Director of Marketing and Digital Strategy

Department: Intercollegiate Athletics

Classification: Professional Faculty

Job Category: Administrative or Professional Faculty

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: On Site Required

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

Intercollegiate Athletics serves 500 student-athletes in 22 NCAA Division I sports. We are a proud member of the Atlantic 10 Conference with 17 Conference Championships, NCAA Championships in Women’s Soccer and Men’s Indoor Track, an NCAA Final Four appearance with Men’s Basketball, and over 30 individual National Champions. We are student-focused, education-centered, committed to providing transformational experiences for our student-athletes and staff, and devoted to honesty, integrity, and compliance with all NCAA, conference, and University rules and regulations. Our three priorities are to educate, compete, and engage.

Educate: Prioritize academic achievement and recruit student-athletes who can be successful academically, strengthen ICA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, and provide consistent education for coaches and sport administrators.

Compete: Position teams to consistently compete for conference success and recruit student-athletes who possess the ability to excel athletically from a conference and national perspective.

Engage: Prioritize the experience and personal well-being of student-athletes, develop and renovate athletics facilities, generate resources necessary to support the student-athlete experience, and foster and inspire partnerships within the department, University, and the community.

About the Position:

The Director of Marketing and Digital Strategy's responsibilities include managing day-to-day operations of marketing & digital content offices; creating revenue opportunities and generating ticket sales for basketball and Olympic sports, with focus on promotional enhancements; executing game-day marketing and production; overseeing promotional activities, including developing social/digital media marketing strategy & producing content, as needed; and improving and evolving the game day atmosphere at appropriate events. Assists with other functions as necessary.

Responsibilities:

Managerial Oversight

• Oversees day-to-day functions and operations of the marketing and digital content departments;
• Serves as supervisor for Assistant Director of Fan Engagement; 
• Coordinates with the Assistant Director of Fan Engagement and Associate Athletic Director, Digital Media & Marketing to create strategic marketing initiatives and campaigns;
• Oversees marketing, social and content wage worker staff (30+ individuals);
• Works alongside Associate Athletic Director of Digital Media & Marketing to manage marketing & promotions and digital content budgets; and
• Works with contracted vendors to create & order promotional items for basketball and select Olympic sports. 

Game Production/In-Game Promotions

• Handles execution of gameday marketing, including on-court activities;
• Focuses on specific atmosphere elements including improving and managing game day experience via videoboard and in-arena content, concourse activities, halftime entertainment, spirit coordination, music contests, & pregame entertainment, promotional giveaways and overall presentation;
• Manages marketing game day operations/staff at home athletic events, including scripts and video board presentations for men’s basketball and women’s basketball using the Daktronics Show Control interface;
• Loads all content for games onto Show Control Computer;
• Assists with creation of social media content (voice-overs, Canva, Photoshop etc.) for videoboard;
• Collaborates with Playfly MMR partner to ensure that all sponsored elements are included in game presentation; and
• Executes various in-game sponsored elements. 

Digital Strategy

• Serves as administrator and content strategist for Mason Athletics main Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, overseeing live and planned content across the platforms;
• Assists with content creation, including graphics and social reels, for marketing event awareness, as needed;
• Creates weekly content calendars for social media outreach;
• Works with individual sport coaches/SIDs to coordinate social media branding and engagement strategy for program-specific accounts;
• Assists Communications department with storytelling through student-athlete focused social & digital media campaigns; and
• Monitors and reports social analytics for key department accounts. 

Student Engagement

• Crafts, develops and maintains fruitful relationships with key campus offices and constituents to enrich campus life for students and the greater University community;
• Meets regularly with Assistant Director of Fan Engagement to create on-campus awareness marketing and digital/social media plans for Olympic sports and basketball; and
• Crafts engagement strategy for Mason Maniaks student section.

Event Marketing 

• Manages grassroots promotions for all sports, with a focus on basketballs;
• Plans promotional schedules for basketball and Olympic sports and coordinate ordering of giveaways and promotional items with contracted vendor; and
• Drives strategies to increase attendance, ticket sales and revenue at home athletic events and help create an engaging gameday environment for fans. 

Spirit Coordinator

• Instructs cheer and dance squads in rules & regulations; 
• Collaborates with cheer and dance coaching staff to determine game day strategy;
• Ensures distribution, collection and maintenance of current student-athlete records and roster; 
• Coordinates all equipment orders for cheer/dance teams; 
• Works with Assistant Director of Fan Engagement to coordinate mascot appearances; and
• Coordinates all travel plans and distribution of meal money.

Other Duties

• Performs other related duties as requested by senior leaders. 

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s degree, or any combination of bachelor’s degree, training, certification and work experience that equates to the advanced degree;
• Demonstrated experience in marketing and game day promotions;
• Demonstrated experience in social media management & digital strategy;
• Demonstrated knowledge of and ability to adhere to NCAA, conference, and commonwealth rules and regulations;
• Ability to work and manage relationships with diverse populations;
• Ability to work in a deadline-driven, high pressure environment;
• Ability to multi task and manage a series of projects in multiple external areas at once;
• High emotional intelligence and ability to manage key relationships with internal and external campus publics;
• Demonstrated ability to work on projects independently as well as within a team;
• Demonstrated ability to oversee direct reports and student staff;
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite;
• Ability to prioritize multiple projects;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrated organizational skills;
• High level of attention to detail;
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, desktop publishing; and
• Ability to work flexible hours – evenings and weekends.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Previous experience running in-game basketball production/Show Control computer;
• Demonstrated ability to drive revenue and increase basketball attendance; and
• Demonstrated ability to run an in-game basketball show.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Director of Marketing and Digital Strategy at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a Resume for review.

Posting Open Date: November 13, 2024

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  December 4, 2024

Open Until Filled:  Yes