Executive Director of Brand, Marketing and Creative Strategy
The Executive Director is the senior leader responsible for stewarding and advancing East Carolina University’s institutional brand, marketing, and creative strategy as an enterprise-wide asset. Reporting to the Chief Communications Officer and with a dotted‑line line to the Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff, the Executive Director provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for brand and marketing communications across the university.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as ECU’s chief steward of the institutional brand, ensuring clarity, consistency, and credibility across all audiences and channels.
- Lead the development, articulation, and ongoing evolution of ECU’s brand positioning, narrative framework, and value proposition.
- Ensure the brand reflects ECU’s mission, vision, academic strengths, research enterprise, and community impact.
- Guide the strategic application of the brand across recruitment, reputation‑building, research visibility, advancement, and public engagement.
- Provide executive oversight and strategic direction for central marketing functions, including brand and creative services, strategic marketing and campaigns, and marketing initiatives that drive awareness, engagement and conversion throughout the enrollment funnel.
- Establish enterprise‑wide priorities that guide both central and distributed marketing activity.
- Apply market research, analytics, and audience insights to optimize messaging, targeting, and channel strategy.
- Ensure coordination across functions to reduce duplication, fragmentation, and inefficiencies.
- Provide strategic direction regarding brand and creative university‑centric vision in producing high‑quality, audience‑centered assets, campaigns, and visual identity systems.
- Oversee development of integrated marketing campaigns that elevate ECU’s brand, support enrollment objectives, and reinforce institutional priorities.
- Ensure brand standards are upheld and evolve in response to emerging trends and strategic needs.
- Serve as a strategic partner to enrollment management, advancement, academic leadership, research, and health sciences; ensure brand alignment across recruitment, retention, reputation, philanthropy, and research materials.
- Advise senior leadership on market positioning and emerging trends affecting ECU’s visibility and competitiveness; support institutional initiatives through integrated messaging and coordinated go‑to‑market strategies.
- Lead, mentor, and develop a high‑performing brand, marketing and creative services organization; define clear roles, expectations, and career pathways for staff across central and distributed teams.
- Build institutional capability in modern marketing practices, including audience insight, digital optimization, and performance measurement; foster a collaborative culture that values shared accountability and continuous improvement.
- Establish and monitor metrics that connect brand and marketing efforts to institutional priorities and outcomes; use data and insight to inform prioritization, resource allocation, and strategic decision‑making.
- Promote a culture of learning, experimentation, and accountability across the marketing ecosystem.
- Collaborate closely with the Chief Communications Officer as a key member of the University Communications leadership team; collaborate with senior university leadership to align marketing strategy with institutional goals, including enrollment, reputation management, and community impact.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the senior leaders on brand and marketing matters.
Minimum Education and Experience
- Advanced degree with 6 years of relevant experience, or Bachelor’s degree with 8 years of relevant experience.
- Minimum of 6 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in marketing, brand strategy, or a related field.
- Demonstrated success leading enterprise‑level brand or marketing functions within complex organizations.
- Proven ability to operate effectively in decentralized or matrixed environments.
- Strong executive presence with the ability to influence, align, and lead across multiple stakeholder groups.
- All degrees must be received from appropriately accredited institutions.
Preferred Experience, Skills, and Training
- Experience in higher education, academic health systems, or similarly complex public institutions.
- Familiarity with enrollment marketing, reputation management, and stakeholder communications.
- Experience designing governance models, operating frameworks, or enterprise‑wide standards.
- Demonstrated ability to lead through organizational change.
License or Certification Required by Statute or Regulation
None.
Compensation and Benefits
Salary range is $93,242 – $125,000 annually, contingent upon availability of funds. Benefits include the standard ECU benefits package.
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