POSITION SUMMARY
The Director of Marketing & Communications is responsible for leading the strategic vision, messaging, and brand strategy of Orange Lutheran High School. This role transforms marketing from a support function into a key strategic partner—driving enrollment, strengthening stakeholder engagement, and enhancing the school’s reputation. The Director oversees the development and execution of comprehensive marketing, communications, and advertising strategies across all departments and programs. This ensures consistent, purposeful messaging and positioning of Orange Lutheran with both internal and external audiences. The role focuses on cohesive storytelling, brand consistency, and effective digital marketing. As Orange Lutheran continues to grow and compete in a dynamic educational landscape, this position plays a critical leadership role in evolving the marketing department into a future-focused strategic asset. The Director must balance hands-on execution with big-picture thinking, building scalable systems, refining messaging, and shaping the school’s long-term narrative. The ideal candidate is creative, proactive, and adaptable, with the ability to lead innovative marketing strategies, strengthen the school’s brand, and meet the evolving needs of various departments.
Reports to: Chief Financial Officer
Supervises: Creative Content Manager, Graphic Designer, Marketing Coordinator, Content Production Specialist, and Marketing Operations & Retail Coordinator
ESSENTIAL DUTIES
Strategic Leadership & Brand Management
- Develop and implement an integrated marketing and communications strategy aligned with institutional goals (enrollment, growth, engagement)
- Serve as the brand steward for Orange Lutheran, owning and enforcing visual identity, voice, and messaging across all platforms
- Lead the transformation of the Marketing & Communications department into a proactive, data-informed, creative force within the school
- Participate in key leadership meetings, including the Enrollment Management team
Cross-Department Collaboration & Internal Consulting
- Partner with departments (Admissions, Athletics, Academics, Development, Student Life) to co-create and align messaging strategies
- Provide strategic oversight and creative direction for marketing initiatives related to events, programs, and campaigns
- Facilitate long-term storytelling initiatives that showcase the transformational impact of Orange Lutheran
Digital Strategy & Communications Oversight
- Guide digital engagement, advertising, and web presence through Search Engine Optimization, content strategy, social media, and analytics
- Ensure that all marketing efforts support user engagement, traffic growth, and conversion goals
- Oversee production of the weekly Lancer newsletter, the blog calendar, and key video series such as “The Walk”
- Own and oversee Orange Lutheran’s website strategy, SEO performance, structure, and content direction, ensuring an engaging, brand-aligned, and conversion-focused user experience across platforms.
Content & Creative Supervision
- Oversee execution of content strategy, editorial planning, and creative assets across all platforms (digital, print, multimedia)
- Provide leadership and alignment across the marketing team, supervising specialists in content, design, social media, and project management
- Review and approve collateral including advertisements, newsletters, admissions materials, campaign assets, and press releases
Public Relations & Community Engagement
- Manage all media relations and storytelling opportunities, ensuring the school receives consistent, positive press coverage
- Serve as the spokesperson or communications contact for external media when needed
- Develop messaging for key leadership communications, crisis communications, and institutional updates
Measurement & Continuous Improvement
- Use data and insights to track campaign performance, stakeholder engagement, and communications effectiveness
- Lead continuous improvement of marketing systems, team structure, and project workflows
- Build scalable, sustainable marketing operations that evolve with the needs of the school
ADDITIONAL DUTIES
- All other duties as assigned
QUALIFICATIONS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The qualifications and competencies listed below represent the knowledge, skills, abilities, and physical demands required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.
Education
- BA/BS degree from an accredited college or university. Focus on marketing, advertising, or communications preferred
Experience
- A minimum of 10 years of experience successfully serving in marketing communications, public relations, or related communications functions, preferably in the non-profit or association sectors
- Must possess a broad and extensive knowledge of communication strategy and practice, including design and production of digital and print publications, media relations, social media, editorial decision-making, and crisis communication
LICENSES, CERTIFICATES, AND CLEARANCES
- Cleared Background/Fingerprint check
- Valid CPR and First Aid certifications
- Cleared TB assessment
- Completion of Ministry Safe Training
- Valid CA Driver's License
KEY COMPETENCIES
Knowledge
- Maximize marketing and communications in support of areas of focus
- Improve school-wide branding of Orange Lutheran, creating a singular voice, identity, and consistent messaging
Skills and Abilities
- Must be a strategic and detail-oriented, creative thinker and problem solver
- Ability to work independently, appropriate initiative, and generate new ideas.
- Dynamic and confident in his / her approach
- Can facilitate the workflow of projects, balancing multiple priorities seamlessly and simultaneously
- Must be experienced working in an environment with critical, overlapping projects with tight deadlines and budgets
- Works well in a collaborative team environment
- Creative, innovative graphic design skills are a must
- Outstanding writing skills and detailed knowledge of English grammar, spelling, and punctuation to compose proofread, and edit all materials and correspondence as needed
- Superior organizational skills and attention to detail
- Will work with a broad range of audiences so interpersonal, listening, and relationship-building skills must be outstanding
- Extensive knowledge and hands-on use of hardware and software programs such as Adobe
- Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator); all Google Suite Platforms, all Windows programs (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint), email programs (Mail Chimp), content management systems, Google Analytics, Social Media platforms, basic HTML knowledge,
- WordPress.
- Ability to work irregular hours, including nights and weekends that involve organizational events and meetings.
- BA/BS degree from an accredited college or university. Focus on marketing, advertising, or communications helpful.
- A minimum of two years of experience successfully serving in marketing communications, public relations, or related communications function, preferably in the non-profit or association sectors
- An active member of a local Christian congregation
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
- Exhibits the highest level of Christian integrity his/her life reflects Christ-like morals, behavior, attitude, and leadership
- Ability to articulate their Christian faith
- Foster a Christ-centered environment focused on Grateful Servanthood, Accountability, Compassion, and Collaboration in alignment with our Guiding Principles
- An active member of a Christian church; Missouri Synod preferred
- Supports the Mission and Statement of Faith of Orange Lutheran High School
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
The employee primarily performs sedentary work, sitting for extended periods and exerting up to ten pounds of force occasionally to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects
- The employee must occasionally stand or walk, reach with hands and arms; use hands to finger, handle or feel objects or controls, and infrequently squat, kneel, bend, and smell
- Talking and hearing are regularly required
- Driving to an off-campus location may be occasionally required
- Vision abilities include near and far visual acuity, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus
WORK ENVIRONMENT
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job
- The typical working environment takes place in a climate-controlled indoor school environment, with occasional exposure to an outdoor environment with variable climatic conditions
- Off-campus work may be performed in a variety of settings with varying work environments
- The typical noise level is moderate, but may occasionally be loud
The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of positions given this title and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position. Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through their hiring departments. Specific job-related duties assigned by hiring departments shall be consistent with the representative essential functions listed above and shall not be construed as expanding a particular position’s role, scope, and FLSA status, or grade.
