The American Council on Education (ACE) is the major coordinating body for the nation's colleges and universities. ACE is a membership organization that mobilizes the higher education community to shape effective public policy and foster innovative, high-quality practices. With a diverse base of member institutions, ACE represents nearly 1,700 college and university presidents and executives, serving as the only major higher education association to represent all types of U.S. accredited, degree-granting institutions. ACE's mission includes serving 280 minority serving institutions, 25,000 higher education professionals, and 7.7 million students enrolled in colleges and universities. ACE membership extends to all 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, and 21 other countries.

The Associate Director, Marketing is responsible for developing, organizing, managing, and providing guidance for successful marketing campaigns to achieve targeted goals. Working in close collaboration with the entire communications team and stakeholders across the Council, the Associate Director provides thought leadership to strategically guide ACE marketing efforts. Along with the AVP, Marketing and Communications and the Senior Director, Digital Strategy and Marketing, the Associate Director develops and oversees marketing plans that infuse smart, creative, and measurable components into integrated marketing campaigns. Critically, the Associate Director ensures that ACE marketing efforts provide relevant and actionable insights to the marketing team and internal clients and meet Council wide priorities. The Associate Director, Marketing supervises the staff of one Specialist.

Application Process:

To be considered for the position, please submit a resume, writing sample, and cover letter during the application process.

Essential Job Duties or Tasks:

• Build relationships with internal portfolio clients to understand business goals and objectives; develop processes to help colleagues achieve their programmatic goals; and ensure a thorough knowledge of ACE's marketing capabilities and best practices in the field.
• Design strategic marketing campaigns through planning, production, delivery, and reporting that meet established goals
• Work with the communications team to write, design, select mailing lists for, and schedule emails to members and nonmembers using ACE's email marketing delivery system (ClickDimensions and Microsoft Dynamics CRM) to produce the greatest open and click-through rates
• Devise audience segmentation to better tailor ACE's messages to various audiences conduct market research on marketing strategies and ensure ACE keeps up with appropriate trends
• Define, compile, and measure relevant marketing metrics (click rate, open rate, engagement rate, conversion rate, etc.); translate into meaningful insights; and share with staff to drive continuous improvements.
• Conduct market research into competitors in helping inform new products, establish pricing models, adapt strategies, and "seeing around the corner" for ACE's future work
• Coordinate the marketing efforts for ACE's annual meeting. Improve upon past marketing efforts to both encourage registrations for the conference and user experience at the meeting to deepen the market penetration of ACE's programs, products, and services.
• Participate in relevant working groups as required
• Research and suggest appropriate budget for marketing effort and the best channel for ROI to accomplish goals.
• Provide thought partnership with the Senior Director, Digital Strategy and Marketing to strategically guide ACE's marketing strategies.
• Thoughtfully work with DS&M staff to develop clear and concise performance and development objectives so that each employee understands his/her performance expectations
• Other duties as assigned

Education/Experience/Specialized Knowledge and Competency Requirements:

Required:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience with and a minimum of eight years of work experience in communications, marketing, business, or similar field.
• Strong project management, analytical, time management, and tactical planning skills. Ability to manage multiple portfolios and campaigns simultaneously.
• Strong interpersonal skills, good judgment, and ability to communicate effectively with a diverse range of individuals. Ability to build relationships and credibility to serve as trusted advisor.
• Clearly and concisely expresses ideas, thoughts, and concepts through oral and written communication, using correct and appropriate grammar, organization and structure with the ability to interact with a variety of people across the organization.
• Good eye for visual design, usability/user experience techniques, and best practices in marketing.
• Specialized, advanced knowledge and understanding of marketing, and the desire and ability to increase knowledge and explore emerging technologies to be more effective.
• Ability to foster a positive attitude and build trust and cooperation with colleagues, stakeholders, members, and customers.
• Ability to work effectively whether independently or within a cross-functional or cross-departmental team.
• Skill in maintaining a consistent brand identity throughout complex and content-rich marketing.
• Ability to work with and coach teams to educate them on trends and best practices and provide a high level of marketing expertise and ideas.

Preferred:

• Experience with email marketing systems, preferably Click Dimensions
• CRM and/or AMS experience, preferably Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Experience with Microsoft Office 365
• Experience with Google Analytics and digital marketing best practices
• Master's degree and 8+ years of experience in the field.
• Marketing automation experience, including email automation
• Substantive experience at associations, nonprofits, or in higher education

Working Conditions/Physical Effort:

This is a Hybrid position. We require the selected candidate to live within the DMV area and able to come in at least two days per week. Our office is located at One Dupont Circle NW, Washington, DC 20036.

The American Council on Education is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, political affiliation, disability, matriculation, familial status, genetic information, source of income, place of residence or business, status as a victim of an intra-family offense, credit information, protected veteran status, status as a victim or family member of a victim of domestic violence, a sexual offense, or stalking.