Under the leadership of the Associate Director for Assessment and Career Outcomes, the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications elevates awareness and engagement with the University Career Center’s services, events, and outcomes. This role leads marketing strategy and oversees day-to-day execution across digital channels, campaigns, and creative production, translating the needs of students, employers, and campus partners into clear, compelling messages that drive action. The Assistant Director is part strategist, part storyteller, and part project manager: building campaigns for advising, fairs and recruiting, applied learning, pre-professional programs, and first-destination outcomes while protecting brand standards and measuring results.

The University Career Center engages and supports students in the discovery and pursuit of meaningful lives. We do this by encouraging exploration, offering customized coaching and advising, fostering tailored connections, creating innovative programming, curating relevant content and technologies, developing essential skills, and facilitating transformative experiences. UCCs values are intentionality, open & clear communication, student-centered, solutions-oriented, and kindness.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Planning (25%)

• Collaborate to develop the annual marketing plan and channel strategy aligned to center goals (advising utilization, event attendance, employer engagement, outcomes storytelling).
• Create campaign roadmaps that include audiences, value propositions, key messages, offers, and call-to-actions (CTAs), and measurement plans.
• Maintain an editorial calendar integrated with academic cycles and recruiting timelines.

Content & Creative (20%)

• Produce and edit student-centered content (email, web, social, SMS, video, print) that turns services into clear benefits.
• Write copy for campaigns, landing pages, slide decks, and employer spotlights; ensure accessibility and inclusive language.
• Manage creative assets (photos and videos), templates, and brand guides.

Digital Channels & Automation (20%)

• Oversee day-to-day execution for email, social, web/CMS, and digital signage; publish, schedule, and monitor.
• Build segmented email journeys (first-years, liberal arts, pre-health/pre-law, international students, graduate students).
• Coordinate paid/boosted posts and retargeting with campus partners when appropriate.

Event & Program Marketing (15%)

• Drive recruitment for career fairs, info sessions, treks, workshops, and coaching initiatives; develop toolkits for staff/faculty partners and student organizations.
• Collaborate with Employer Engagement to market On-Grounds Interviewing and employer showcases.

Website & UX (10%)

• Partner with web manager/IT/uConnect account representative to keep pages current and optimized for conversion; curate resources by career communities and affinities.
• Conduct basic usability checks; recommend improvements to navigation, content hierarchy, and search.

Analytics & Continuous Improvement (10%)

• Build campaign dashboards; track open/click rates, page views, RSVPs/attendances, advisor bookings, and employer engagement.
• Run A/B tests on subject lines, CTAs, and landing pages; translate insights into actionable next steps.
• Contribute to semester marketing impact reports for leadership.

Collaboration & Brand Stewardship (5%)

• Train staff on brand voice, asset use, and basic messaging.
• Liaise with pan-university messengers including Student Affairs Communications, schools/colleges, Alumni/Advancement, and Athletics for cross-promotion.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism, Design, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 3+ years of professional marketing/communications experience, ideally in higher education, nonprofit, or mission-driven organization.
• Demonstrated skill in campaign planning, copywriting, and content production across email, web, and social.
• Proficiency with common tools: email/marketing automation (e.g., Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Slate, Mailchimp), CMS (e.g., Drupal/WordPress/uConnect), social schedulers, Adobe Creative Cloud/Canva, and basic analytics (Google Analytics, Data Studio/Looker Studio).
• Strong project management; comfortable juggling multiple deadlines in a fast, cyclical environment.
• Commitment to equity-minded and accessible communications (plain language, alt text, captions, inclusive imagery).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in marketing career services or student success programs.
• Familiarity with Handshake, event platforms, and basic HTML/CSS for email.
• Proficiency with leveraging social media platforms for marketing and communication (IG, Facebook…)
• Ability to craft short-form video (shooting, editing, subtitles) for Reels/TikTok/YouTube Shorts.
• Experience with A/B testing and building dashboards (Tableau/Power BI/Looker Studio).
• Supervisory experience with student employees or interns.

Core Competencies

• Audience Obsession: starts with student and employer needs; translates services into outcomes.
• Storytelling with Data: uses insights to target, iterate, and prove value.
• Brand Stewardship: consistent voice, strong visual discipline, accessibility-first.
• Collaboration: excellent partner to advisors, employer relations, and campus communicators.
• Execution Excellence: organized, detail-oriented, meets deadlines.

The anticipated hiring range is $65,000–$72,000 annually, commensurate with experience and subject to internal equity, market review, job profile alignment, and applicable approvals.

This position will remain open until filled. This is an exempt level, benefited position. The University will perform background checks on all hires (if required) prior to employment. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States. For this role, the University will not sponsor or consider candidates requiring sponsorship for employment visas now or in the future.

Please apply online, and search for R0085580. Complete an application online with the following documents:

• Resume

• Cover letter

Upload all materials into the resume submission field; multiple documents can be submitted into this one field. Alternatively, merge all documents into one PDF for submission. Applications that do not contain all required documents will not receive full consideration.

Internal applicants: Search and apply for jobs on the UVA Internal Careers website.

For finalists, references will be completed via UVA’s standardized process using SkillSurvey. A total of up to five references will be requested via SkillSurvey for top candidates during the final phase of the interview process. A total of three references is required.

For questions about the application process, please contact Daniel Strong, Senior Recruiter at das6zb@virginia.edu.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

Education: Bachelor's degree required.

Experience: 3+ years of relevant professional experience required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings, and programs.

Job Profile

J1271 - Marketing Professional 2

Career Stream and Level

Professional-P2

The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Learn more about UVA’s commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.