Marketing Strategist

Job Category: Digital Marketing Strategist
Job Type: Full Time
Job Location: Iowa City - IA

University of Iowa

If marketing is your craft and you’d like to use your talent to help people reach their goals through education, we should meet. We are the Office of Strategic Communication (OSC), and we serve as the University of Iowa’s central marketing and communications office.

We’re looking for a talented Marketing Strategist to join our team as we get ready to support new online degree programs. This position reports to the Chief Marketing Officer.

In this role, you will be part of an established team with deep experience in brand strategy, creative development, social media, storytelling, market research, and web strategy. At the same time, you’ll get to build something new as we expand our scope to directly support enrollment in a portfolio of online programs.

You’ll develop expertise in every aspect of the programs we focus on, from understanding the target audience to developing go-to-market plans to overseeing campaign execution and measurement. As programs are delivered by individual colleges and academic departments, you’ll work closely with partners across the university and become their primary point of contact on the OSC team. You’ll also work very closely with the Enrollment Management team as they admit and enroll the incoming class for each program.

We know every marketer’s journey is unique. This is a great opportunity for an experienced marketing professional who likes solving problems and seeing the fruits of their labor. While no one technology is a hard requirement, we would love to see candidates who have high MarTech literacy.

Imposter syndrome is real. If this position matches a lot of your strengths but you’re not sure you’re the “perfect candidate,” don’t let that slow you down. If this is a job that you’d be excited to come to every day, we want to hear from you.

This is a specified-term appointment at 80-100% effort for 2 years.

This position is eligible for hybrid work within Iowa and will require a work arrangement form to be completed upon the start of your employment. Per policy, work arrangements will be reviewed annually, and must comply with the remote work program and related policies and employee travel policy when working at a remote location.

Key Areas Of Responsibilities

Marketing Plan

  • Develop and execute integrated marketing plans for online degree programs at the University of Iowa.
  • Hold end-to-end responsibility for the successful execution of marketing campaigns, from securing space/media to overseeing messaging, budget, timing, and ad creative.
  • Work with internal stakeholders to translate their business needs into marketing projects.
  • Work with the extended OSC team and the Enrollment Management team, and quarterback the execution of go-to-market plans.

Research and Analysis

  • In collaboration with colleagues at OSC and partners across campus, help define the value proposition for programs in your portfolio by deploying market research.
  • With support from the OSC team and vendors, field primary research (qualitative and quantitative) to inform key decisions.
  • Optimize marketing spend to improve cost-per-lead and cost-per-enrollment.
  • Provide regular reporting to key stakeholders on campaign performance and upper- and mid-funnel KPIs.

Brand Management

  • Lead the development of key marketing assets for programs, from core web content to email assets, landing pages, and print collateral.
  • Ensure all program materials, digital or physical, comply with the University of Iowa brand standards.
  • Ensure consistent and on-brand visual identity, editorial time, and audience messaging across platforms.

Project Management

  • Oversee multiple, concurrent projects throughout the year, managing enrollment marketing, website creative, collateral development, campaigns, brand and digital assets.
  • Ensure efficient utilization of staff capacity and prioritize staff resources within competing priorities.
  • Lead the team through client intakes, concepting, briefs, execution, deployment, and project analysis.
  • Project-manage engagements with agencies/partners as needed.

For a complete job description, please contact Libby Kleppe at [email protected]

Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • 5-7 years of professional experience in marketing, advertising, product development, or a closely related field.
  • Proven success as a data-driven marketer who can effectively plan and execute a marketing strategy against goals and budgets.
  • Extensive experience leading creative development in projects across different media and the ability to manage multiple projects concurrently.
  • Experience creating and managing campaigns in ad platforms such as Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, or programmatic through a DSP.
  • Experience with performance measurement systems (analytics, conversion tracking, ROAS, attribution).
  • Experience with email marketing and working knowledge of email drip campaigns, deliverability, and regulatory requirements.
  • Working knowledge of data privacy regulations.
  • Demonstrated experience creating and supporting an inclusive, equitable, and welcoming work environment.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Desired Qualifications

  • MBA or a Master’s Degree in marketing or business-related field.
  • Working knowledge of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
  • Hands-on experience with marketing automation (MA) platforms or customer data platforms (CDP).
  • Working knowledge of modern search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing best practices.
  • Experience developing and commercializing new products or services.
  • Experience with marketing in the higher education space.

Application and Position Details

  • In order to be considered for an interview, applicants must upload the following documents and mark them as a “Relevant File” to the submission:
    • Resume
    • Cover Letter
  • Job openings are posted for a minimum of 14 calendar days. This job may be removed from posting and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended. Successful candidates will be required to self-disclose any conviction history and will be subject to a criminal background check and credential/education verification. 5 professional references will be requested at a later step in the recruitment process. For additional questions, please contact Libby Kleppe at [email protected].

Benefits Highlights

  • Regular salaried position. Located in Iowa City, Iowa.
  • Fringe benefit package including paid vacation; sick leave; health, dental, life and disability insurance options; and generous employer contributions into retirement plans.
  • For more information about Why Iowa? Click here.

This position offers flexibility with a combination of on-campus and remote work. Remote work must be completed within the state of Iowa and will require a work arrangement form to be completed upon the start of your employment. Per policy, work arrangements will be reviewed annually, and must comply with the remote work program and related policies and employee travel policy when working at a remote location.

 

Apply Now