Senior Director – Market Strategy - Activation and Communications

POSITION SUMMARY:  This role defines how South University understands their markets, activates on-paid growth opportunities, and communicates their value across earned, organic, and emerging discovery channels. Reporting to the Chancellor and CEO, this position combines market intelligence, communications leadership, campus activation, and optimization across search and AI-driven discovery.  The Senior Director leads market research and insight for the organization, serves as the primary marketing liaison to campus leadership, and guides the communications function, including PR and organic social media.  The role manages the Director of Social Media & PR, providing strategy, market insight, and direction while preserving that leader’s channel ownership and execution autonomy.   ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: 1.  Campus Leadership Enablement and Market Activation This role helps campus leadership generate measurable enrollment-supporting demand without shifting ownership of admissions, outreach, or local relationship management away from the campus. While the role does not directly deliver leads, it is accountable for creating the conditions that consistently generate them. Partner with Campus Directors and senior site leaders to identify market-specific opportunities that produce inquiries, applications, and enrollment momentum through non-paid and earned strategies. Translate local market dynamics into clear, actionable growth strategies that campuses can execute. Identify external demand sources that can refer prospective students to campuses, including employers, community organizations, media outlets, referral platforms, and local institutions. Package opportunities into ready-to-use activation plans so campus leaders are not required to design strategy from scratch. Ensure campus activity results in trackable referral traffic, inquiries, and application contribution. Serve as the primary marketing point of contact for campuses, enabling two-way sharing of opportunities, constraints, and performance. 2.  Market Strategy and Intelligence Leadership Lead market, competitor, pricing, and brand research for South University. Maintain current knowledge of each market’s competitors and new entrants; program offerings and modality mix; pricing signals, value propositions, and differentiators; and local enrollment drivers and demand dynamics. Translate research into actionable insight that informs marketing strategy, messaging, prioritization, and activation. Serve as the organization’s subject matter expert on market dynamics and competitive positioning. 3.  Communications Strategy and Leadership Provide strategic leadership for communications, including PR, organic social media, and media outreach. Manage and develop the Director of Social Media & PR, setting strategic direction while preserving channel execution ownership. Establish communications frameworks, priorities, and success measures aligned to growth and market strategy. Ensure communications efforts are informed by market intelligence and activation priorities. Advance communications from content output toward demand generation, authority building, and discoverability. 4.  Non-Paid and Earned Demand Generation Develop non-paid and earned media strategies that support student acquisition and enrollment momentum. Identify opportunities for earned visibility through PR, community relevance, referrals, partnerships, and media coverage. Evaluate non-paid efforts based on traffic, application contribution, and authority signals rather than impressions alone. Coordinate earned strategies with paid media teams to improve efficiency and impact. 5.  Campus-Focused Growth Plays and Activation Support Deliver a set of repeatable growth plays that campuses can activate locally, including: Local Referral Engine Development: Identify and prioritize local referral sources that historically produce enrollment intent, such as workforce boards, employer portals, community organizations, alumni networks, local publications, and third-party platforms, and guide campuses on activating and sustaining them. Event-to-Enrollment Strategy: Identify local events and market moments aligned to program demand and guide campuses on converting participation into inquiries and applications, including messaging guidance, follow-up recommendations, and coordination with marketing amplification. Employer and Community Visibility Plays: Package employer and community activity into enrollment-supporting narratives that generate traffic and interest. Campus leadership owns the relationship; this role ensures the activity results in measurable visibility and referrals. Market-Specific Program Spotlights: Identify which programs to emphasize in each market based on demand, competition, and timing, and provide campuses with guidance on what to promote locally and when. Application-Driving Earned Media Opportunities: Identify earned media and community placement opportunities that drive prospective students directly to campus or program pages. 6.  SEO, AI Optimization, and Generative Engine Optimization Own traffic-generation SEO strategy focused on referral growth, authority building, and discoverability. Partner with Digital Media leadership on alignment with technical and on-site SEO. Lead AI optimization and generative engine optimization (GEO) strategy across communications and non-paid media. Ensure PR, earned media, and organic content strengthen how partner institutions appear in AI-generated search responses. Apply SEO and AI optimization strategies across both ground campuses and online programs. 7.  Paid Media Opportunity Identification Identify local market paid advertising opportunities informed by market intelligence and activation insights. Refer market-specific paid opportunities to Digital or Traditional Media teams for execution. Ensure paid investments are informed by earned momentum, market readiness, and local relevance. 8.  Other Duties Perform other related duties as assigned. Key Outputs and Deliverables Regular market and competitor intelligence reports by campus and region. Monthly performance reporting by market, including referral traffic, earned visibility, and activation outcomes. Campus-specific growth playbooks outlining priority demand sources and activation tactics. Local market opportunity briefs tied to enrollment-supporting outcomes. Referral source performance summaries showing which external sources generate applications. Communications strategy frameworks aligned to market dynamics and growth priorities. AI and GEO visibility assessments and progress tracking. Executive summaries translating market insight into clear recommendations. Additional deliverables as needed, such as opportunity heat maps, competitor pricing summaries, AI prompt coverage reports, and cross-market trend analyses. Leadership and Collaboration Model Acts as the strategic growth leader for earned, organic, and emerging-channel marketing. Manages communications leadership without absorbing channel execution. Operates as the primary liaison between campuses and centralized marketing. Partners closely with Digital and Traditional Media leaders while remaining distinct from channel ownership.  REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: Education: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.   Experience: 10 plus years of progressive marketing experience, including 5 plus years in a senior marketing leadership role. Demonstrated success in market research, competitive intelligence, and growth strategy. Working knowledge of communications, earned media, and organic demand generation. Working knowledge of SEO, AI optimization, and emerging search and discovery behavior. Experience managing senior-level marketing leaders and influencing cross-functional stakeholders. Ability to present clearly and credibly to executive leadership, campus leadership, and external stakeholders, both verbally and in writing. Strong analytical skills, including the ability to translate data into actionable recommendations. Ability to travel occasionally as described above. Preferred - Experience with local market and/or multi-location retail management. Preferred - Experience supporting education, training, or regulated service organizations.   WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those encountered while performing the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.   South University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and embraces diversity as a critical step in ensuring employee, student and graduate success. We are committed to building and developing a diverse environment where a variety of ideas, cultures, and perspectives can thrive.