Communications Strategist for IT

Communications Strategist for IT

Requisition Number: 20122541
Type of Employment: Full-Time Regular
Number of Months:
Months Employed:
Number of Hours per Day/Week: 40
Daily Hours: Typically 8am-5pm; This position will work primarily on-campus. However, it will be eligible for hybrid telework for up to 1 day per week.; Periodically, this position may be asked to assist with comm needs for tech incidents outside business hours.

Summary Position
The Communications Strategist for IT develops and implements marketing and communication strategies for the Office of Information Technology (IT), focusing efforts on communicating with our end-users on initiatives, projects, and service updates and changes. This position helps shape and share the story of IT at Elon University. The strategist regularly serves on cross-functional teams and consults with IT staff to identify communication needs, gather information, seek understanding from a customer perspective, develop and implement a plan, and translate technical lingo into easily understood messaging that provides a consistent voice across IT's multiple communication channels. This position also supports communications efforts for the Division of Finance & Administration. The Communications Strategist for IT reports to the Senior Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT). TLT is a part of the larger Information Technology organization.

Benefits of Working at Elon University

As an Elon University employee, you'll join an internationally acclaimed university with a commitment to fostering a thriving community. Ranked among the most innovative, creative and best-run universities in the nation, Elon's personal approach to education extends to employees, whose growth, professional development and success is a hallmark of our training and advancement opportunities.

Elon University's home is the charming town of Elon, North Carolina, a small, friendly community located a short distance from the beach and the mountains, and among the vibrant cities of Greensboro, Raleigh and Durham. In addition to the beautiful canopy of historic oak trees iconic to our campus, you'll find boundless opportunities for family-friendly recreation, cultural events and outdoor activities. Hiking, water sports, fine dining and entertainment are just a few of the many happenings in the Elon area, making the region one of the nation's premier travel destinations.

Employees at Elon enjoy a generous and comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• 28 annual days off, including holidays and vacation.
• Immediate tuition remission for employees.
• Retirement plan with an 8 percent contribution from the university.
• Immediate eligibility for health, dental and vision insurance, along with free acute care and lab services at our onsite Health & Wellness Clinic.
• Free use of campus fitness facilities.
• Free admission to musical and theater performances, guest speakers, religious and ethnic observances, recitals, art exhibitions, entertainment and our Division I Phoenix athletics.
• Eligibility for tuition remission at Elon for spouses, qualifying domestic partners and dependents begins at three years of service. After four years of employment, eligibility begins for participation in the Tuition Exchange, a national scholarship exchange program that enables dependents to enroll in nationally recognized partner colleges and universities.
  
  

Elon values and celebrates the diverse backgrounds, cultures, experiences and perspectives of our community members. As an equal opportunity employer, Elon's principles of diversity extend to race and gender identity, age, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, religion, and other aspects of one's identity. At Elon, our employees respect human differences, passion for lifelong learning, emphasis on personal integrity and an ethic of service.

Education Requirements
Required: Bachelor’s degree in preferred fields of study of communications, journalism, marketing, writing, public relations, interactive media, or related field.

Preferred: Master’s degree in preferred fields of study of communications, journalism, marketing, writing, public relations, interactive media, or related field.

Degree/Major:
Length of Experience: Required: A minimum of 3 years of professional experience in communications or related occupation.

Preferred: Higher education work experience.
Supervisory Experience: No

Supervisory Experience Detail
The Communications Strategist for IT may supervise a small team of TLT student staff.

Special Skills or Experience


Special Instructions to Applicants
Salary range is competitive and commensurate with experience. Benefits are excellent and more information can be found on the HR Benefits website.

Please submit your cover letter, resume, and samples of your work (writing, social media, web, and other multimedia).

Review of applications will begin immediately.

Posting Date: 04/21/2023
Closing Date:
Open Until Filled: Yes

General Purpose of Position
The Communications Strategist for IT develops and implements marketing and communication strategies for the Office of Information Technology (IT), focusing efforts on communicating with our end-users on initiatives, projects, and service updates and changes. This position helps shape and share the story of IT at Elon University. The strategist regularly serves on cross-functional teams and consults with IT staff to identify communication needs, gather information, seek understanding from a customer perspective, develop and implement a plan, and translate technical lingo into easily understood messaging that provides a consistent voice across IT’s multiple communication channels. This position also supports communications efforts for the Division of Finance & Administration. The Communications Strategist for IT reports to the Senior Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT). TLT is a part of the larger Information Technology organization.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities
1. Develop, influence, and implement marketing and communications strategies for IT. (50% of time)

• Serve on cross-functional IT teams that have communications needs, focusing efforts on communicating IT initiatives, projects, and service updates and changes. Develop and influence communication strategies and materials to support the mission and vision of the organization, enhance the customer experience, and address community needs.
• Develop and implement communications strategies, campaigns, and associated materials to support the launch of new services and initiatives.
• Ask questions and seek understanding with our end-user in mind. Translate technical lingo and information into user-friendly/easily digestible content.
• With a clear understanding of the university’s branding standards, create, write, edit, develop, and design materials, including email messages, print materials, blog posts, website content, social media posts, and Today at Elon articles. Utilize a variety of media, including graphics, images, text, and video for various audiences that provides a consistent voice across IT’s communication channels.
• Participate in the change management and incident management processes. Collaborate with colleagues to help shape and advocate for the role of communications in these processes. Assist with communications for planned and unplanned service disruptions and outages (periodically this may occur during non-business hours).
• Consult with IT departments and staff to identify and assist with communication needs. Provide best practices and how communication outlets may be leveraged to meet goals.
• Develop and maintain a content calendar, soliciting ideas across IT.
• Partner with IT colleagues to gather information, ask questions, and translate complex, technical, and fragmented information into easily understood information for various stakeholders and audiences. Craft messaging that provides a consistent voice across IT’s communication channels.
• Assess effectiveness of strategies through web and social media analytics, and implement strategies to strengthen engagement with students, faculty, and staff.

2. Manage IT’s social media channels. (15% of time)

• Create and manage content.
• Build followership and engagement.
• Monitor channels for customer interaction and respond to and interact with followers.

3. Consult, assist, and partner with TLT team members to develop and implement content strategy for instructional modules, videos, print materials, digital signage, and more. (15% of time)

• Partner with Video Producer, Senior Designer/Developer, instructional technologists, and others to create content.
• Work on project teams developing and designing multimedia.
• Assist with content mapping and develop and design materials.

4. Manage the IT website. (10% of time)

• Ensure that content is easy to find and consistently updated, accurate, and relevant.
• Collaborate with Campus Technology Support staff to ensure effective communication strategies for our customers in consideration of both the IT website and the service catalog/knowledge base. Influence and provide guidance related to the flow and connection of content in these two platforms.
• Re-organize, refresh, and re-design the website when needed in alignment with university branding standards and templates.

5. Support communications efforts for the Division of Finance & Administration. (10% of time)

• Assist with executive communications to support Finance & Administration broadly, including writing, editing, and recommending/implementing strategies for sharing information.
• Consult and collaborate with website managers in Finance and Administration (F&A) on web content, with attention placed on readability, relevancy, and accuracy of content, while complying with university branding standards and following best practices in accessibility.
• Provide “how to” support for the university’s CMS (WordPress) and assist with basic troubleshooting.
• Assist with the re-organization, refresh, and redesign of websites when needed in alignment with university branding standards and templates.

6. Other duties as needed or required.


Education and Experience
Education

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in preferred fields of study of communications, journalism, marketing, writing, public relations, interactive media, or related field.
• Preferred: Master’s degree in preferred fields of study in communications, journalism, marketing, writing, public relations, interactive media, or related field.

Experience

• Required: Minimum of 3 years of experience in communications or related occupation.
• Preferred: Higher education work experience.

Knowledge, Skills, and Training

• Required:
  • A curious mindset with skills needed to ask questions and build understanding from an end-user’s perspective. Ability to translate technical lingo into easily understood messaging for various audiences that provides a consistent voice across IT’s communication channels.
  • Self-starter, organized, and creative.
  • Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to work well and collaborate with individuals and teams.
  • Excellent verbal and written skills to provide consultations, feedback, and editing assistance.
  • An understanding of communication/marketing strategy and an ability to influence/educate others on those strategies.
  • Good project management skills with an ability to lead marketing/communication initiatives and manage competing priorities.
  • Proficient in social media, digital communications, and engagement strategies.
  • Experience with WordPress or similar web content management system.
  • Experience in graphic design for print, social, and web. Experience using Adobe Photoshop, Canva, or other visual layout tools.
  • Experience with analytics, SEO strategies, social media, and accessibility standards.
  • General competence with Microsoft Office 365 applications and their use in a collaborative setting, specifically Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive.
• Preferred:
  • Basic html skills to assist with troubleshooting.
  • Experience with basic video capture and editing for use on social media.
    
    

Does this position require driving for the university? No

Additional Information


To apply, visit https://elon.peopleadmin.com/postings/9407

Elon University is an equal employment opportunity employer committed to a diverse faculty, staff and student body and welcomes all applicants.

Elon University has built a national reputation as a premier student-centered arts and sciences university that values strong relationships between students and their faculty and staff mentors. Elon is ranked among the top-100 National Universities by U.S. News & World Report, with a No. 1 ranking for excellence in undergraduate teaching and No. 9 for innovation. Global engagement is central to Elon’s experience and the Institute of International Education has ranked the institution No. 1 in the nation for study abroad for 16 straight years. In addition, Elon is the only university in the nation ranked in the top-20 by U.S. News for excellence in all eight academic programs “Focused on Student Success.” Elon’s more than 7,000 students prepare to become the resilient, ambitious and ethical leaders the world needs, putting their knowledge into action on campus, in the community and around the globe.





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