Who we are: Oxford International
At Oxford International we help students from across the world gain life-enhancing higher education, vocational and language education opportunities. With over 30 years of experience delivering excellence in education, our company has grown into a global force in international education, helping over 70,000 students every year further their learning.
With a strong heritage in higher education pathways and language provision, today we provide one of the widest ranges of educational services and programmes, unlocking international education opportunities for students and universities. Our educational portfolio is diverse and is centred around providing opportunity for international students to build academic qualifications, skills, and intercultural experiences. We deliver our products digitally, in face-to-face locations across the world, or hybrid mode. Our portfolio ranges from tests of English language proficiency, through to shorter industry specific courses, right through to year-long International Foundation programmes preparing students for progression to a full degree course at prestigious universities across the English-speaking world.
Job Purpose – Head of Marketing & Digital Campaigns
The Head of Marketing & Digital Campaigns is an exciting new position providing leadership and an integrated approach to the University Partnerships division marketing which includes marketing of our pathway colleges in the UK and US, as well as marketing for direct entry recruitment into our partner universities. Oxford International Education Group is a rapidly growing and disruptive company in international education, and the University Partnerships division is the largest within the group.
Working closely with the Director of Brand and Communications, Global Recruitment Team (GRT), the agent network, partner universities, College Directors and other marketing teams such as customer and performance marketing, you will develop and deliver multichannel campaigns across key markets to improve brand positioning, awareness, consideration and preference – as well as quality lead generation - to support ambitious targets for student recruitment. You will lead on innovative ways of positioning Oxford International as the best choice for students and agents, generating high quality, diverse and segmented leads and – together with the Admissions team - conversions.
You will lead the development and execution of marketing outputs, drive innovative new approaches, use the full marketing mix, work closely with colleagues in the wider marketing team to optimise performance and lead on engaging our core audiences of agents, GRT, prospective students and their influencers.
You will especially utilise your digital expertise to lead growth across Paid Performance, SEO, Digital PR, Social Media, Word of Mouth and Rich Media Marketing. Using your knowledge of influencers and creators and the different social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, WeChat) you will lead on organic and paid campaigns for our audiences.
In addition, you will work with key customer insights and internal stakeholders to deliver an exceptional and seamless student journey. You will support a positive applicant experience, conversions and global diversification to meet business objectives. Data and outcomes driven and customer centric, you will champion digital marketing for lead generation and conversion, seamless processes, transparent reporting, evaluation and return on investment.
The ideal candidate will be an experienced marketing leader, who can leverage their technical and creative skills to meet and exceed business objectives. You will have experience of developing compelling communications, building integrated campaigns across a full mix of channels with expertise in digital, as well as developing effective relationships both internally and externally. You will be a natural people leader, able to motivate and help grow your team members. You will be comfortable working with and improving processes and confident in delivering high-quality work in a challenging and fast-paced environment.
The role sits within the University Partnerships & Oxford Direct division and provides specific support to our sales team based across the world, partner universities/ institutions and UK/US pathway colleges and direct recruitment university partners.
Main duties and responsibilities
Leadership and Management
- Leading the Colleges marketing team, including events, campaigns, collateral, digital, content and student recruitment
- Effectively briefing, coordinating and leading cross-team project groups to deliver marketing activity to meet objectives and deliver optimal performance
- Provide training, guidance, coaching and development to colleagues on best approaches, sharing expertise and insight to support knowledge and skills development
- Inspire, motivate and encourage colleagues to deliver an excellent service
- Ensure budget is effectively utilised for greater ROI and negotiate competitive and flexible deals with suppliers
- Manage performance of the team including achieving targets through ongoing process improvement and the embedding of a culture of continuous improvement and high performance
- To develop and manage Marketing Executives to support activity, identifying resource required, developing processes and ensuring ongoing performance and efficiency
- Work with colleagues to provide an enhanced, joined-up service to applicants, students, staff and external stakeholders
- Being able to rally support and influence from colleagues is essential, as is effectively communicating your plans, channel performance and expectations to team members and agency partners.
Technical and Specialist
- Support the Brand and Communications Director in operationalising the annual marketing plan and deliver marketing activities
- Working with the Brand and Communications Director plan and prioritise the delivery of content to target audiences at the right time and through the most appropriate channels
- Deliver successful regional marketing plans in line with objectives and lead the Colleges marketing team to deliver against targets
- Lead on the annual design, development, print production and delivery of digital and sales toolkits for key partners within the University Partnerships & Oxford Direct division and other Oxford International brands as required. Ensure collateral, merchandise and toolkits are high-quality, on brand, adapted to specific audiences and outcomes focussed - incorporate and measure tracking metrics and enable meaningful digitalisation
- Lead on the UP consolidated social media plan and implementation – ensuring clear processes for collecting and curating relevant and inspiring content that reflects the vibrant learning community in our colleges, encourages participation and enhances positive word of mouth
- Support the management and implementation of a content hub, working closely with colleagues throughout the business – Marketing Executives, Social Media Executive, Senior Manager for Digital Products, Student experience/Enhancement Team and College Directors
- Develop and deliver integrated campaign to meet awareness, lead generation, consideration, conversion and preference targets
- Ensure that marketing plans are underpinned by knowledge/evidence base, drawing on market research, industry benchmarks, PowerBI and campaign performance data, working with colleagues in the business to use the data available systematically
- Analyse, understand and optimise customer journeys, and use data to inform, measure and refine marketing campaigns
- Develop and deliver innovative campaigns utilising the full marketing mix including print and digital (ATL and BLT), video, brand and sponsored content, affiliate, influencer/advocacy, events, direct, web and social
- Support a user-centric student journey experience, from awareness, consideration, conversion, pre arrival, enrolment, studies, graduation to alumni, leveraging digital channels and tools for a seamless experience
- Build and establish effective networks with key internal and external stakeholders and nurture relationships through structured engagement
- Establish accurate tracking to measure effectiveness of marketing activity against agreed metrics and KPIs
- Proactively monitor and evaluate success of marketing activity and campaigns, using data to drive future activity
- Support colleagues on campaign management and delivery.
Digital
- Lead digital marketing campaigns and manage production of engaging digital and social content for a range of channels
- Develop digital marketing strategies including reviewing existing and recommending new solutions. For example, improvements for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), email and social media campaigns, UX and UI.
- Understand influencers and creators and can manage our presence on Google, Bing, Baidu, social networks (TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, WeChat, Facebook, LinkedIn), and can build and own organic and paid campaigns for students, agents and influencers
- Keeping up with (SEO, PPC and Social Media) algorithmic changes, the impact these changes will have on the business and making recommendations to maximise positive impact
- Lead on Paid Media activity at the campaign management level, in full collaboration and alignment with Growth Marketing Director
- Work with the GRT to ensure our channels, bid strategies and targeting are leveraged to maximise revenue/value
- Confident in manual and automated bid strategies and being able to explain the what, the why and the how
- Significant experience of running large and complicated campaigns across paid and organic channels
- Experience of running A/B tests and creating an experimentation culture
- Experience of Digital PR.
Person specification
Statutory requirements:
- Eligibility to live and work in in the UK;
- Undergo an Enhanced DBS disclosure check or overseas equivalent.
Qualifications:
- Educated to degree level.
Essential Experience and knowledge:
- Significant experience of inspiring and leading high-performance teams
- Significant digital marketing experience with knowledge of digital marketing platforms, social media channels and emerging marketing trends
- Experience of developing and delivering marketing and student recruitment strategies
- Experience building an organisation’s profile, reputation and brand nationally and internationally
- Experience of planning and delivering strategic/brand marketing campaigns, alongside short-term activation campaigns, from concept to delivery
- Can understand and tailor activity to a wide variety of audiences, including B2C and B2B
- Experience of data analysis and utilisation of data-driven insights to optimise marketing, demonstrating impact and ROI
- Experience of appointing and managing external agencies for activity such as positioning, creative, media buying and channel management
- Appreciates importance of thought-leadership activities as part of an integrated approach to marketing
- Experience in setting, monitoring and reviewing budgets effectively and negotiating resources
Desirable Experience and Knowledge
- Knowledge of the education sector
- Experience of working in an international organisation
- Experience of tailoring approaches and plans across different global markets
- A professional marketing qualification such as CIM diploma, digital qualification or training
Essential Skills and abilities:
- Excellent leadership skills with the ability to motivate and guide a team towards achieving goals
- Strategic and innovative thinker and creative problem solver. Ability to deal with a complex and global portfolio
- Lead effectively across different cultures and through transformational change and innovation, engendering a spirit of collaboration
- Interpersonal, networking and stakeholder management skills with an ability to motivate, influence, persuade and negotiate across levels
- Exceptional project management and organisational skills, detail orientated and able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Essential Personal qualities
- A highly organised and committed approach to work
- An innovative, proactive, and dynamic attitude, willing to test, learn and fail in order to improve
- Flexible and able to adapt to changing priorities
- Committed to producing work of the highest standard and to deadline
- Tact, diplomacy, and the ability to deal with confidential and sensitive information
- Determination, resilience, and tenacity
- Willingness to travel across the UK and work at evenings/weekends as appropriate.
This job description is provided as a guide to the role. It is not intended to be an exhaustive description of duties and responsibilities and may be subject to periodic revision.
OIEG is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The post holder’s responsibilities for safeguarding the welfare of the young students in their care are to adhere to the OIEG Child Protection Policy. All OIEG employees are subject to enhanced DBS check.
