Appointment of the Head of Marketing

Job title: Head of Marketing
Reports to: Chief Marketing Officer
Grade: Management
Responsible for: six direct reports
Hours of work: full time

Job purpose

To provide effective leadership and management of the University’s Brand and Marketing activities to drive improved awareness, reputation, and recruitment. Leading teams across Marcomms, Digital, Content, Communications (Internal / External) and Communities (Local, Business & Alumni) to drive results and ROI.

Key responsibilities

As Head of Marketing you will integrate and lead the following strands of work:

•  Strategic marketing: You will create the University marketing strategy and plans to drive Brand awareness, reputation, and growth in student numbers. Underlying this will be the creation and delivery of Faculty/Schools recruitment plans in key growth areas. Your activity will encompass the full owned, earned and bought marketing mix via on and offline channels.
• University Brand and Reputation Champion: Working at Vice-Chancellor Group level, you will drive the Brand positioning and champion the brand and reputation of the University in all activities. You will also be responsible for consistent execution of the Brand through all communication touchpoints, working with all internal stakeholders.
• Digital platforms: You will ensure our digital touchpoints meet and exceed user needs. Key areas include our websites, social media all other digital marketing channels.
• Brand content development and production: You will be responsible for the creation of great quality content used across all communication channels.
• Communications: you will proactively manage the University’s reputation using both internal and external communication channels to increase Brand awareness, reputation and growth in student recruitment. You will lead and manage a professional team comprising PR, public affairs, and media relations. You will also lead on internal communications, working with the Vice-Chancellor’s Office and other Senior Management members to drive knowledge and engagement across all colleagues. You will work with the Senior Academic teams, delivering on student communications.
• Communities development: You will be responsible the Communities Development team which initiates and maximise Solent’s engagement of its three communities (Alumni & Supporters, Business and Local Community) to advance the University’s strategy and make a major contribution to its future and legacy.
• Maximising ROI: You will be responsible for excellent delivery of the plans and ensuring the best return on the marketing investment. This will be achieved through data led planning and strong post activity evaluation of performance.
• Leadership: You will be responsible for leading a multi-discipline team and will be responsible for creating a high-performance team with empowerment, accountability and trust at its heart.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Qualifications

• A degree in a related field.

Knowledge and skills

• Results orientation with the ability to plan, execute and review, with data at the heart
• Expert knowledge of how to market the University effectively to a wide range of audiences, both within the UK and overseas, including potential and current students, employers, influencers, supporters, staff, and the media (essential)
• Expert knowledge of how to use digital marketing techniques effectively within an integrated communications plan especially website and social media (essential)
• Strong decision-making skills
• Strong influencing skills and stakeholder management
• Excellent financial management from budget setting and monitoring to effectively measuring ROI of marketing activities
• Confident team leader with an ethos that couples effective outcomes with relevant team development processes, including appraisal and performance review processes
• A clear and considered approach to decision-making based on evidence and good judgement
• Capable of acting on own initiative to move agendas forward constructively
• Analytical approach to problem solving with demonstrative awareness of political context.

Experience

• Experience of strategic and operational leadership and management of a marketing and communications function within a large and complex organisation
• Experience of developing marketing and digital strategies, managing budgets and the monitoring of performance to achieve an excellent return on investment
• Experience of creating and executing marketing strategy and plans across the full marketing mix and to multiple stakeholder audiences
• Experience of working on and managing a significant digital presence, including the corporate website, CRM and social media
• Experience of managing a large and diverse team
• Experience working in both a higher education context and commercial context (desirable).

Demonstrate the University Values

• Respect: Respecting each other, recognising other’s strengths, and celebrating our diversity so that everyone can give their best
• Ownership: Owning and being accountable for delivering a welcoming and professional service and working with pace and commitment to deliver objectives and support strategic priorities
• Inclusivity: Ensuring through our teaching, support, and work that we are inclusive, underpinning all the work we do at the University
• Engagement: Engage with focus, drive, and enthusiasm to deliver excellent teaching, new initiatives and objectives, setting an example and motivating others to engage as appropriate
• Integrity: Act with professionalism and honesty in all our dealings with each other, our students, suppliers, and partners of the University
• Teamwork: Working effectively and collaboratively and being united in delivering the priorities of the University in everything we do.