Director of Growth Marketing - Penn Engineering Online
Description
University Overview
The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2023.
Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.
The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.
Posted Job Title
Director of Growth Marketing - Penn Engineering Online
Job Profile Title
Director A, Business and Finance, Communications and Marketing
Job Description Summary
The Office of Academic Innovation is expanding how Penn Engineering delivers world-class education beyond the traditional campus experience. Through Penn Engineering Online, the Office is building a portfolio of online graduate programs that bring Penn Engineering’s academic excellence to learners worldwide.
The Director of Growth Marketing, Penn Engineering Online, is a senior member of the Office of Academic Innovation’s Growth Marketing team and plays a key role in driving the continued growth of Penn Engineering Online. The Director translates established growth and enrollment priorities into integrated marketing programs, strong execution, and measurable results.
Working within the broader growth strategy established by the Office of Academic Innovation leadership, the Director manages growth marketing staff and coordinates the day-to-day marketing activities that bring that strategy to life. The role works across acquisition, lifecycle marketing, digital experience, content, SEO/GEO, analytics, and conversion optimization to create a cohesive prospective student journey and continually improve marketing and enrollment performance.
The Director coordinates day-to-day work with agency and vendor partners, monitors performance across the enrollment funnel, and uses data, experimentation, and emerging technologies to improve marketing effectiveness.
The Director works closely with Penn Engineering Online admissions and enrollment teams, academic and program leaders, Penn Engineering Marketing & Communications, and other University partners to support continued growth across the Penn Engineering Online portfolio.
Job Description
Job Responsibilities
Growth Marketing Planning & Performance
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Translate established enrollment and growth priorities into integrated marketing plans, campaign calendars, channel strategies, and performance targets.
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Develop and manage growth marketing plans across Penn Engineering Online programs.
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Monitor market demand, prospective student behavior, competitive activity, enrollment pacing, and marketing performance to identify opportunities, risks, and needed adjustments.
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Partner with admissions, academic programs, finance, and other stakeholders to align marketing activities with program goals and enrollment forecasts.
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Support go-to-market planning for new online programs and offerings, including audience strategy, positioning, launch planning, and measurement.
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Provide leadership with clear insights and recommendations based on marketing and enrollment performance.
Integrated Acquisition & Enrollment Marketing
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Coordinate integrated marketing execution across paid media, lifecycle communications, CRM, content, web, SEO/GEO, and other acquisition and engagement channels.
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Manage day-to-day paid media and demand generation activities, including agency coordination, audience strategy, testing, optimization, pacing, and budget management within established priorities.
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Ensure campaigns and communications work together across the prospective student journey, from initial awareness through application and enrollment.
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Partner closely with admissions and enrollment teams to strengthen lead nurturing, applicant engagement, conversion, and yield.
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Drive ongoing testing of audiences, creative, messaging, channels, landing experiences, and communications to improve marketing efficiency and enrollment outcomes.
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Ensure growth marketing activities align with Penn and Penn Engineering brand standards.
Analytics, Digital Experience & Innovation
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Monitor performance across traffic, inquiries, applications, enrollments, conversion rates, acquisition costs, and marketing return.
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Maintain dashboards and reporting that provide leadership and key stakeholders with clear visibility into funnel health, campaign performance, enrollment pacing, and marketing efficiency.
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Use performance data and prospective student insights to identify friction, drop-off, and opportunities to improve the digital experience and enrollment journey.
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Guide ongoing optimization of program discovery, landing pages, conversion paths, lead capture, and application handoffs.
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Support segmentation, personalization, automation, and testing across CRM and marketing technology platforms.
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Identify and test practical applications of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies that can improve marketing effectiveness, personalization, search and discovery, team efficiency, and prospective student engagement.
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Translate successful experiments and insights into repeatable marketing practices.
Team, Agency & Resource Management
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Manage, coach, and develop growth marketing staff, establishing clear priorities, expectations, operating rhythms, and accountability.
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Coordinate work across internal staff, consultants, agencies, vendors, and cross-functional partners to ensure high-quality and timely execution.
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Create effective workflows that connect acquisition, lifecycle marketing, digital experience, content, analytics, and campaign execution.
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Coordinate day-to-day agency and vendor relationships, scopes of work, budgets, and deliverables within established priorities and approved parameters.
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Monitor partner performance and ensure internal teams and external partners meet agreed-upon expectations and deliverables.
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Foster a team culture centered on collaboration, responsiveness, experimentation, transparency, continuous improvement, and shared accountability.
Innovation Emphasis
As part of the Office of Academic Innovation, the Director helps build modern, scalable growth marketing capabilities for Penn Engineering Online. The role brings together data, experimentation, emerging technology, and learner-centered marketing to improve how Penn Engineering reaches and engages prospective students.
The Director is expected to stay current on evolving approaches to performance marketing, artificial intelligence, personalization, search and discovery, automation, digital experience, and enrollment marketing, and to identify opportunities to thoughtfully test and apply new approaches within Penn Engineering Online.
Qualifications
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Bachelor's degree and three to five years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
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Demonstrated success in growth, performance, digital, or enrollment market