Chief Marketing Officer

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) will lead Excelsior University's strategy for enrollment marketing, lead generation, overall brand and student pipeline growth. This position is solely responsible for building brand awareness and demand generation for the University's degree and non-degree programs and for developing the marketing strategies, campaigns, and channels that generate qualified inquiries and grow the prospective student pipeline. This role does not oversee admissions, registrar, academic advising, student financial services, or other enrollment management operations; it is a dedicated marketing role. Enrollment Marketing operates as part of Excelsior's shared services unit, and this position will lead the team in an agency model — meaning that, while the CMO will focus first and foremost on academic program prospective student inquiries for Excelsior University, they will also have responsibility for delivering marketing and lead-generation services to other members of the University's network. The CMO will play a key role in the exciting opportunity to grow this network by growing shared services revenues by identifying and securing new network partners and by expanding the services sold to existing partners. As an executive leader on the Excelsior team reporting to the President, this position will be expected to strategize, execute, and manage a high-performing marketing team, and to work in close collaboration with Admissions and Academic Affairs, Communications and other University and network partners, to translate marketing-generated interest into a strong, well-qualified applicant pipeline.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following: Other duties may be assigned

• Own student pipeline growth: set clear, measurable goals for inquiry volume, lead quality, conversion to application, and cost per lead/acquisition, and report progress against those goals to executive leadership.
• Lead and manage the marketing team, including digital marketing, content/brand marketing, product marketing, and marketing operations and analytics staff.
• Lead Enrollment Marketing's operation as a shared service, delivering marketing and lead-generation services to other members of the University's network under an agency model, with clear service agreements, deliverables, and pricing.
• Grow shared services revenue by identifying, pursuing, and onboarding new network partners, and by expanding the scope of services sold to existing partners (upselling and cross-selling additional marketing services).
• Own the shared services P&L, including pricing strategy, cost-to-serve, and profitability by partner, and report on shared services growth and performance to the President and executive leadership.
• Develop and execute an integrated enrollment marketing strategy — spanning digital, content, paid, organic, and offline channels — to build brand awareness and drive qualified lead generation for all degree and non-degree programs.
• Collaborate closely with the Admissions unit to ensure a seamless handoff of marketing-generated leads into the admissions funnel, aligning on lead scoring, service-level agreements, and shared conversion metrics. Incorporate feedback from Admissions into strategies for improving pipeline management.
• Partner with Academic Affairs and Deans to understand program priorities, enrollment targets, and academic quality standards, ensuring marketing messaging accurately represents programs and supports institutional goals.
• Drive brand architecture development and value-proposition-based communications for all degree and non-degree academic products, ensuring differentiation, integration, and continuity across the University's portfolio; and establish a clear and easily navigable program vision for potential students.
• Guide the product marketing function to conduct market research, audience segmentation, market analysis, and competitive analysis to inform go-to-market strategy for new and existing programs.
• Lead marketing initiatives across all digital media platforms, ensuring maximum efficiency and ROI across channels including SEM, SEO, paid social, organic social, and content marketing.
• Define and track marketing KPIs based on internal and external benchmarks; meet or exceed quarterly and annual lead-generation and pipeline targets.
• Identify, evaluate, and manage marketing and advertising agency and vendor relationships.
• Manage a multimillion-dollar marketing budget, ensuring cost-effective allocation across channels to maximize lead volume and quality.
• Advise the President and executive leadership on marketing performance, market trends, and opportunities to strengthen the University's competitive position and brand.
• Collaborate with Strategic Partnerships, IT, Analytics & Business Intelligence, Communications, the Project Management Office, and other University departments as needed to support marketing initiatives and shared data systems.
• Operate in a collaborative, data-informed, metric-driven manner, using audience insights and analytics to continuously improve marketing performance.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Required Functional (Marketing) Skills

• Seven or more years of progressive experience in enrollment marketing, higher education marketing, and/or demand-generation/lead-generation marketing leadership.
• Demonstrated understanding of digital and other cutting-edge marketing tools and strategies and how they drive performance marketing.
• Demonstrated success generating qualified leads through digital channels and converting inquiries into a strong applicant pipeline.
• Demonstrated success developing, leading, and managing brand campaigns with clear and measurable outcomes.
• Experience with marketing automation and CRM technology (e.g., lead scoring, nurture campaigns, funnel reporting) required.
• Demonstrable experience gathering and analyzing marketing and funnel data and using that data to make strategic decisions that measurably improve lead volume, quality, and conversion.
• Successful track record in marketing management, including preparation of marketing plans and budgets, market research, and monitoring of marketing plan outcomes against pipeline goals.
• Successful track record hiring, managing and motivating marketing staff.
• Demonstrated experience and success using marketing-related technologies, including AI to improve results, lower costs, and maximize ROI.
• Significant experience in digital marketing, brand marketing, and managing marketing/advertising agency relationships.
• The successful candidate must have the ability to work with and be sensitive to the educational needs of adult learners and diverse student populations, and to lead and manage change while collaboratively engaging key stakeholders.
• Understanding marketing nuances and ability to adapt marketing strategies and tactics to various geographic markets.
• Preference given to individuals with extensive experience marketing to adult learners and/or online education audiences.
• Demonstrable understanding of risk assessment and the ability to manage risk related to social and other forms of media.
• Excellent analytical, oral, and written communication and presentation skills.
• Experience operating in an agency, consulting, or shared-services model, delivering services to internal and/or external clients against defined service agreements and deliverables.
• Demonstrated success identifying and securing new clients or partners, and growing revenue from existing accounts through expanded or additional services.
• Experience with service pricing, scoping, and P&L accountability for a service line, business unit, or client portfolio.

Required Education, Interpersonal, and Leadership Aptitudes

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• Excellent emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to develop and sustain interpersonal professional relationships, cultivate trust, and demonstrate emotional intelligence, particularly in close partnership with academic and administrative function leaders.
• Ability to motivate, inspire, lead, and manage through direct supervision, influence, collaboration and strong communication skills.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with others throughout the University at all levels and in a hands-on capacity as needed.
• Capacity for being an internal consultant and facilitator of high-engagement, cross-functional working relationships.
• Demonstrated integrity and commitment to high standards, maintaining operational compliance with applicable state and federal regulations.
• Approaches work with grit and a drive to continue learning and developing new skills.
• Experience cultivating a culture of innovation within a marketing organization.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including project management experience that demonstrates attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple complex projects to timely completion.

Strongly Preferred

• Ability to develop and execute a university-level enrollment marketing vision, supported by clear performance measures and continuous feedback mechanisms.
• Experience marketing to and reaching culturally, geographically, and socioeconomically diverse prospective student populations.
• Extensive knowledge of relevant trends and best practices in higher education marketing, particularly those pertaining to lead generation and non-traditional student populations.
• Proficiency in utilizing and maximizing marketing technology (CRM, marketing automation, analytics platforms, etc.) to improve lead generation and pipeline efficiency.
• Experience selling or business-development experience in a B2B or B2C services environment, including relationship management with external partners or client organizations.
• Familiarity with structuring service-level agreements, statements of work, or partnership agreements for a shared-services or agency-model organization.

Work Location

As a member of the senior leadership team, this position will require the incumbent to spend considerable time in the university’s main offices in Albany, NY, and periodic travel to the University’s regional offices and centers throughout the U.S.

The hiring salary range for this position is $190,000.00 - $210,000.00. The hiring salary range above represents the University's good faith estimate at the time of posting