DEFINITION:

The Director of Communications and Marketing leads strategic communications and

marketing initiatives that foster the school’s vision and mission. The director oversees

both internal and external messaging for critical school communication and is responsible

for the development and implementation of a comprehensive and dynamic

communications, marketing, and public relations strategy for the school that supports the strategic plan, academic, admission, and fundraising objectives. The Director must have excellent community relations skills and be able to speak professionally and tactfully to external agencies as necessary.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Act as a role model of professionalism in a Catholic environment.
  • Support the philosophy, policies, and goals of the School, as well as the decisions made by the Administrators.
• Ensure the health, safety, and welfare of all students.
• Hold in strict confidence all matters pertaining to the School.
• Adhere to all policies and procedures as outlined in the Parent/Student Handbook and Employee Handbook.
• Attend faculty and administrative meetings as needed.

DUTIES

Communications & Public Relations

• Develop school-wide communication plans and processes for effective and proactive communication for all school constituents.
• Understand the dynamics of the school community, executive leadership team, staff, and Board of Directors.
• Assist with the development and editing of high-priority correspondence for the Head of School, leadership team, or staff when messages will be sent to a majority of current parents and/or prospective families or the general public. Special attention is to be paid to voice and tone.
• Create and maintain an integrated school-wide communications calendar to manage
• Communicate effectively and proactively with all school constituents to identify

and develop newsworthy content to showcase through media releases, St. Anne

website, blogs, and social media that promote student activity, work, events, and

accomplishments.

• Oversee website and electronic communication templates, including

preparing and editing for SAS distribution, and Pushpage.

• Serve as primary contact for media personnel; manage all public relations activity.
• Create and maintain the school’s crisis management communication plan.

Website Management/Community Outreach

• Oversee and maintain the school’s website - design, content development, and functionality - including internal components of the website portals, in order to promote the visual image and voice of the school.
• Direct website upgrade and content creation.
• Create and oversee social media strategy.
• Work closely with the IT staff to support website portals. Seek innovatively

opportunities to enhance the website (videos, podcasts, news stories, photos, etc.)

• Initiate new functionality for the website in keeping with evolving technology,

including updating the mobile application website as needed with regards to

content, navigation, and readability.

• Review, address and respond to email communication received via the website.

Marketing and Branding

• Maximize public awareness of St. Anne School and its mission through a single, clear voice that establishes brand identity.
• Identify strategies for building and enhancing the school’s reputation in the community, including external partners and other private and public schools.
• Develop and implement a successful Marketing and Communications plan that focuses on core themes delivered through face-to-face, online and social networking channels.
• Connect with various constituencies to support overall communications Specifically, this includes the Head of School, Head of School Executive Assistant, Development, Alumni, Admissions, Academic Divisions, Operations, Knights’ Parent Association, Athletics, and Technology.
• Set priorities and strategies for communications, marketing, and events planning; collaborate with staff and volunteers on implementation, and ensure deadlines are met with quality, consistency, and accuracy.
• Establish a system for tracking and reporting on key communications metrics.
• Lead the editorial development, design, production, and distribution of print, digital, and social media content (i.e. annual report, viewbook, campaign materials, advertisements, logo design, programs, and invitations and fliers for school events).
• Collaborate with the Director of Admissions and the Executive Director of Development to design strategies and implement actionable marketing plans that support the school’s admissions and development objectives, including fundraising campaigns.

Oversee the design, including all marketing collateral and advertisements; ensure consistent messaging with all electronic and print media.

• Research, collaborate, and manage all outside creative resources (i.e. graphic designers, contractors, photographers) as well as volunteers to ensure alignment in communications.

Manage budget for general marketing and design work.

• Work with the Auxiliary Director to create and manage auxiliary (camp, bus, after-school) communications and marketing.
• Remain current with industry best practices; assess communications efforts of other private and public schools
• Create and disperse consistent style standards, and brand standards and communicate these with employees to create brand consistency.
• Any other duties as assigned by the Executive Director of Development or Head of School.

The preceding functions have been provided as examples of the types of work performed by employees assigned this job classification. School Administration reserves the right to add, modify, change or rescind the work assignments of different positions and to make reasonable accommodations so that the qualified employees can perform the essential functions of the job.

 PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

The conditions herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.

Environment:  Work is performed primarily in a standard office setting and under constant interruptions.

Physical:          Primary functions require sufficient physical ability and mobility to work in an office setting; to stand or sit for prolonged periods of time; to occasionally stoop, bend, kneel, crouch, reach, and twist; to lift, carry, push, and/or pull light to moderate amounts of weight; to operate office equipment requiring repetitive hand movement and fine coordination including use of a computer keyboard, and to verbally communicate to exchange information.

Vision:             See in the normal visual range with or without correction.

Hearing:          Hear in the normal audio range with or without correction.

Hours:             Twelve-month, exempt salaried employee, schedule C

Reports:           Executive Director of Development

This is a full-time exempt position. Full medical benefits and pension plan included. Salary is commensurate with experience and education. Please send a cover letter, resume, and references to our Director of Human Resources, Melissa Vergara at hr@st-anne.org.

QUALIFICATIONS/COMPETENCIES:

Minimum Qualifications

• BA/BS in Communications, Marketing, public relations, or the equivalent.
• Five (5) years of experience in communications or marketing, preferably in the nonprofit

and/or independent school sector.

Preferred Qualifications

• Seven-plus years’ experience in communications or marketing, including in website, social media, and community outreach.
• Experience with Mac and PC systems, Social Media platforms, along with print, web, and cloud-based software (i.e. Adobe Creative Suite, G-Suite, and Blackbaud website management).
• Prior project management experience is a plus.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

Excellent written and oral communication skills. Outstanding organizational and

presentation skills. Proven ability to effectively lead and manage multiple creative

projects simultaneously and meet deadlines. Creative and artistic vision and

direction. Demonstrated leadership and teamwork skills; willingness to take initiative

and strategize. Experience in desktop publishing design and management of design

production. Demonstrated experience with website content management and design, and social media marketing. Demonstrated success as a confident problem solver and proven track record as independent and goal-oriented. Experience working with and/or managing volunteers. Write a concise, compelling copy on tight deadlines. Approach tasks with good humor, warmth, and enthusiasm. Collegial, approachable, invested in the success of the school, and able to occasionally step outside the job description for the greater good of the school. Able to partner with and serve as counsel to the Head of School and other administrative leaders on communication activities.

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS:

Ability to maintain confidential and positive working relationships with administrators, faculty, staff, parents, students, school and community organizations, vendors, and the general public.

Requires flexibility to work some evenings and weekends.