Head of Marketing & Communications

Location:  London (EC3)

The College

DGHE is the higher education division of David Game College. Established in 1974 the College is Ofsted inspected, QAA reviewed and OfS registered, with a reputation for quality and academic excellence.

DGHE exists to provide exceptional learning, encouraging students in developing their spirit of inquiry to realise their personal and professional aspirations and potential, through quality education in a culturally diverse and ethical environment. DGHE includes four schools: Business, Public Services, Health & Social Care and Art & Design. It offers several levels of higher education including: BTEC Higher National Diplomas (HND), as well as Bachelor and Top-up Degrees franchised with partner universities.

The Job

In the past year, we have reworked our marketing and recruitment strategies to adapt to a drop in European students registering since Brexit and changing market conditions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We have hired and trained officer-level staff in marketing and communications, and now seek an experienced Head of Marketing to oversee all departmental functions, liaise with other department heads, develop and implement new recruitment campaigns and product launches, and enhance internal communications and access and participation through community engagement, among other core functions of the marketing and communications department.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Develop and implement strategic and tactical plans to enhance student recruitment, stakeholder/community relations and internal communications.
• Oversee a small Marketing and Communications team: lead, supervise and support all marketing and communications activities, development of multimedia content and collateral, events and outreach activities.
• Manage updates to the DGHE website, social media calendar, external placements including Higher Education websites, social media campaigns and Google Ads, and provide strategic direction and quality control for all digital communications carried out by a Digital Communications Officer.
• Manage, oversee and support colleagues in planning for, carrying out and amplifying the stories of events such as student recruitment fairs, special guests, career guidance activities, Inductions, Open Days, Graduation, staff events, UCAS workshops, Educational Field trips, recruitment events, community engagement activities, etc.
• Work closely with the Admissions department to recruit students to DGHE through formulating and implementing specific strategic plans, following through on the recruitment process, managing a shared CRM, meeting and exceeding recruitment targets.
• Work with the Director and other colleagues to build on and implement an Access and Participation Plan to improve community engagement and the access and participation of students from underrepresented groups, people with disabilities and others.
• Carry out market research, monitoring and regular reporting on past and potential marketing and communications activities. Contribute to statistical/information reports, competitor analysis and recommendations to the director on new products or activities. Perform regular monitoring and assessment of all marketing and communications activities and track Key Performance Indicators. Identify challenges or lessons learned and make recommendations to inform communications activities going forward.

The Person

The successful candidate will hold a higher degree or relevant professional qualification and have significant and relevant work experience. You will need an excellent knowledge of the Higher Education sector and experience of UK student recruitment, including outreach activity (school liaison, community engagement, etc), event management and recruitment fairs. Experience in delivering marketing campaigns (especially digital and social media), utilising the full marketing mix and relevant data to evaluate activity, is equally important. You will also need experience of working at a strategic level in marketing and communications, including leadership and managerial skills, with the ability to motivate and lead a team effectively, setting clear objectives to manage performance and ensure successful implementation of plans.

The position holder will be a good ‘citizen’ of DGHE, including having constructive attitudes, strong interpersonal skills  and enthusiasm to work as part of a performance-driven team dedicated to the delivery of the highest-quality student experience. They should demonstrate the ability and vision to influence the future direction of DGHE with evidence of the ability to plan, negotiate and persuade, propose and implement strategic plans that balance short-term goals with longer term development projects.

The vacancy is open for an immediate start, although for the right candidate a later appointment could be accommodated.

Candidates are advised to submit applications early.

Please apply via the link