Digital Communications Manager

The Shepherd School of Music, one of the nation’s leading music schools, is seeking a Digital Communications Manager to raise awareness of its students and distinguished alumni, faculty members, performance activities, programs, and enrollment efforts.

The Digital Communications Manager serves as the primary staff member responsible for planning, producing, publishing, and measuring the performance of content on social media platforms, the website, and through email communications. The position tracks metrics, identifies trends, recommends responses, and devises digital communications strategies to address assigned topics. The Digital Communications Manager collaborates with constituents of the Shepherd School to ensure that the school’s stories and priorities are reflected across its digital channels.

The ideal candidate for the Digital Communications Manager at the Shepherd School of Music is a creative, organized, and motivated self-starter who thrives in a collaborative environment. They are passionate about celebrating the achievements of students, faculty, and alumni at one of the nation’s premier music schools. With strong experience in digital communications, the candidate excels at producing, publishing, and analyzing content across social media, websites, and email platforms. They are adept at crafting engaging and compelling digital content that raises awareness of the school’s performances, programs, and enrollment efforts.

Special Instructions to Applicants: All interested applicants should attach a cover letter and a resume or curriculum vitae with application materials to the Supporting Documents section of the application. We suggest the documents be in a PDF format to avoid formatting issues.

Workplace Requirements

This position is primarily in an in-person work environment. Ability to work flexible hours with some night and weekend hours at performances and events. Per Rice policy 440 , work arrangements may be subject to change.

Hiring Range

This is a full-time, benefits-eligible position, with a proposed salary range of $65,000 to $70,000 annually , depending on qualifications and experience. Exempt (salaried) positions under FLSA are not eligible for overtime.

Minimum Requirements

- Bachelor’s Degree In lieu of the education requirement, additional related experience above and beyond what is required may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis.

- 2+ years of professional experience on a marketing or communications team working with social media content, email communications, design, and web. In lieu of the experience requirement, additional related education, above and beyond what is required, may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis.

Skills:

- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Organized, creative, and able to take direction and work to meet expected deadlines and schedules.
- Proven knowledge of social media/digital platforms, including current and future trends.
- Proven experience updating website information using a content management system (CMS).
- Proven experience in designing and deploying public-facing email communications.
- Demonstrated team player.

Preferences

- 3 – 4 years of professional experience on a marketing or communications team working with social media content, email communications, design, and web.
- Bachelor's degree or higher in English, journalism, marketing, or related communication fields.
- Experience in a performing arts environment is preferred.
- Experience with digital media creation, analytics, and data tracking is a plus.

Essential Functions

- Develops integrated digital communication plans with the Senior Director of Marketing & Communications, and participates in school- and university-wide cross-functional initiatives to promote the Shepherd School as a consistently top-ranked school of music.
- Builds, tests, and deploys Shepherd School patron-facing emails related to marketing, communications, and ticketing.
- Updates the Shepherd School’s website content, including faculty bios, department pages, news items, and more. Ensures all content meets WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility guidelines, optimizes page structures and metadata for both traditional SEO and generative AI discovery, and safeguards visual and tonal brand alignment across all digital touchpoints.
- Serves as the primary staff member responsible for establishing, developing, monitoring, and maintaining the Shepherd School of Music’s social media presence. Generates copy and graphics for posts, and executes deployment. Monitors trends to inform content generation. Provides customer service to followers across all platforms.
- Curates dynamic content, including photography and video, for the Shepherd School’s website and social media channels. Designs and develops graphics for digital communications. Writes short news articles to showcase on the Shepherd School website.
- Collaborates with students, faculty, and staff to tell the stories of the Shepherd School, creating processes to gather and share information in a timely manner.
- Compiles data, analyzes, and reports on website, social media, and email efforts to measure their effectiveness.
- Performs other duties as assigned.

Additional Functions

- Promotes Shepherd School events by creating and updating listings on the Rice University events calendar and other Houston online calendars.
- Coordinates and executes cross-promotional marketing and communications efforts with other Rice schools/departments and community partners.
- Coordinates with Rice Public Affairs and external vendors as needed on photography, videography, and communications efforts.
- Assists with the execution of paid marketing plans.
- Supports the marketing, communications, and ticketing team at Shepherd School performances, including box office operations and photography duty.

Rice University HR | Benefits: https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits

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Rice University is committed to ensuring Equal Employment Opportunity and welcoming the fullness of diversity into our candidate pools. Rice considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status. Rice also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities. If an applicant requires a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, please contact Rice University’s Human Resources Office via email at [email protected] for support.

If you have any additional questions, please email us at [email protected] . Thank you for your interest in employment with Rice University.