The Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications leads California College of the Arts (CCA)'s centralized Marketing and Communications team, which is the strategic, creative studio of the college. This role brings content, design, and digital strategy together in a way that sets clear direction for the organization's reputation and future.
Serving as CCA's chief marketing officer, this role sets the team's priorities to advance student enrollment, community engagement, and brand awareness. The AVP develops and implements the overarching brand strategy and provides leadership across all communications and owned channels (cca.edu, emails, social media, etc.).
The AVP mentors and oversees a high-functioning team that specializes in communication (copywriting, editorial, internal and external communications, media relations, crisis communications), brand strategy, digital strategy (UI/UX design), content strategy, creative strategy (graphic design and photography), and digital content (video, social, writing).
This role serves on the college's senior leadership team and is responsible for developing departmental strategic plans, setting annual goals, and managing the budget. This role works closely with Enrollment Management, the President's Office, Academic Affairs, and Advancement to advance the college's objectives in relation to admissions, fundraising, academic leadership, and brand awareness.
Supervising several key positions, the AVP is both a team leader and creative contributor, focused on ensuring a rich, integrated content strategy. This role should make data-informed decisions and be committed to identifying key performance indicators, tracking effectiveness, and adjusting strategy as needed. This role is also responsible for long-term planning and future strategic initiatives that support CCA's next 120 years of leadership in art and design education.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITES: Content Strategy and Development - 30% - Lead CCA's integrated brand strategy, storytelling, messaging hierarchies, and content marketing
- Develop and implement a content strategy that maintains a consistent and compelling CCA brand experience across the college's marketing and communication channels
- Lead content strategy across all digital, editorial, and print platforms to guide and support brand storytelling that targets a range of audiences and goals
- Ensure optimum consistency of brand expression (visual, voice, and tone) across platforms
- Support the Director of Integrated Communications and related team as they partner with key stakeholders across campus to develop story and content ideas that target a range of audiences and goals
- Oversee ongoing best practices across all channels, specifically cca.edu (accessibility, SEO, UX/UI, etc.)
- Develop and continually improve a department-wide tracking and reporting to measure the effectiveness of all content and related marketing initiatives to adjust strategy accordingly
Marketing Strategy - 30% - Provide marketing leadership for all of the college's marketing efforts, from recruitment to public awareness
- In collaboration with Enrollment Management and Youth Programs and Continuing Education, develop comprehensive digital advertising for recruitment (undergraduate, graduate, adult, and youth programs)
- Oversee the Assistant Director of Content and Marketing's media buying for brand awareness campaigns and lead campaign development
- Develop marketing and public relations plans for key institutional exhibitions and events each semester
- Oversee agency relationships for marketing and digital strategy from budget to strategy development
Creative Direction - 20% - Provide creative direction and regular, constructive feedback and critique to content producers
- Lead creative strategy, concept development, and creative direction for major marketing and communications projects and materials
- Provide creative direction for the design team, including the Lead Designer, on the creation of visual assets by supporting content development and strategy for new projects
- Facilitate sharing of feedback from stakeholders and incorporation in projects as appropriate
- Ensure consistency of brand, tone, messaging, and quality across channels, projects, and media
Leadership and Administration -20% - Supervise staff (see below), including holding regular meetings with direct reports, providing professional development guidance and support, mentorship, constructive feedback, troubleshooting, etc.
- Develop departmental strategic plans and annual operating plans to support the goals of the department and the college
- Serve on Senior Leadership and President's Cabinet and represent the department at board meetings
- Partner with the Enrollment Management/Admissions, Advancement, and other teams to support recruitment, visibility, and engagement goals across campus
- Meet regularly with academic leadership and faculty to understand program goals and develop relationships to gather and effectively tell CCA's stories
- Manage project budgets, consultants/freelancers, and expenses
- Support department-wide project management standards to maintain a thorough, consistent workflow that meets deadlines
- Attend key CCA events, sometimes outside the scope of standard office hours, as needed for visibility, story development, and messaging opportunities
Non-Essential Job Function(s) - Performs additional duties as required.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Required experience - Bachelor's degree in a relevant field of study
- 8+ years experience in content and marketing strategy, preferably in a higher education or arts-related environment
- 5+ years supervisory experience leading creative teams
- Extensive experience creating multimedia content on a broad range of topics, especially in art, design, education, and culture
- Demonstrated ability to set strategy, benchmark, refine, and report out on KPIs
- Experience creating content within established brand guidelines
- Experience with brand communication strategy, such as crisis management or editorial development
- Experience with website content management systems and best practices
- Expertise in UX/UI and best practices for SEO-friendly, data-driven web publishing
- Expertise in content marketing and examples of effective content campaigns
Required skills - Proven ability to mentor, motivate, and manage creative teams
- Excellent writing/content creation skills and strong storytelling sense
- Ability to effectively manage and mentor direct reports and collaborate with peers and colleagues
- Skilled at providing constructive feedback and critique of creative work
- Ability to foster positive, collaborative relationships with colleagues and content partners
- Knowledge of best practices and trends in social media strategy and digital marketing and proven ability to build engagement through a variety of channels
- Passion for the arts, design, and education
- Strong interest in evolving digital marketing tools, technology, and social media
- Knowledge of marketing and brand-building
- Strong presentation skills, including ability to present complex concepts persuasively to audiences with varying levels of experience and understanding
- Proven ability to develop and execute creative concepts in a variety of media to multiple audiences
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS : - The range for this position is $140,000 - $147,900.00/annually
- CCA offers a comprehensive benefits package, including the choice of five medical plans, generous holiday, sick & vacation time, a retirement match and tuition remission. CCA covers an average of 91% of the medical plan cost for the employee only and an average of 82% for employees with dependents. More information can be found here:
POSITION DETAILS: - CCA considers a full-time work week to be 37.5 hours per week.
- Work Mode: Hybrid
Location San Francisco
FLSA Exempt
Additional Locations Application Instructions Applicants are required to attach a cover letter and resume. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Recommended document file formats are Word or PDF. If there are multiple attachments, we recommend compressing/zipping your files into a zip format file. There is also a place in the application for you to provide a link to large documents. Please submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions.
Application Deadline For staff positions, screening begins immediately and continues until the position is filled.
EEO Statement As an educational and cultural institution, California College of the Arts has a responsibility to provide access and opportunities for all people, with special attention to supporting groups historically underrepresented in higher education.
We believe that a culturally diverse campus is integral to academic excellence, and our student, faculty, staff, and trustee bodies should reflect the diverse world in which we live, with attention to race, ethnicity, religious creed, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and ability.
California College of the Arts is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from individuals who will contribute to its diversity. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to In alignment with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment. If a background check is required for a position, it will be noted in the job posting.
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