| Date: |
July, 2012 |
| Reports to (Job Title): |
Director of Advancement, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences |
| Jobs Reporting (Job Titles): |
None |
| Location: |
Main Campus |
| Grade: |
USG 10
35 hr/wk
|
Primary Purpose
Provide overall leadership for web, digital and emerging communication technologies. Responsible and fully accountable for planning, creating, delivering and evaluating digital marketing and communications strategies and programs that support the Faculty’s goals and strategic plan and as part of the Faculty’s integrated communications plan. Provide leadership and guidance on all digital communications to dean’s office, Faculty departments, affiliated units and research groups. Encompasses a broad scope of responsibilities requiring expertise in communications, marketing and extensive technical experience and depth of knowledge in website best practices and digital communications design and development.
Key Accountabilities:
Strategic Planning:
- Wholly responsible for creating a long-term digital communications strategy for the Faculty to support strategic objectives and integrated communication needs
- Sets and delivers on all Faculty and department goals in the digital communications context
- Develops, monitors and reports on metrics for digital initiatives
- Strategically and systematically evaluates emerging and longer term opportunities in digital communications
- Scans the environment for key information and messages to inform the development of communications strategies
- Develops the business case for evaluation of digital communications vehicles (e.g. blog software)
- Takes a leadership role in identifying tracking measures of effectiveness of web/digital communications programs and recommendation of plans to adjust as needed based on results
- Continuously develops ideas for positioning AHS for success
- Demonstrates broad and in-depth understanding of the various contexts in which the Faculty operates
- Develops and maintains an editorial calendar for digital initiatives that aligns with the overall marketing and communications strategy for the Faculty and the University.
Content Management:
- Responsible for the content strategy for the faculty and department websites
- Writes and edits multi-media web and online content in alignment with digital-content writing best practises and web accessibility legislative requirements and provides editorial support for web content as required
- Ensures quality and compliance: usability and accessibility; copyright and other legal compliance; consistent with University policy, guidelines, and best practice
- Responsible for the information architecture (IA) and UX (user experience) for the faculty and department websites
- Manage major digital communications initiatives undertaken for the faculty, including content audits and reviews, and migrations of sites into the University’s Content Management System (CMS).
- Applies research-based decision making to improve web content to meet user and organizational needs (i.e. improve find-ability, search engine optimization (SEO) relevance/stickiness)
- Assumes project management responsibilities for web, online and social media content development and maintenance (including people, tools, time and budget)
- Aligns the faculty’s digital communication initiatives with the Waterloo vision, brand promise and attributes
Managing and motivating people:
- The incumbent will have a direct and positive impact on the department and all lines of marketing communications, and provide focus and clarity around digital expectations and needs of the Faculty.
- The incumbent will manage co-op students, freelance vendors, and external service providers.
- The incumbent will be responsible for creating and maintaining a work environment that fosters and encourages creativity, innovation and excellence, and personal accountability for all digital communication strategies
Training and Support:
- Stakeholder relationship management and consultation; supporting colleagues in order to increase their capacity to tell stories via digital channels and multimedia content for digital channels
- Provides direction, guidance, training and technical support to colleagues across the faculty
- Supports SEO working with other members of the digital initiatives team to implement research-based website modification to improve SEO
- Acts as an informed expert for Faculty colleagues in digital communications and is sought out for this expert knowledge and ability
Collaboration and Outreach:
- Facilitates collaboration across the Faculty and across campus, working with other Faculty colleagues and central communications to achieve common goals
Position Requirements
Education:
- Post-secondary degree in marketing communications, online journalism, public relations, writing-centric and/or corporate communications or equivalent and/or relevant combination of education and experience
Experience:
- Minimum of seven to 10 years of digital and or web marketing and communications experience
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; excellent copy editing and proofreading skills; multi-media storytelling experience
- Thorough knowledge and understanding of and practical experience in marketing communications, print and electronic media, and strategic communications planning
- Track record of innovative and effective multimedia storytelling
- Demonstrated understanding of best practices in information architecture, navigation, user interface, usability, accessibility standards and testing
- Expert knowledge of social media trends, digital analytics tools, and maintenance of content for strategic digital communications that meet the Faculty’s overall communications objectives
- Extensive experience using web-based user interfaces to manage and maintain web content (e.g., web content management system, social media accounts)
- Must have a successful track record of achieving results in a highly collaborative environment
- Familiarity with mobile marketing, banner advertising and email marketing
Skills:
- Highly creative and innovative
- Demonstrated expertise in writing for various formats, both print and web, with outstanding copyediting and proofreading skills
- Exceptional computer skills in software for word processing, in web publishing within a content management system, in web graphics to edit and resize images and create Faculty ‘call to action’ (CTA) buttons from university templates and following the university’s Web Style Guide
- A demonstrated understanding of best practices in information architecture, navigation, user interface, usability, accessibility standards and testing
- Experience administering and using a content management system in a multi-contributor environment, and using social media and new media tools, including social networking sites, video sharing sites, blogs and wikis
- Demonstrated strong understanding of user-centric design and principles and experience with user needs assessments and web accessibility in compliance with W3C WCAG 2.0
- Strong ability to make use of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) leading techniques to build traffic to and awareness of Faculty digital properties
- Proficiency and experience with video and audio editing software an asset
- Ability to leverage proven, strong social media capital
- Strong organizational and problem-solving skills; initiative; demonstrated skill in managing priorities with limited resources and strong project management skills, including budget development and fair price negotiation and managing projects from concept through execution
Technical:
| MS Word |
Excel |
PowerPoint |
Other |
| Advanced |
Advanced |
Advanced |
CMS, CSS, Illustrator, Photoshop, HTML |
Nature and Scope
Interpersonal Skills:
Work is conducted in a collaborative environment with multi-dimensional points of view, requiring sound judgment and consultative skills. The incumbent must demonstrate political acuity when dealing with faculty, staff and senior leadership within the Faculty and University. Externally, this position will have significant contacts with suppliers and community and sector partners and will be involved in conferences and meet ups to advance the strategic communications agenda of the Faculty and at times, the University of Waterloo. Must be successful at teaching and building alliances.
Level of Responsibility:
Must be a strong strategic thinker and able to help lead change in an evolving environment. The incumbent will possess proven ability, extensive experience and strong working knowledge and understanding of integrated marketing and communications strategies within a highly complex institution and competitive marketplace and the role of digital communications and new technologies in support of these strategies. The position is responsible and accountable for effective content strategies for online communications to achieve specified goals. The position demonstrates a deep understanding of new and emerging media and is expected to bring innovative approaches and new concepts and models to communications programs
Decision-Making Authority:
Accountable to establish the priorities of the Faculty for areas of functional responsibility
Works directly with the Manager, Marketing and Communications, Director of Advancement, Dean’s management team and other senior leaders to address changes to strategic plans and operating environment
Physical and Sensory Demands:
Minimal demands typical of a position operating within an office environment
Working Environment:
Minimal exposure to disagreeable conditions typical of a position exposed to stress and pressure associated with management level responsibilities. Work outside the University’s normal operating hours may be expected in this role.
