Executive Director, Digital Solutions

Job Summary

Under the newly minted division of University Marketing & Communications,  Marketing Communications creates proactive, innovative, and comprehensive marketing, communications and branding strategies that highlight Drexel’s academic strengths and research, while emphasizing the value and potential of the experiential education model. Communications works closely with colleges, schools, academic and administrative staff throughout the University to create comprehensive marketing and communications strategies that serve the University’s overarching branding, recruitment and retention goals to meet or exceed the enrollment and revenue objectives. Marketing Communications defines, protects, and disseminates the Drexel University brand while clearly illustrating its unique value proposition.

The Executive Director, Digital Solutions is a leadership role primarily responsible for serving as the primary point of contact, expert communicator, organizational project management lead, and overall leading voice for the interactive space with leadership and University-wide partners and stakeholders. The role will manage resources and collaborate with colleagues through the entire lifecycle of a web or other interactive endeavor from developing an initial business case through concept to implementation ensuring success and excellence at launch and beyond.

The role will offer organizational management and University web enterprise oversight on behalf of University Marketing & Communications, incorporating project lifecycle management, web analytics and success metrics, setting policy and governance, ensuring accessibility compliance, and  supporting workflows for Drexel University’s web and digital solutions, including Drexel websites & marketing landing pages, university portal systems, CMS/CRM solutions and vendor supported digital properties under the Drexel domain.

The role will also play a primary leadership role in liaison with Drexel Information Technology as a core partner for all internal web and portal systems, and the vetting, sourcing and management of external strategic partners including Interactive and digital strategy agencies, search engine and media agencies, front-end development partners and more.

The Executive Director, Digital Solutions reports directly to the VP of University Marketing and Communications and serves as part of the University Marketing Communications leadership team. All leadership team members collaborate closely with the Senior Vice President for Marketing and Communications.

Essential Functions

• Under the guidance of the Senior Vice President and VP for Marketing and Communications, the Executive Director, Digital Solutions, will serve as the chief communicator and division project workflow manager for the interactive and digital space at Drexel. This role will lead a cross-disciplinary team and communicate the Drexel vision to key stakeholders including University Leadership, EMSS, the Colleges and Schools, University communicators, and the University community. This role will establish the process of creating a unified, compelling, and useful digital ecosystem for the University while overseeing partnership with IT and Drexel leadership, the development and governance/policy of the web enterprise of Drexel University while effectively managing the resources available to execute successfully. This role will also serve as a front-facing representative proactively identifying and managing strategic partner and vendor relationships to ensure continuous improvement and optimal production solutions for new and existing marketing technology.
• Oversee staff of more than 12 FTEs supporting web strategy, digital project management, user experience, content management, instructional design, and vendor management. This central team will share best practices and discuss and manage governance issues as they arise — ensuring that the central marketing office is working collaboratively with a two-way feedback loop with college and administrative units university-wide.
• Manage the team directly responsible for the web enterprise of Drexel.edu, student success websites, and student portal systems. In partnership with IT, devise and execute plans for continued support of the University’s Sitecore infrastructure — including the migration of websites into a Content Management System – and upgrades as needed. Responsible for ensuring that all office/departmental websites follow established templates and guidelines, and that college/school websites adhere to UX and UI design best practices. Develop and manage web development and support procedures, tools, and documentation and prioritization. This includes documentation and developing technical support standards.
• Lead discovery sessions (stakeholder interviews, focus groups, workshops, etc.) to capture both client a