Senior Director of Marketing & Communications: Tickle College of Engineering - UTK

The Tickle College of Engineering (TCE) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, seeks a Senior Director of Marketing and Communications to lead the college's integrated marketing and communications enterprise. The Senior Director holds primary responsibility for strengthening the college's national reputation, competitive positioning and recognition among the audiences that influence its standing. The position translates college priorities and demonstrates strengths in research, education and innovation into audience-focused marketing strategies, aligning personnel, budgets, channels and communications activities with measurable institutional objectives.

Reporting to the Chief Alignment Officer, the Senior Director supervises the Director of Communications and other professional staff, and holds final unit-level accountability for strategy, organizational structure, staffing, budget and performance.

Strategic Leadership and Direction

• Establish the multi-year marketing and communications vision, strategic framework, priorities and performance measures for TCE, aligned with the college's strategic plan and goals for national reputation, enrollment, research and external engagement.

• Lead development of the college's integrated marketing strategy, translating institutional goals into audience priorities, differentiated positioning, coordinated campaigns and resource allocations.

• Lead a sustained national reputation strategy that strengthens recognition of TCE as a leading destination for engineering education, research and collaboration, grounded in the college's demonstrated strengths and distinctive capabilities.

• Direct market, audience and competitive research to assess awareness and perceptions of the college, identify barriers to recognition and inform positioning, messaging and marketing investments.

• Establish differentiated brand positioning and audience-specific value propositions that translate the college's research strengths, educational outcomes and institutional impact into compelling reasons to engage with TCE.

• Direct integrated campaigns across paid, owned, earned and shared channels, ensuring editorial content, creative work, digital platforms and media outreach advance defined marketing objectives.

• Establish measures of awareness, perception, priority-audience engagement and campaign effectiveness; evaluate results and direct adjustments to strategy, investment and resource allocation.

• Serve as an advisor to the Dean and Chief Alignment Officer on national reputation, competitive positioning, enrollment growth, research visibility, partnerships and institutional impact.

• Develop innovative solutions to complex marketing, reputation and communications challenges, exercising independent judgment when competing policies, priorities or resource demands are present.

Unit Leadership and Operational Management

• Provide operational management and administrative direction for all marketing and communications (MARCOM) units, including the Office of Engineering Communications and departmental communications and marketing staff.

• Directly supervise the Director of Communications and other managers and professional staff, including hiring, training, evaluating, mentoring and determining merit increases.

• Provide second-level oversight of personnel actions, performance management and workload across the unit, and serve as the point of escalation for complex staffing and operational issues.

• Design and approve the unit's organizational structure, reporting lines, staffing models and new position requests, and recommend future hiring needs to TCE administration.

• Develop and lead training and professional development for managers and staff across all MARCOM functional areas.

Executive Oversight of MARCOM Functions

• Hold final approval authority for TCE visual brand identity and messaging policies across all college and departmental print and digital platforms, within UT brand standards.

• Oversee brand strategy, market research, paid media, audience targeting, marketing analytics, publications, media relations, web, video, and digital and social media operations, establishing standards for quality, effectiveness and measurable impact.

• Provide final review and approval of critical and high-profile communications before release, including crisis and sensitive-issue communications.

• Determine the unit's balance of in-house versus outsourced production and approve major vendor and agency engagements.

Institutional Coordination and Strategic Partnerships

• Represent TCE MARCOM with university leadership, the University's Office of Communications and Marketing, the UT Communications Council and other campus communications offices.

• Coordinate communications and marketing strategy across academic departments, research centers and administrative units to ensure consistent, high-impact messaging.

• Build and maintain strategic relationships with industry and community partners, media organizations and external stakeholders to expand TCE's visibility and partnerships.

Budget and Resource Management

• Establish the overall MARCOM budget and allocate personnel, funds, paid marketing and equipment across units in alignment with strategic priorities and campaign performance.

• Review and approve unit and project budgets, and approve commitments of funds for services, equipment and paid advertising and marketing campaigns.

• Implement administrative processes and creative and project management tools that improve efficiency and accountability across the unit.

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Public Relations or a related field.

• Experience: Eight years of progressively responsible experience in strategic marketing, including substantial responsibility for brand positioning, audience research, integrated marketing campaigns and marketing performance measurement. Experience must include translating organizational priorities into marketing strategies; managing marketing budgets and allocating resources; and a minimum of three years managing managers and professional staff.

• Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

  • Ability to provide visionary leadership and to manage multiple operational units, including supervision of managers and professional staff

  • Ability to establish organizational structures, policies and performance measures for a multi-unit organization

  • Ability to bring together broad constituencies to build collaboration, teamwork and synergies

  • Ability to analyze complex issues involving variable factors and to exercise sound, independent judgment

  • Exceptional oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate strategic direction and evaluate messaging for varied audiences

  • Knowledge of strategic marketing, brand positioning and integrated communications, particularly as they relate to organizational reputation and competitive standing

  • Knowledge of market research, audience segmentation and targeting methods sufficient to identify priority audiences and inform marketing strategy

  • Skill in translating organizational goals into integrated marketing plans, campaign priorities and resource allocations

  • Ability to use research, data and marketing analytics to establish performance measures, evaluate effectiveness and guide strategic decisions

  • Knowledge of paid media, web, video, social media and digital trends and their application to marketing and communications efforts

  • Knowledge of creative production tools and digital platforms sufficient to set standards and evaluate work quality and effectiveness

  • Skill in project management, time management and prioritization across multiple units with concurrent deadlines

  • Skill in budget planning and management, including evaluating marketing investments and aligning expenditures with strategic priorities

  • Ability to direct vendors and agencies, including marketing strategy, market research, creative services, media buying and analytics partners

  • Ability to align editorial, creative and digital capacity with organizational priorities and resolve competing demands

  • Ability to lead organizational change and establish shared planning, accountability and collaboration across marketing and communications functions

  • Ability to develop and deliver training and professional development for managers and staff

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Master's degree in Marketing, Communications, Public Relations or a related field.

• Experience: Ten years of relevant, progressively responsible experience, including leadership of a multi-unit communications and marketing organization. Expertise in multiple marketing and communications specialty areas (design, writing, media relations, marketing and communications strategy). Experience in higher education, a government agency, or an engineering or science organization.

• Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

  • Knowledge of trends in public affairs, higher education and the technology sector

  • Knowledge of reputation marketing and competitive positioning for higher education, engineering, science or research-intensive organizations

  • Ability to translate complex research, technical information and institutional achievements into compelling value propositions for priority audiences

  • Ability to navigate complex organizational and external dynamics with political acumen

  • Ability to manage communications under pressure with rapid turnaround

  • Skill in building strategic relationships with academic and research leaders, industry decision-makers, journalists, thought leaders and other high-profile stakeholders

  • Knowledge of methods for assessing changes in brand awareness, audience perceptions and institutional reputation

Work Location

• Location: Knoxville, Tennessee (University of Tennessee, Knoxville campus)

• Onsite, Hybrid, or Remote: Hybrid in-office and remote schedule

• Work schedule: Occasional evening and weekend work and occasional overnight travel are required.

Compensation and Benefits

• UT market range: MR15

• Anticipated hiring range: $115k - $125k

• Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here

• Find more information on UT Benefits here

Application Instructions

To express interest, please submit an application with the noted below attachments:

• Resume

• Cover Letter

• Sample portfolio of your work. The portfolio could include PDFs, hyperlinks, and/or image files. When uploading images or work samples, please include clear labeling that includes your first and last name.

• Three professional references

About The College/Department/Division

The Tickle College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is the engineering college of Tennessee's flagship public research university. The college educates undergraduate and graduate students across a broad range of engineering disciplines and conducts research that addresses challenges in areas such as energy, advanced manufacturing, materials, computing and national security, supported by a close partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The college's Marketing and Communications (MARCOM) team, including the Office of Engineering Communications and departmental communications and marketing staff, shares the stories of TCE's students, faculty, research and impact with audiences across Tennessee, the nation and the world.