Assistant Director, Digital Strategy

Assistant Director, Digital Strategy

Notre Dame, IN, United States • Full-time • Provost • EIC2

Company Description

The University of Notre Dame, founded in 1842 in Notre Dame, Indiana, is a premier American research university. As a Catholic institution, it uniquely blends faith with intellectual inquiry, striving for excellence in teaching, research, and serving the common good. Notre Dame offers a dynamic and rewarding environment for its diverse community of students, faculty, and staff, who are all dedicated to fostering an inclusive campus and being a force for good in the world. With world-class facilities, acclaimed academic programs, and a strong commitment to innovation and ethical leadership, Notre Dame is an ideal place to make a meaningful impact.

Job Description

Are you interested in joining a highly collaborative, talented team at an exciting time in the history of Notre Dame? Do you want to help advance a major strategic priority for the University focused on ethics, including AI ethics and the love ethic? Are you motivated to build from the ground up high impact programs that assist corporate, faith communities, non‑profits, and higher education leaders tackle ethically complex issues? Are you a creative strategist who can turn deep, ethical scholarship into human‑centered digital stories? If so, please apply to be the Assistant Director of Digital Strategy for the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative (ND‑EI) and the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good (ECG).

Emerging from the University’s Strategic Framework, ND‑EI is a collaborative cross‑campus initiative to establish Notre Dame as a premier university for research in ethics, offering superb training for future generations of ethicists and ethical leaders and directing all of our efforts toward guiding and strengthening public understanding of the most significant ethical issues of our time. The Institute for Ethics and the Common Good is the administrative flagship of the Ethics Initiative and serves as the primary home for interdisciplinary groups of faculty fellows, researchers, non‑profit and faith leaders, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate scholars studying questions that engage complex ethical challenges of our time and affect our ability to lead valuable, meaningful lives. Over the next five years the ECG will execute three major grants: one from IBM to advance technology ethics, one from the John Templeton Foundation focused on love and its role in social transformation, and one from the Lilly Endowment Inc., to forward and expand DELTA, a faith‑based ethical framework which seeks to shape a Christian‑inspired vision of humanity in an AI‑driven world. The DELTA grant is the largest private grant in Notre Dame's history.

To this end, we are looking for a unique leader who possesses the technical savvy of a digital native and the intellectual maturity of a seasoned communicator. Your mission is to bridge the gap between profound ethical research and everyday digital life—making the Institute's work on tech, faith and AI, and virtue and love ethics both accessible and essential to a global audience. You will lead a strategy that is intellectually honest, emotionally resonant, and designed for the speed of the modern social landscape. Beyond digital broadcasting, you will be a key architect in building a global community and a growing network of leaders, scholars, and citizens committed to the common good.

Assistant Director, Digital Engagement Strategy

The Assistant Director will lead and execute a comprehensive digital engagement strategy that advances moral understanding and develops compelling responses to the most pressing ethical issues of our era. This includes projects related to the DELTA Network funded by a $50M grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc., the Love Ethic Network funded by a $10M grant from the John Templeton Foundation, and the ND‑IBM Technology Ethics Lab funded by a $20M grant from IBM.

This position plays a central strategic leadership role in shaping and advancing the Institute’s domestic and global reach through integrated digital campaigns, audience‑centered storytelling, and performance‑driven strategy. Reporting to the Director of Engagement, the Assistant Director will set digital priorities, define success metrics, and guide execution across social media, websites, email, and emerging platforms.

The Assistant Director will translate complex scholarly and ethical work into accessible, engaging, and high‑impact digital narratives, while collaborating with scholars, partners, University teams, and external stakeholders. Content creation and curation, developing and executing effective digital campaigns, and managing the day‑to‑day components of digital engagement on behalf of the Institute are equally important aspects of this position.

This is a five‑year limited‑term, full‑time, in‑person position based in South Bend, IN. As an exempt employee, there will be occasions in which work activities outside of the typical workday are required. The key duties and responsibilities of this position include:

Digital Leadership & Strategy – 30%

• Strategic Translation: Transform ECG's deep research into a vibrant digital roadmap. Translate academic priorities into a dynamic online presence that builds our global reputation as a leader in virtue and AI ethics. Under the guidance of the Director of Engagement, develop a cohesive digital strategy that supports the Institute's goals and priorities related to research, public engagement, ECG programs, events, and formation initiatives.
• Voice & Maturity: Cultivate a digital ‘personality’ for the Institute that is professional yet approachable. You will ensure our voice remains empathetic and nuanced, even when navigating complex or sensitive topics. Ensure consistency in messaging, branding, and tone across all digital channels, in alignment with University of Notre Dame standards.
• Adaptive Strategy: Monitor the digital landscape and emerging tech trends to identify high‑impact opportunities for innovation, ensuring the Institute stays at the forefront of global digital conversations.
• Collaborative Growth: Partner with University digital teams to ensure the Institute's presence is innovative, brand‑aligned, and amplified across the broader institutional network and digital media channels.

Digital Narrative & Content Development – 50%

• Human‑Centered Storytelling: Lead the creation of multimedia content that sparks curiosity and invites dialogue, making ethics feel like a living, breathing community rather than a static academic subject. Work closely with scholars, industry experts, nonprofit and faith leaders, and network members to amplify engagement around critical ethical debates.
• Network & Community Cultivation: Foster meaningful dialogue that transcends platforms. Develop digital on‑ramps that invite stakeholders— from Silicon Valley to the Vatican—to move from digital observers to active participants in a global network for the common good. Manage and grow the Institute's presence across social media platforms (e.g., X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and emerging platforms as appropriate).
• Agile Content Frameworks: Establish editorial calendars that balance the depth of academic research with the pace of social media, ensuring the Institute remains a timely, essential voice in the global cultural conversation.
• Event & Campaign Excellence: Direct digital promotion for major events, publications, and public initiatives, ensuring the ECG's impact is felt before, during, and long after an event concludes. Evaluate campaign effectiveness and iterate based on results.

Performance, Impact & Reporting – 20%

• Movement Metrics: Define and track KPIs that measure the depth of engagement and the growth of our global network. Beyond likes/followers/reach to analyze how ECG's digital presence is converting followers into active community members and collaborators.
• Strategic Influence Analysis: Regularly assess ECG's share of voice in key conversations—such as AI ethics and virtue and love ethics—to ensure the ECG is becoming a primary destination for thought leadership.
• Grant & Donor Stewardship: Translate complex digital data into clear, compelling impact reports for major internal and external partners. Tell the story of who we are reaching and how we are moving the needle on global ethical understanding. Create digital quarterly to annual reports for the major grants, programs, and activities of the EI and ECG. Support special projects for ECG as requested by Institute leadership.
• Data‑Driven Evolution: Use audience insights to continuously refine our voice and content strategy, ensuring we are effectively reaching diverse stakeholders from Silicon Valley to the Vatican. Track, analyze, and report on digital engagement and social media metrics to assess and improve performance, inform strategic decisions, and identify new opportunities for outreach.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, digital media, public affairs, or a related field. A focus on ethics is a plus.
• Demonstrated experience (3‑5 years) managing social media platforms and digital engagement strategies for an organization with diverse audiences, including faith‑based communities.
• Able to manage a fast‑paced environment with the temperament and skill to be agile and pivot quickly if needed. Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Creative, innovative, and attuned to emerging and shifting engagement trends, particularly with young adults and youth.
• Highly relational and able to engage networks with a diverse range of stakeholders, industries.
• Strong writing, editing, and storytelling skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and thoughtfully on complex topics.
• Experience using digital analytics tools to measure engagement and inform strategic decisions.
• Strong collaborative and teamwork skills, humble, adaptable, relational, and willing to fully contribute to ambitious goals within an inclusive, diverse educational and public environment.
• Strong judgment, decision‑making, and strategic problem‑solving skills.
• Able to travel as needed.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in a relevant field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Experience in higher education, nonprofit, technology, or mission‑driven organizations.
• Experience with multimedia content creation, including video, audio, or graphic design.
• Comfortable with and passionate about ethical, religious, or public‑interest discourse.
• Experience developing integrated digital campaigns or digital roadmaps.

Additional Information

Pay range: Up to $70,000, commensurate with experience

Please submit your application by March 30.

RESUME & COVER LETTER ARE REQUIRED to be considered for this position. Please add in the attachments section of your application.

The University of Notre Dame seeks to attract, develop, and retain the highest quality faculty, staff and administration. The University is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or age in employment. Moreover, Notre Dame prohibits discrimination against veterans or disabled qualified individuals, and complies with 41 CFR 60‑741.5(a) and 41 CFR 60‑300.5(a). We strongly encourage applications from candidates attracted to a university with a Catholic identity.

To apply, visit

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