• Job Description

  Req#: JR17331
  Staff - Non Union

  Job Category

  M&P - AAPS

  Job Profile

  AAPS Salaried - Information Services, Level C

  Job Title

  Manager, UX and Content Strategy

  Department

  Recruitment and Marketing Support | International Student Initiative

  Compensation Range

  $7,400.83 - $11,540.42 CAD Monthly

  The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

  Posting End Date

  June 4, 2024

  Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

  Job End Date

  Jul 2, 2025

  12 Month Term Position: July 2, 2024- July 2, 2025

  At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

  Job Summary

  This position within the Recruitment Marketing and Prospective Student Engagement (RMPSE) unit plays a critical role in the leadership, oversight, and strategic direction of the Undergraduate Programs and Admissions websites and digital platforms, supporting UBC’s ability to attract and recruit prospective undergraduate students to all faculties and programs across both campuses. The Manager, UX and Content Strategy plays a strategic leadership role in the cross-functional RMPSE team, overseeing content development of team members, working with key business stakeholders from recruitment teams, faculties, and administrative units across the institution and with subject-matter experts across both campuses, and managing external vendor partnerships as needed.

  The position will meet strategic business, communications, and marketing goals by improving the delivery of content, functionality, and user experience, and by managing the team’s website content development and production. This position plays a pivotal role in prominently positioning UBC’s recruitment content within a crowded digital space. Leading the website content team, the position will create an unparalleled digital experience that will help prospective students make a decision about applying to UBC. This position will conceptualize and deliver effective content strategies, oversee the user journey across all touch points and interactions (public and logged-in), and shape content flows that engage domestic and international prospective students in positive interactions with UBC.

  This position is expected to bring best practices to the work, continually improve and optimize the user experience, develop strategies for segmentation and personalization, and manage and implement large-scale website projects. Through those efforts, this role will ensure website content is compelling, authentic, and engaging – and that it meets our users’ needs and aligns with audience research. The effectiveness of the websites’ content will increase awareness of UBC across Canada and around the world.

  
  Organizational Status

  This role reports to the Associate Director, Recruitment Marketing and Prospective Student Engagement, and collaborates with the Manager, Student Recruitment Technology. Together, these three roles consult with key internal stakeholders across the university – including the leadership of the International Student Initiative and the Registrar’s Office (Admissions and Enrolment Services units), and with communications colleagues and leaders in faculties across both campuses – for a clear understanding of UBC’s strategic enrolment goals and admissions policies in order to effectively get that institutional messaging in front of a global audience. This position has two direct reports: the Web Editor/Writer and the Marketing Automation and Campaign Specialist.
  
  Work Performed

  
  Use r experience and content development

  • Sets the direction, provides support, and empowers team members to create content for the website (both public and logged-in), and consider the mobile experience.

  • Provides leadership, management, and oversight throughout planning, creating, writing, reviewing, approving, designing, organizing, testing, editing, and curating website and CRM content.

  • Contributes to the CRM’s marketing automation and campaign strategy, ensuring a seamless user experience across our platforms. Oversees mass and segmented content for key constituents (students, parents/family members, counsellors).

  • Key to the role is leading the delivery of timely and relevant content to students throughout the recruitment lifecycle from prospect, applicant, to UBC student.

  • This position will lead the team’s usability research efforts, and will ensure audience mental models and personas are regularly validated and up to date.

  • Ensures website content is dynamic, up-to-date, and fresh, working closely with other content creators on the team and subject-matter experts across UBC.

  • Runs, monitors, and reviews the results of site analytics, usability testing, focus groups, surveys, user behaviour, and other data-gathering-and-research efforts. Synthesizes this information to report on and make recommendations for new content strategies and tactics, to find pain points in the user experience, and to iterate and improve the customer experience across touch points. Will share recommendations and build consensus among key stakeholder groups across both campuses.

  • Uses CRM data and user behaviour to learn more about prospective undergraduate students (and other constituent groups) to ensure that the content meets their needs, is delivered to their preferences, and supports UBC’s recruitment business goals.

  • Works with staff and stakeholders in teams across both campuses to nurture audience segments with targeted messaging in the CRM, and to build out user flows across recruitment websites and platforms.

  • Creates and maintains website editorial calendars, develops and maintains guidelines for publishing content, and ensures the websites and platforms meet University brand guidelines.

  • Carries out user acceptance testing on new features and functionality.

  • Manages staff, external consultants, and service providers who create content and who contribute to large-scale website projects.

  • Collaborates closely with the Manager, Student Recruitment Technology to report on communication across CRM touch points.

  Content strategy and consultation

  • In consultation with the Associate Director, develops a long-and-short term content strategy and UX objectives that align with institutional undergraduate recruitment priorities.

  • Provides advice and consultation to key stakeholders across recruitment teams, Enrolment Services teams, and communicators in faculties about website content and user experience for prospective undergraduate students.

  • Provides functional content strategy and UX leadership to undergraduate prospective student stakeholders and SMEs across both campuses, and to external consultants, as needed.

  • Works with recruitment teams and other key stakeholders across the university to ensure content efforts support UBC’s strategic undergraduate recruitment goals and targets, and move students through UBC’s student engagement model.

  • Represents the RMPSE team on relevant cross-functional committees, working groups, and task forces across both campuses, as needed.

  UX writing

  • Writes, edits, and reviews all microcopy and interface copy across all touch points in the undergraduate student website experience (both public and logged-in) to ensure a consistent, friendly, helpful, seamless experience for constituents, to increase engagement rates, and to help students complete crucial tasks.

  • Creates and maintains a style guide for interface copy/microcopy.

  • Ensures user-experience copy is consistent with the tone and voice established in other prospective undergraduate student channels – Undergraduate Programs and Admissions website, UBC Admissions Blog, CRM emails, social media channels, and other related channels.

  • Provides coaching, training, and best practices to teams and external consultants/vendors creating new interfaces and functionality.

  
  Consequence of Error/Judgement

  This position has a significant impact on how prospective students and their family members, high school counsellors, UBC faculties, the University community, and other stakeholders perceive UBC, its undergraduate programs, its admissions process, and the student experience. Given the wide distribution of the RMPSE team’s digital marketing and communications – across the country and around the world – inattention to detail, miscommunication, inappropriate or inaccurate statements, out-of-date or false information, and ineffective, inconsistent, or poor messaging could negatively affect the image and reputation of the University, and damage its ability to reach annual strategic enrolment and admissions targets.

  This position may require access to personal information and other information that may be confidential in nature. Failure to maintain the confidentiality and security of student, staff, and client information, or to use channels of communication that are not compliant with FIPPA requirements, could result in a privacy breach that would potentially cause significant harm to affected individuals and also constitute an offence under FIPPA, and may damage UBC’s institutional reputation.

  
  Supervision Received

  This position works autonomously under the general guidance and direction of the Associate Director, Recruitment Marketing and Prospective Student Engagement.
  
  Supervision Given

  Manages and directs the work of the Web Editor/Writer and the Marketing Automation and Campaign Specialist. Selects, supervises, and manages relationships with external vendors and/or suppliers hired for website projects. Liaises with UBC IT teams that support the CRM. May hire, train, supervise, and review performance of staff who create content for the website and the user experience.
  
  Minimum Qualifications

  
  Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., marketing, communications, English, publishing, journalism, etc.) and a minimum of six years of related marketing/communications experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
  
  - Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
  - Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion
  
  Preferred Qualifications

  • Proven experience and highly versatile writing and editing skills in digital experiences e.g., blogs, social media channels, websites, etc., technical writing, and UX writing, as well as demonstrated understanding of web writing and accessibility standards and best practices.

  • Ability to see big-picture opportunities and challenges while managing the finer details.

  • Experience building out and fully executing editorial, content, and digital strategies, and overseeing the tactics within cross-channel editorial calendars.

  • Experience coordinating large, complex website projects, including working with subject-matter experts SMEs across the university, key stakeholders in recruitment and advising, designers, developers, UX researchers, IT teams, and other contributors. Ability to plan and problem solve for these projects.

  • Demonstrated experience producing copy that is memorable, effective, and a delight to read.

  • Proven experience overseeing, supporting and/or managing the work of others.

  • Ability to adapt copy and content for different audiences, and clear understanding of website user needs.

  • Experienced and fully fluent in using content management systems, customer relationship management systems, and related tools.

  • Ability to ensure a seamless experience for users across platforms, channels, and touch points.

  • Demonstrated ability to understand web content and UX problems, create content-driven solutions, and implement those solutions. Demonstrated ability to apply strategic thinking to the content that is produced, written, edited, curated, and reviewed.

  • Demonstrated ability to interpret usability research and/or testing, and to present recommendations for improvement to the content in a digital experience.

  • Demonstrated sensitivity to cultural differences and possess an understanding of the importance of cross-cultural context in marketing and communication activities. International experience would be an asset.

  • Ability to work in a complex stakeholder environment and with a diverse range of stakeholders. Able to use tact and discretion when dealing with competing stakeholder priorities and interests, and be able to build consensus.

• About the company

  25306 The University of British Columbia is a public research university with campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna, British Columbia.

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