Group Director of Marketing & Admissions

Orbital Education educates over 7,000 students from 125+ nationalities, preparing them for entry into leading universities worldwide.  

We seek to appoint a dynamic, driven, and entrepreneurial member of senior leadership to drive student acquisition internationally, engaging parents and children in their local school markets. The ideal candidate will align the marketing strategy with each school’s unique vision to drive local differentiation. They will also promote a frictionless admission process, to guarantee parent satisfaction and market-leading conversion level to ensure the school continues to grow and develop. 

This is a hybrid role, with at least one day per week based in the office outside of Manchester (southern near Manchester Airport).  

RESPONSIBILTIES

Strategy and planning

·      Contribute to overall Group strategy and development as a member of the senior executive leadership team.

·      Ensure each school’s marketing strategy and annual plans respond to local opportunity and are aligned with the Group marketing plans.

·      Systematically monitor, review, and appraise individual school marketing and admissions activity holding local leaders to account for results.

·      Research new territories and conduct market surveys of locations for market entry.

·      Assess opportunities, risks, and provide recommendations in support of Corporate Development activity.

Marketing and Enquiry Generation

·      Ensure schools drive growth in awareness, with a major focus on digital marketing, social media, and targeted advertising, to drive growth in traffic and enquiries.

·      Oversee the development of engaging websites, which deliver increased traffic and interest with strong content plans which engage audiences.

·      Ensure schools develop and nurture indirect channels with feeder schools, agents, the community, expatriates, local business, social and cultural groups.

Admissions Management and Development

·      Drive admissions activity for student recruitment across the Group to meet and exceed Group targets and KPI’s.

·      Review, improve and implement standardised operating procedures for admissions across the Group, to ensure consistency, effectiveness, and data integrity.

·      Measure and analyse all relevant aspects of the admissions funnel consistently across school sites to ensure data is accurately captured and analysed.

·      Ensure the delivery of a high-quality customer experience throughout the admissions and on-boarding process.

·      Implement proactive communications and engagement with families to support conversion.

Customer Experience

·      Lead Customer Experience across the group to deliver consistent improvement in NPS scores.

·      Ensure that parents and students are at the centre of decision making and advocate for change on their behalf.

Systems

·      Oversee and direct the work of the Group M&A Operations Manager in ensuring processes are developed to take full advantage of CRM and Admissions Portal implementation.

·      Work closely with the Group CTO and Head of IT Operations to ensure that technical improvements are delivered based on customer and user experience.

Management Information and Reporting

·      Report monthly to the Board on Group performance against KPI’s and targets.

·      Interpret and evaluate internal data and market intelligence to identify opportunities for improvement and development.

·      Brand Development and communications

·      Flex the Group brand to take account of the reputation, and local positioning of existing schools as well as new acquisitions and start-ups for the Group.

·      Lead the development of an integrated marketing communications strategy linking schools, Group, and other stakeholders covering internal and external audiences, thought leadership, PR, and campaigns.

Leadership

·      Define the skills, structures, and roles of local marketing and admissions teams. Support and oversee recruitment, selection and development of team members.

·      Work with school Principals and school-based Marketing and Admissions managers to set targets and incentives for local teams and evaluate performance.

·      Directly oversee the work of the Group M&A Operations manager to set targets and incentives, and evaluate performance

PROFILE

Successful applicants should have substantial experience of leading a successful strategic marketing function, with a track record of formulating and leading the delivery of high-quality services. Significant leadership and management experience at Director / senior executive level in multi-stakeholder organisations is a must, with experience in the international schools’ sector a distinct advantage.

Strong and specialist knowledge and extensive campaign experience across digital marketing media, social media marketing, content marketing, copywriting & communications management. Extensive CRM experience, familiar with multiple CRM packages and approaches. Able to critically examine and monitor customer interactions to realise continuous improvement.

You should have a proven record of successful financial management and business management, demonstrating strong commercial acumen, and ability to plan and manage substantial budgets which demonstrate ROI. This role requires a high degree of competence in senior level communication and project management – Able to successfully manage organisational change.

PROCESS

This appointment is being led by Spencer Group, our Executive Search partner. If you are interested in inquiring directly about this opportunity, please contact : James Lombardo, Sr. Consultant at james.lombardo@spencergroup.com.

Alternatively please apply direct via TES - Early applications are encouraged to avoid disappointment.

Orbital Education is an Equal Opportunities employer, recognising the value of a diverse workforce which includes people from all backgrounds. We take positive steps to create an employment culture in which people feel confident of being treated with fairness, dignity and tolerance irrespective of individual differences. This commitment extends beyond the relationship between and conduct of employees and potential employees, to the whole community. Our schools are committed to the elimination of unlawful discrimination and to the promotion of good relations between all.

We are also committed to safeguarding children and young people across our group. The successful applicant will be required to consent to an enhanced DBS (in the UK) or Criminal Records (Police Check) disclosure.