Communications and Marketing Manager

Job Description: Communications and Marketing Manager

Direct Supervisor:   Director of Finance or designee

School Summary:

At Crossroads Charter Schools, we…

• Understand the significant difference between equity and equality. Every student deserves to receive what he/she needs to succeed (equity), not that every student receives the same amount of resources, instruction, attention, etc. (equality).
• Develop school environments where all students are actively and meaningfully engaged in rigorous instruction and authentic learning tasks.
• Interrupt the “school to prison pipeline” – policies and practices that are directly and indirectly pushing the most at risk students out of school and on a pathway to the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
• Engage families as partners in meaningful ways.
• Build the capacity of diverse teams that are more reflective of our students.
• Nurture an open, collaborative, and trusting environment because the work is enormous, deeply personal, emotional and often difficult. 
• Engage in on-going job embedded professional development through co-teaching and co-planning

Position Summary:

Create awareness of Crossroads internally and externally among the broader Kansas City community; promoting the district to increase awareness and support the cultivation of interest of donors, volunteers, and prospective employees and families.  The position leads the development and execution of a comprehensive marketing and communication strategy and is pivotal in enhancing the school’s reputation, increasing student enrollment, and promoting the school’s mission. Additional responsibilities include, inviting investment in Crossroads through time, talents, and treasure and keeping abreast of the educational landscape in Kansas City and how Crossroads is impacted or impacts the system. This position is responsible for all marketing and communications activities focused on promoting Crossroads’ brand and core. The manager is responsible for increasing the visibility of the district’s priorities by using strategic moments for media outreach, launching publications and revamping the website whenever appropriate.  

The position leads our family recruitment and enrollment efforts and supervises a team of two- the Community Engagement Coordinator and Enrollment Coordinator. 

The position works closely with the Development Manager, who serves as the district’s primary fundraiser, to secure funds cultivated and solicited primarily from the Kansas City philanthropic community. 

The position provides information about emergencies and crisis prevention and recovery to members of the media and to the general public through the district’s external website and in the form of general publications and reports. 

Position Responsibilities:

Development of Brand Strategy

• Lead development and implementation of organization-wide brand strategy, in close partnership with the executive leadership team, to build the brand among target audiences.
• Lead and manage internal and external communications to all stakeholders (students, staff, faculty, and community partners), including print, web, and social media activities.
• Elevate the Crossroads brand, as well as the marketing function, through thought leadership, both internally and externally.
• Increase brand awareness, relevance and loyalty and ensure cohesion across the central office and schools through strategic brand framework and compelling storytelling.

Core Functional Work

• Strong data and analytics focus to understand target audience insights, drivers of choice, and effectiveness and efficiency of marketing activities, in order to provide ongoing updates on brand health for key partners.
• Harness the power of Crossroads Schools brand and enable consistency across owned, paid, earned, influence and social media channels.
• Deploy strategy for owned media – website/intranet, social media, schools’ physical environments (e.g., signage, environments).
• Lead all aspects of content and deployment of communications hierarchy on Crossroads’ websites and on internal employee communications platforms.

Support Organizational Growth/Priorities

• Get results through multi-channel, performance marketing strategy and support connectivity across broader organization-wide initiatives:
• Improve the enrollment journey through deployment of impactful marketing campaigns, messaging and materials.
• Partner with the Director of Human Resources to develop and communicate an Employee Value Proposition to current employees and via recruitment marketing for prospective candidates.
• Support engagement initiatives with donors and board of directors.
• Support the grant writing and management process.
• Demonstrate ownership mentality by collaborating across the organization on strategic priorities and recommending marketing & communications solutions based on a combination of data and standard methodologies.

Leadership and Team Management

• Supervise the Community Engagement Coordinator and Enrollment Coordinator to drive the team's value and impact in support of the district's goals.
• Lead the enrollment process from engagement through confirmed enrollment.
• Develop and implement a community engagement plan for prospective and current families.
• Collaborate with the Development Manager to implement an alumni engagement plan.
• Collaborate with the Human Resources Director to implement a talent recruitment and retention plan.
• Nurture engagement and collaboration to understand the effect of brand and marketing on our various stakeholders. 
• Lead marketing’s data and decision-making ecosystem to ensure strong tracking, performance and reporting metrics.
• Lead and model a strong project management mentality, structure and process for marketing and network partners to drive impact and results.

• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned by their supervisor. 

Skills and Qualifications:

• BA/BS Degree in communications, marketing, economics, development, journalism or related fields preferred
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in marketing and communications; development, and/or education preferred
• Experience in the areas of crisis prevention and recovery is an asset;
• Demonstrated success in the areas of external affairs/communications/public relations/education and development;
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills and an ability to keep multiple stakeholder groups, including parents, teachers, staff, volunteers and partners, informed of critical issues, activities and schedules.  
• Excellent teamwork skills and an ability to collaborate closely in a multicultural team environment with colleagues and partners to identify challenges and to design and implement solutions.
• Display maturity, flexibility, comfort with ambiguity and a sense of optimism/can-do attitude.
• Participate in meetings, training and professional development.
• Assist in coordinating staff events throughout the year.
• Meet professional obligations through efficient work habits such as: meeting deadlines, honoring schedules, coordinating, etc.
• Meticulous attention to detail and passion for well-run processes.
• Flexibility to work some evenings and weekends.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring and working with volunteers, faculty, and staff.
• Desire to continue professional development
• Excellent organization skills and an ability to coordinate multiple tasks and activities
• An ability and enthusiasm for promoting the school and its mission to a broad and diverse group of people.
• Excellent work ethic, positive attitude, flexibility and willingness to perform tasks assigned
• Demonstrates ethical behavior and confidentiality of information about students and teachers in school environment and community.
• Must pass an extensive background check.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

This job requires that the employee be able to: sit, stand, walk, speak, hear, use hands, fingers, reach with hands and fingers; bend, stoop, kneel and crouch and lift objects of at least 25 pounds.  Visual ability requires mono and color vision, close vision, distance vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus. 

WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.  The noise level in the work environment is usually loud and is a standard acceptable level for this environment. Is directly responsible for students’ safety, work output and well-being.

All applicants must apply on the Crossroads website at:  http://www.crossroadsschoolskc.org/careers