Digital Marketing Manager

Digital Marketing Manager

Office of Marketing Communications | Brandeis University

Turn data into impact. Shape how the world discovers Brandeis.

Brandeis University is seeking a highly skilled, digitally savvy Digital Marketing Manager to lead the strategy, execution, and continuous optimization of paid digital advertising campaigns that advance the University's enrollment, engagement, and institutional priorities.

This is an exciting opportunity for a hands-on digital marketing professional who knows how to make advertising dollars work harder. You will take the lead in developing and managing campaigns across Google Ads, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), LinkedIn, and emerging digital platforms—with a particular emphasis on sophisticated paid search strategy, keyword bidding, campaign performance, and measurable results.

You will do more than launch campaigns. You will build strategy, manage budgets, monitor performance, uncover opportunities, test new approaches, and translate data into recommendations that influence where the University invests its advertising resources. Working closely with Marketing Communications and Enrollment Management, you will help connect prospective students and other audiences with the programs, experiences, and opportunities that make Brandeis distinctive.

We are looking for someone who is equally comfortable inside Google Ads managing a complex campaign and in a meeting with senior stakeholders explaining performance, recommending investments, and making the case for what should happen next.

If you are curious, analytical, technically strong, and energized by the opportunity to shape a growing in-house digital advertising function, we would love to hear from you.

What You will Do:

Lead Digital Advertising Strategy and Campaign Performance (85%)

You will own the day-to-day management and optimization of paid digital campaigns, bringing together technical expertise, strategic thinking, and a relentless focus on performance.

• Develop and execute campaign strategies: Plan, build, launch, manage, and optimize paid advertising campaigns across Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, and other relevant digital platforms to support enrollment, recruitment, engagement, and institutional goals.
• Own Google Ads performance: Lead paid search strategy, including campaign structure, keyword research, keyword bidding, audience targeting, budget allocation, and ongoing optimization. Monitor campaigns regularly, identify opportunities and performance issues, and make timely adjustments to improve results.
• Turn analytics into action: Analyze campaign performance, identify trends and opportunities, and make data-informed recommendations to improve reach, engagement, conversions, and return on advertising investment.
• Manage budgets strategically: Develop and manage campaign budgets, evaluate spending and bidding strategies, and make recommendations to ensure advertising investments are aligned with institutional priorities and deliver measurable value.
• Build effective audience and keyword strategies: Conduct keyword research, audience segmentation, and competitive analysis to reach the right audiences with relevant messaging at the right time.
• Test, learn, and optimize: Design and implement A/B tests across ad copy, creative, audiences, landing pages, and campaign formats. Use results to continuously refine performance.
• Strengthen conversion measurement: Set up and maintain conversion tracking using tools such as Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and platform-specific pixels to ensure campaigns are accurately measured.
• Collaborate on compelling creative and content: Partner with Marketing Communications colleagues to develop effective ad copy, visuals, and campaign assets tailored to each platform and audience.
• Optimize the path to conversion: Work with internal partners to improve landing pages, requests for information (RFIs), and other key entry points to create a more effective prospective student experience.
• Explore what is next: Stay ahead of changes in digital advertising, including new Google Ads capabilities, AI-driven campaign tools, conversational and AI-powered advertising formats, and emerging platforms. Evaluate new opportunities and recommend practical ways to incorporate them into Brandeis's strategy.
• Measure and communicate results: Develop and maintain performance dashboards and reporting that give the Director of Marketing and Enrollment Management colleagues clear visibility into campaign performance, key metrics, spending, and opportunities for improvement.

Build Partnerships and Guide External Vendors (15%)

• Manage relationships with external digital advertising agencies and vendors, including campaign expectations, budgets, deliverables, timelines, and performance.
• Evaluate vendor strategies and results, identify opportunities for improvement, and make recommendations to ensure external campaigns complement and strengthen in-house efforts.
• Build strong working relationships with Enrollment Management, Marketing Communications, and other University partners.
• Present campaign insights and strategic recommendations to colleagues and senior stakeholders, helping them understand the value of digital advertising and make informed decisions about investment and priorities.

What You Will Bring

We are looking for a digital advertising professional with strong technical expertise, sound analytical judgment, and the confidence to turn campaign data into meaningful recommendations.

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, communications, or a related field.
• Five to eight years of hands-on experience managing and optimizing paid digital advertising campaigns, with demonstrated expertise in Google Ads and paid search advertising.
• Strong working knowledge of Google Ads campaign development and management, including keyword research, pay-per-click (PPC) bidding strategies, campaign structure, budget management, conversion tracking, and performance optimization.
• Experience managing paid social campaigns, particularly through Meta Ads Manager (Facebook and Instagram).
• Demonstrated ability to analyze campaign data, identify performance trends, and make strategic recommendations based on results.
• Experience with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Tag Manager, and reporting and dashboard tools such as Google Looker Studio.
• Knowledge of A/B testing, audience segmentation, landing page optimization, and conversion measurement.
• Strong written, verbal, analytical, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts and campaign performance to non-technical audiences.
• Ability to manage multiple campaigns and priorities while maintaining attention to detail and meeting deadlines.

Preferred qualifications:

• Google Ads Certification.
• Experience with LinkedIn Campaign Manager, TikTok advertising, and other emerging digital advertising platforms.
• Experience with marketing automation, CRM platforms, and higher education enrollment marketing.
• Experience managing external advertising agencies, vendors, and campaign budgets.
• Interest in and familiarity with emerging AI-powered advertising tools and technologies.

Why Brandeis?

At Brandeis, you will have the opportunity to bring your digital advertising expertise to a mission-driven university with a distinctive academic identity and a diverse, intellectually engaged community.

You will work alongside talented Marketing Communications colleagues and collaborate directly with Enrollment Management to help shape how prospective students discover and engage with Brandeis. This role offers the opportunity to make a visible impact, influence strategic investment decisions, strengthen in-house advertising capabilities, and explore the next generation of digital marketing.

You will report to the Director of Marketing and work closely with a fellow Digital Marketing Manager as part of a collaborative, forward-thinking team.

Bring your technical expertise, curiosity, and ideas. Help us make every advertising investment count.

Application Instructions

To be fully considered, please upload your resume and cover letter as part of your application.

The maximum budget for the position is $100k.

Pay Range Disclosure

The University's pay ranges represent a good faith estimate of what Brandeis reasonably expects to pay for a position at the time of posting. The pay offered to a selected candidate during hiring will be based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience and education/training, internal peer equity, and applicable legal requirements.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Brandeis University is an equal opportunity employer which does not discriminate against any applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, ancestry, religious creed, gender identity and expression, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, genetic information, disability, caste, military or veteran status or any other category protected by law (also known as membership in a "protected class").