Assistant Director, Digital Communications
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Why join the Harvard Kennedy School?
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is one 12 graduate and professional schools at the university. Harvard Kennedy School’s mission is to improve public policy and leadership so people can live in societies that are more safe, free, just, and sustainably prosperous. By combining cutting-edge research, the teaching of outstanding students, and direct interaction with practitioners, we have an impact on solving public problems that no other institution can match. When you work at Harvard Kennedy School, you make a difference.
Job Description
Reporting to the Associate Director of Digital Strategy, the Assistant Director, Digital Strategy will help manage digital solicitation strategy, digital content planning, email marketing, web strategy, and social media plans for the Alumni Relations and Resource Development (ARRD) team and serve as the Communications team’s project manager. Responsibilities include identifying needs and new opportunities to effectively engage and connect the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) alumni community and increasing fundraising revenue.
The successful candidate is a tech-savvy professional who has innovative ideas to improve audience engagement through digital communications and is creative and comfortable working with a team. They have excellent communication skills and are a strategic thinker with an in-depth understanding of how technology can help us tell the alumni story and drive fundraising revenue. Our ideal person is methodical, has excellent time management skills, and can use their communication skills to collaborate effectively with various teams.
Core Duties
- Digital Solicitation Strategy
- Assist Senior Director of Communications with current digital principal and major gift proposals
- Research and expand platform options for digital principal and major gift proposals
- Partner with HKS Annual Fund team to plan solicitation strategy, including brainstorming new opportunities and concepts
- Liaise with University’s principal and major gifts proposal team to leverage existing formats and content for principal and major gift solicitations
- Digital Content Planning
- Assists Senior Associate Director of Digital Strategy to plan, design, and develop overall digital content strategy for ARRD
- Partners with ARRD’s Comms. writing team to effectively synthesize content across platforms
- Publish, maintain, and update the Alumni section of the HKS website, including making recommendations and driving optimization plans for summer 2025
- Analyze web traffic metrics and suggest solutions to boost web presence
- Monitor SEO/SEM, Google Analytics metrics and social media insights to inform future content production
- Collaborate with centers and departments to identify new sources of content for sharing in alumni and donor newsletters
- Email, Website, Social Media, and On-Campus Advertising Support
- Keep up-to-date with our audience’s preferences and proactively suggest new ideas
- Manage email builds through Salesforce Marketing Cloud, including HKS Annual Fund, working in partnership with the AA&D Email Strategies team and internal ARRD stakeholders; responsibilities include building templates, managing content approvals and edits, partnering on testing and scheduling
- Collaborate with the HKS’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs (OCPA) digital communications coordinator to generate, edit, publish, and share engaging social content
- Manage and maintain the content and schedule for ARRD’s digital screens on campus
- Lead efforts on ARRD’s digital Annual Report on Giving, including microsite creation and editing, content direction, and project timeline
- Participate in weekly calls with OCPA and support as needed
- Digital Analytics
- Develop strategies for effective data analysis and reporting
- Define metrics and relevant data sources
- Help to implement a comprehensive internal reporting structure for all email campaigns, providing actionable insights that drive strategic, data-informed decisions
- Interpret data, analyze results and provide ongoing reports
- Measure and report performance of digital content, and assess against goals
- Identify trends and insights, and optimize spend and performance based on the insights
- Collect data and report on impressions, engagement, pageviews, and sessions to help inform future strategy
- Project Management
- Assist with implementation and oversight of new Smartsheet project management system, including building dashboards and reports
- Deliver projects on time ensuring quality standards are met
- Communicate with the team and ensure all members are on board with delegated tasks
- Seek opportunities for improvement and suggest new projects
Qualifications
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in communications or a related field
- A minimum of 5 years of professional work experience in digital communications roles
- Experience with Drupal or WordPress, and content management systems required
- Experience with SEO/SEM and web traffic metrics
Additional Qualifications and Skills:
- Digital communications experience in a fundraising or academic environment preferred
- Working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Adobe Photoshop
- Strong analytical and project management skills
- Strong data-driven thinking
- Experience in project management systems like Smartsheet, Airtable
- Experience in social media platforms
- Solid knowledge of web analytics tools like Google Analytics
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Experience using SproutSocial and MailChimp
- Ability to work effectively in a highly decentralized organization
- Working experience in higher education, foundations or nonprofits
- Master’s degree in communications or a related field is a plus
- Interest in public policy and current events
Additional Information
- Standard Hours/Schedule: 35 hours per week
- Visa Sponsorship Information: Harvard University is unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position
- Pre-Employment Screening: Identity, Education
Work Format Details
This is a position that is based at a Harvard campus location with some remote work options available. Additional details will be discussed during the interview process. All remote work must be performed within one of the Harvard Registered Payroll States, which currently includes Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Washington, and California (CA for exempt positions only). Certain visa types and funding sources may limit work location. Individuals must meet work location sponsorship requirements prior to employment.
Salary Grade and Ranges
This position is salary grade level 057. Please visit Harvard's Salary Ranges to view the corresponding salary range and related information.
Benefits
Harvard offers a comprehensive benefits package that is designed to support a healthy work-life balance and your physical, mental and financial wellbeing. Because here, you are what matters. Our benefits include, but are not limited to:
- Generous paid time off including parental leave
- Medical, dental, and vision health insurance coverage starting on day one
- Retirement plans with university contributions
- Wellbeing and mental health resources
- Support for families and caregivers
- Professional development opportunities including tuition assistance and reimbursement
- Commuter benefits, discounts and campus perks
Learn more about these and additional benefits on our Benefits & Wellbeing Page.
EEO/Non-Discrimination Commitment Statement
Harvard University is committed to equal opportunity and non-discrimination. We seek talent from all parts of society and the world, and we strive to ensure everyone at Harvard thrives. Our differences help our community advance Harvard’s academic purposes.
Harvard has an equal employment opportunity policy that outlines our commitment to prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or identified in the university’s non-discrimination policy. Harvard’s equal employment opportunity policy and non-discrimination policy help all community members participate fully in work and campus life free from harassment and discrimination.