Director of Brand & Editorial Marketing

Position Title: Director of Brand & Editorial Marketing
Department/Program: Marketing & Enrollment Mgmt 62200
# of Openings 1
Work Location: Hybrid On-Site/Remote
Campus Location: Arapahoe Campus
Reports to: Vice President, Enrollment Management & Marketing
FLSA Classification: Exempt/Salaried
FTE: 100% (40 hrs/week)
Compensation: $66,797 - $83,274

Application Deadline 9/15 or until filled

Job Summary
The Director of Brand & Editorial provides strategic and creative leadership for Naropa University's brand storytelling, editorial content, creative production, social media, and community connection. As one of Naropa's chief storytellers and brand stewards, the Director is responsible for bringing the University's mission, academic programs, people, and community to life through authentic, compelling, and consistent storytelling across channels.

The Director leads the Content, Creative, & Community functional area within Enrollment Management & Marketing and oversees the development of content and creative assets that strengthen Naropa's reputation, support enrollment growth, deepen engagement, and authentically represent the University and its mission.

Working in close partnership with the Director of Marketing Strategy & Operations, the Director translates institutional and enrollment marketing priorities into meaningful stories and creative experiences. The role leads editorial direction and creative execution while developing systems that enable content to be captured, organized, repurposed, and distributed effectively across web, social, email, digital advertising, print, media relations, and other University channels.

The Director must be a collaborative and highly self-motivated leader with exceptional editorial judgment, strong creative instincts, demonstrated experience managing people and creative production, and an ability to balance institutional storytelling with measurable enrollment and marketing objectives.

Job Duties & Responsibilities

Brand Leadership & Storytelling
• Serve as a primary steward of Naropa University's brand voice, storytelling, and creative expression, ensuring consistency and authenticity across marketing and communications channels.
• Identify, develop, and elevate compelling stories about Naropa students, alumnx, faculty, academic programs, community members, and institutional impact.
• Translate Naropa's mission, values, and distinctive educational experience into accessible and compelling stories for prospective students and broader audiences.
• Establish and maintain editorial and creative standards that support consistent expression of the Naropa brand.
• Partner with University stakeholders to identify emerging stories, experiences, accomplishments, and opportunities that strengthen Naropa's reputation and support enrollment.

Editorial Strategy & Content Development
• Serve as executive editor for major University marketing and storytelling initiatives.
• Lead development of editorial content across web, social media, email, newsletters, print, digital advertising, media relations, and other channels.
• Establish and manage an integrated editorial and content calendar aligned with enrollment priorities, institutional initiatives, academic calendars, events, and community storytelling opportunities.
• Provide high-level writing, editing, and copyediting support for priority University marketing and communications materials.
• Develop a sustainable pipeline and repository of student stories, alumnx stories, faculty expertise, testimonials, quotes, photography, video, and other reusable content.
• Ensure content is developed with opportunities for thoughtful reuse and adaptation across multiple audiences and channels.

Creative Direction & Production
• Provide creative direction for University marketing campaigns, publications, photography, video, digital content, print materials, and other creative assets.
• Lead and manage staff, student employees, freelancers, and external creative partners responsible for design, photography, video, writing, and multimedia production.
• Establish standards and workflows for creative requests, production, review, approval, asset management, and delivery.
• Ensure photography, illustration, video, design, and other creative assets are culturally appropriate, accessible, brand-aligned, and relevant to intended audiences.
• Develop scalable approaches to creative production that balance quality, institutional needs, team capacity, and responsible stewardship of University resources.

Social Media & Community Connection
• Lead Naropa's organic social media presence and content strategy in partnership with Marketing Strategy & Operations.
• Oversee content creation, publishing, community engagement, and storytelling across appropriate University social platforms.
• Build opportunities for students, faculty, staff, alumnx, and community partners to contribute authentically to Naropa's storytelling.
• Develop approaches for student-generated content, ambassador programs, community storytelling, and other forms of authentic engagement.
• Monitor emerging platforms, formats, cultural conversations, and content trends and identify opportunities appropriate for Naropa.
• Strengthen connections between Naropa's campus community and external audiences through storytelling, events, partnerships, and engagement.

Media Relations & Institutional Storytelling
• Support and lead media relations efforts, including development of press releases, story pitches, media materials, and relationships with local, regional, and national media.
• Serve as an institutional resource for storytelling, editorial quality, brand voice, and external-facing content.
• Support crisis and issues communications in partnership with the Vice President of Enrollment Management & Marketing, Director of Marketing Strategy & Operations, President's Office, and other institutional leaders as appropriate.
• Identify opportunities to elevate faculty expertise, institutional accomplishments, student experiences, and Naropa's thought leadership through earned media and external storytelling.
Website & Digital Content
• Lead editorial quality and content development for Naropa's website in partnership with the Director of Marketing Strategy & Operations and appropriate web/technology partners.
• Ensure website content reflects Naropa's brand, tells compelling stories, supports prospective student needs, and effectively showcases academic and experiential learning.
• Support SEO and organic discovery through high-quality, relevant, audience-centered content.
• Maintain standards for content accuracy, voice, accessibility, freshness, and consistency.
Enrollment Marketing Partnership
• Partner closely with the Director of Marketing Strategy & Operations, Admissions, Financial Aid, Registrar, Academic Affairs, and other University partners to support strategic enrollment priorities.
• Translate enrollment marketing briefs, audience insights, and campaign strategies into effective creative concepts, messaging, and content.
• Develop content and creative assets that help prospective students discover, understand, choose, and enroll at Naropa.
• Use performance insights and audience feedback to continuously refine storytelling and creative approaches.
• Support new academic program launches and other strategic enrollment initiatives through content development and creative execution.

Leadership & Team Development
• Lead, coach, and develop members of the Content, Creative & Community team.
• Establish clear expectations, priorities, workflows, and accountability while fostering creativity, experimentation, collaboration, and professional growth.
• Build a culture that values strong creative work while recognizing institutional priorities, deadlines, capacity, data, and measurable outcomes.
• Partner closely with the Director of Marketing Strategy & Operations to ensure the two functional areas operate as one integrated Enrollment Marketing team.
• Support the Vice President of Enrollment Management & Marketing with strategic planning, brand management, team development, and other institutional priorities as assigned.

What Naropa Requires…

• All job candidates must hold a commitment to co-create a diverse and inclusive community and actively participate in related JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) professional development regarding the dynamics of privilege and oppression and the impact these have in the workplace.
• All job candidates must demonstrate their level of understanding of the dynamics of privilege and oppression, and the impact these have on equity, access, and opportunity.
• All job candidates must demonstrate an appropriate level of understanding of and appreciation for the values of Naropa University and the capacity to demonstrate an integration and embodiment of these values as evidenced in work, communication, collaboration styles, and other general workplace behaviors.

Educational requirement:

• High school diploma or equivalent

Minimum length of prior applicable professional experience required:

· Minimum of five (5) years of prior applicable experience in communications, content creation, and managing creative teams.

May prior relevant experience substitute for degree? (If yes, please explain.) ☐Yes ☐No ☒ N/A

If “Yes”, describe experience and educational equivalents in the space below:

(PLEASE NOTE: each applicant’s experience and demonstrated skills are assessed on a case-by-case basis as to their relevancy to the position applied for as well as whether they may substitute for required degree.)

Minimum Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and/or Competencies Required:
• Excellent writing and copyediting skills, including experience working with style guides.
• Strong knowledge of SEO and crafting content to increase organic search.
• Comfortable in content management platforms, specifically Wordpress and SharePoint.
• Stays up to date in trends in SEO, social media, and digital content distribution.
• Is known within a network of media editors, journalists, bloggers, and content syndicators.
• Experience working on Naropa’s social platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest) and others with potential to assist Naropa (Discord, TikTok, Reddit, etc.).
• Strong working knowledge of standard office procedures and productivity software such as Microsoft Office, MS Teams, and various video conferencing platforms.

Qualifications Naropa Would Prefer in Candidates for this Position
• Experience managing photographers, videographers, and podcasters
• Ability to use marketing analytics to guide content development decisions
• Experience managing creative teams
• Minimum required length of experience with Bachelor’s degree in related field

JOB CODE: AY2627 0040