Senior Director, Strategic Communications and Marketing- Candler School of Theology

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Description

The Senior Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing Officer serves as Candler School of Theology’s senior communications and marketing strategist. Reporting to the dean, this role leads an integrated communications and marketing function that advances Candler’s mission, strengthens its public voice, supports enrollment and advancement priorities, amplifies faculty and programmatic strengths, and protects the school’s institutional reputation. Candler is entering a new chapter. The school is rooted in the Christian faith and shaped by the Wesleyan tradition, with a mission to educate faithful and creative leaders for the church’s ministries throughout the world. At this moment, Candler has an opportunity to build upon the Wesleyan commitment to open inquiry, enhancing its distinctiveness as a global site for the study and practice of theological education; a place of serious interfaith dialogue and convening; a school with a stronger national and global footprint; and an institution whose faculty, staff, students, alumni, centers, and public programs are known more widely for their intellectual, spiritual, and civic contributions.

The Senior Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing Officer will help Candler tell that story with clarity, imagination, discipline, and strategic purpose.

The person who assumes this role will transform the school’s communications activities by developing an integrated communications and marketing strategy. The successful candidate will develop and execute a school-wide communications and marketing strategy; align messaging across Admissions, Advancement, academic programs, centers, initiatives, and the dean’s office; lead digital-first storytelling; support enrollment and donor-facing campaigns; strengthen internal communications; and serve as a trusted adviser to the dean and senior leadership.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Serves as the dean's senior adviser on communications, messaging, public voice, internal communications, executive communications, media strategy, and reputation management.
• Helps to position Candler as a distinctive theological school with national and global reach.
• Partners closely with Admissions to support recruitment.
• Partners closely with Advancement and Alumni Engagement to support audience communications and philanthropic priorities.
• Uses data, analytics, and audience insight to improve communications, performance, and guide resource allocation.
• Leads editorial, digital, video, and social strategies that highlight Candler's intellectual, theological, spiritual, and public contributions.
• Creates structures for faculty thought leadership and public commentary in areas where Candler has distinctive strengths.
• Develops communication strategies that support Candler as a serious convening place for interfaith dialogue, theological inquiry, civic engagement, and public life.
• Strengthens Candler's presence in Atlanta, across the United States, and in global conversations about theology, religion, ethics, leadership, and public life.
• Leads a digital-first communications strategy across web, social media, video, email, newsletters, digital campaigns, and other owned channels.
• Oversees campaign planning for enrollment, events, public programs, faculty visibility, donor engagement, and major institutional moments.
• Ensures that digital content is timely, visually compelling, audience-aware, and aligned with Candler and Emory brand standards.
• Develops appropriate metrics and dashboards to assess reach, engagement, conversion, turnaround time, and strategic impact.
• Oversees media relations, proactive press outreach, talking points, public statements, and crisis communications in coordination with Emory University communications.
• Establishes intake, prioritization, project management, and service-level expectations so communications resources are aligned with school priorities.
• Serves as a collaborative partner to the dean's advisory group, dean's council, Admissions, Advancement, Business Operations, Academic Affairs, Student Life, Worship and Spiritual Formation, centers, initiatives, and affiliated partners.
• Leads, supervises, and develops communications and marketing staff.
• Fosters a culture of creativity, accountability, collaboration, responsiveness, and responsible self-direction.

ADDITIONAL JOB DETAILS:

• Strategic communications and marketing leadership
• Develop, implement, and assess a school-wide strategic communications and marketing plan aligned with Candler’s priorities, including enrollment, advancement, faculty excellence, Methodist and ecumenical identity, public programming, adult and lifelong learning, interfaith convening, and institutional reputation.
• Serve as the dean’s senior adviser on communications, messaging, public voice, internal communications, executive communications, media strategy, and reputation management.
• Translate institutional priorities into clear messaging, audience strategies, campaigns, editorial plans, and digital content.
• Help position Candler as a distinctive theological school with national and global reach.

Enrollment, advancement, and audience strategy

• Partner closely with Admissions to support residential, hybrid, degree, certificate, and lifelong learning recruitment.
• Partner closely with Advancement and Alumni Engagement to support donor communications, alumni storytelling, donor-facing events, campaign narratives, and philanthropic priorities.
• Develop audience-specific messaging for prospective students, current students, alumni, donors, church partners, faculty, staff, Emory partners, denominational audiences, interfaith partners, and broader public audiences.
• Use data, analytics, and audience insight to improve communications performance and guide resource allocation.

Faculty, program, and public storytelling

• Develop a stronger system for showcasing Candler faculty, staff, students, alumni, centers, initiatives, and public-facing programs.
• Lead editorial, digital, video, and social strategies that highlight Candler’s intellectual, theological, spiritual, and public contributions.
• Create structures for faculty thought leadership and public commentary in areas where Candler has distinctive strengths.
• Support storytelling for The Candler Foundry, La Mesa, Methodist Studies, worship and spiritual formation, student life, religion and public life, interfaith dialogue, public theology, and other strategic priorities.

Convening, interfaith dialogue, and public presence

• Develop communications strategies that support Candler as a serious convening place for interfaith dialogue, theological inquiry, civic engagement, and public life.
• Help design the communications architecture for public lectures, conferences, artist residencies, donor-facing convenings, executive education, lifelong learning, and cross-Emory partnerships.
• Strengthen Candler’s presence in Atlanta, across the United States, and in global conversations about theology, religion, ethics, leadership, and public life.

Digital, social, web, and campaign leadership

• Lead a digital-first communications strategy across web, social media, video, email, newsletters, digital campaigns, and other owned channels.
• Oversee campaign planning for enrollment, events, public programs, faculty visibility, donor engagement, and major institutional moments.
• Ensure that digital content is timely, visually compelling, audience-aware, and aligned with Candler and Emory brand standards.
• Develop appropriate metrics and dashboards to assess reach, engagement, conversion, turnaround time, and strategic impact.

Media, PR, brand, and reputation management

• Oversee media relations, proactive press outreach, talking points, public statements, and crisis communications in coordination with Emory University communications.
• Protect and strengthen Candler’s brand, reputation, and institutional voice.
• Clarify decision rights for brand, messaging, high-risk communications, public statements, and school-wide channels.
• Ensure compliance with Emory policies related to name use, trademarks, logos, visual identity, privacy, public safety, and institutional communications.

Internal communications and change leadership

• Lead internal communications that build trust, clarity, and alignment across faculty, staff, students, and key partners.
• Establish intake, prioritization, project management, and service-level expectations so communications resources are aligned with school priorities.
• Develop a hub-and-spoke model that allows central communications to set strategy and standards while enabling program-level speed and subject expertise.
• Serve as a collaborative partner to the dean’s advisory group, dean’s council, Admissions, Advancement, Business Operations, Academic Affairs, Student Life, Worship and Spiritual Formation, centers, initiatives, and affiliated partners.

Team leadership and staff development

• Lead, supervise, and develop communications and marketing staff.
• Clarify roles, responsibilities, workflows, expectations, and professional development pathways.
• Foster a culture of creativity, accountability, collaboration, responsiveness, and responsible self-direction.
• Build a team that can balance strategic work, routine communications, urgent requests, and reputational risk.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, journalism, public relations, higher education administration, or a related field and 10 years of progressively responsible experience in communications, marketing, public relations, media, or related work, including supervision of staff.
• A related master's degree is preferred along with experience in higher education, theological education, nonprofit leadership, public affairs, or mission-driven institutions.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Graduate degree in communications, marketing, journalism, theology, religion, public policy, higher education, or a related field.
• Experience in higher education, theological education, nonprofit leadership, public affairs, or mission-driven institutions.
• Demonstrated success in enrollment marketing, advancement communications, executive communications, media relations, digital strategy, brand management, crisis communications, and campaign development.
• Experience translating faculty research, institutional priorities, or complex ideas into compelling public narratives.
• Experience supporting public programming, convening, interfaith engagement, executive education, lifelong learning, or global institutional positioning.
• Strong understanding of digital communications, short-form video, social media, web strategy, analytics, and audience segmentation. 
• Ability to build trust across faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, church leaders, communications professionals, and university partners.
• Strategic and practical.
• Creative and disciplined. 
• Relational and decisive. 
• Able to move quickly without being careless. 
• Able to protect institutional reputation without becoming risk-averse.
• Comfortable working with the dean and senior leaders on sensitive, high-visibility matters. 
• Committed to theological education, faculty excellence, student formation, public life, interfaith dialogue, and Candler’s mission. 
• Able to build systems, not simply respond to requests. 
• Able to help Candler speak with clarity, courage, humility, and imagination

NOTE: Position tasks are generally required to be performed in-person at an Emory University location.  Remote work from home day options may be granted at department discretion. Emory reserves the right to change remote work status with notice to employee.

Additional Details