, and exhibition collateral. Coordinates photo and video shoots as needed at unit locations and other sites. Works with external vendors where needed to produce materials. Coordinates the production of video clips, photographs, and graphics/illustrations, and utilizes various media platforms to promote and market the faculty’s programs, services and collections. Ensures communication and marketing materials are compliant and align with the UBC brand and Faculty of Arts Visual Identity System. 

• Collaborates with the Digital Marketing Specialist and Digital Content Specialist to curate, create, and implement a range of digital communication tactics to support the faculty’s various digital channels including digital signage, websites and social media channels. Provides training for new Arts staff where needed on best practices around social media and web content management.

• Oversees, analyzes, and shares communication and marketing metrics with the team and others. Creates infographics and other visual aids to amplify data-driven stories and case studies. Works collaboratively with other campus analysts where needed.

• Participates in regular editorial team meetings, identifies opportunities for student-facing editorials, and leads the editorial process for student-facing editorials. Liaises where needed with UBC Brand and Marketing, Media Relations and other campus communicators.
• Represents the Arts Communications team on various committees and via opportunities that require/request Arts representation.

• Cultivates strong relationships with internal clients and helps maintain the reputation of the Arts Communications team through professionalism and positive contributions in meetings, both within the faculty and on campus.

• Performs other related duties.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

This role exercises initiative and judgement in establishing priorities and carrying tasks through to completion, and must demonstrate tact and discretion. Works independently and as a team member within established guidelines and standards. Work is reviewed in terms of achievement of defined goals. Makes decisions regarding writing and editing communication materials, and communications projects and service contracts. The Communications & Marketing Strategist works with all groups across the faculty to serve the communication needs of the Faculty of Arts community. Error in the performance of duties or inappropriate disclosure of confidential information may adversely affect the image and reputation of the faculty and the university. The performance of this position can have a major impact on how the Faculty of Arts is perceived by its internal and, by extension, the external community.   

Supervision Received
Reports to the Manager, Communications and Marketing.
Supervision Given
Provides functional supervision to Digital Marketing Specialist, Communications Coordinator, and other team members as/if needed.

Manages and coordinates the work of project teams. Explains work procedures to new or less experienced staff. May direct the work of internal and external service providers.
Minimum Qualifications

Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum five years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
 

– Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
– Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion
Preferred Qualifications

Commitment to anti-racism and inclusive excellence, and ability to apply an intersectional anti-racist lens to communications projects. Ability to recognize, respect and work effectively with individuals and groups with diverse perspectives and backgrounds. Takes initiative in learning about language and issues relating to equity and diversity.

Ability to conduct needs analysis, plan, organize, manage, monitor, complete, and evaluate communications and marketing projects within allocated time and resources. Ability to effectively manage multiple tasks and priorities. Ability to prioritize and work effectively under pressure to meet deadlines. Ability to maintain accuracy and attention to detail. Experience with Asana or other project management software is an asset.

Demonstrated experience leading the development of communications strategies for various channels. Experience assessing and analyzing data to make informed decisions. Familiarity with analytics for social media platforms and Google Analytics is an asset.

Demonstrated experience developing and coordinating print and digital assets for communications and marketing projects.

Experience working with social media tools and content management systems such as WordPress in an organizational and/or corporate environment to engage audiences. Experience creating and delivering messages for various platforms using tools such as video, podcasts, presentations, and webcasts is an asset. 

Working knowledge of graphic and web design principles. Ability to use desktop publishing software at an advanced level (Adobe Creative Suite – in particular Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign) to supervise creation of effective marketing and communication materials. Experience with Figma is an asset.

Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing. Ability to develop and deliver effective presentations is an asset. Ability to compose correspondence, reports, presentations and other written materials using clear concise business English. Ability to adapt writing styles for various purposes, for different media requirements and for different audiences. Ability to effectively use email, word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software at an advanced level.

Ability to develop and maintain cooperative and productive working relationships and engage in workplace culture. Ability to recognize and appreciate the contributions of colleagues. Committed to demonstrating respect to colleagues at every level by trusting in their abilities and knowledge to perform their roles and earning respect through meeting commitments.

Models and demonstrates good interpersonal communication through active listening and appreciative inquiry and is open to providing and receiving timely, constructive feedback. Listens to, encourages and expresses creative and innovative ideas. Open to experiment and improvise with new ways of approaching processes, tasks or problems. Ability to work effectively independently and in a team environment. Ability to exercise tact and discretion.