Director of Marketing and Communications

Director of Marketing and Communications

Department:  Marketing and Communications

Reports To:  Head of School

FLSA Status:  Exempt

Location:  Austin, Texas — Onsite

Position Summary

The Director of Marketing and Communications leads the strategy, execution, and measurement of all marketing and communications efforts for the International School of Texas (IST). This role is responsible for strengthening the IST brand, driving enrollment growth, supporting advancement priorities, and telling the school's story across the full JPK–12 experience. The Director partners closely with the Head of School, Admissions, Advancement, academic leadership, and the Board to translate IST's mission, academic excellence, IB programs, student outcomes, and community experience into compelling communications that build awareness, engagement, inquiry, enrollment, retention, and philanthropic support. The role owns the marketing plan and budget, manages external partners, and is accountable for measurable results.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategy & Planning. Develop and execute an annual marketing and communications plan aligned with IST enrollment, retention, advancement, and strategic goals. Establish clear priorities, budgets, timelines, and measurable success metrics.
• Brand Management. Serve as the steward of the IST brand and ensure consistent positioning, messaging, voice, and visual identity across all school communications and touchpoints. Clearly articulate what differentiates IST, including its International Baccalaureate continuum, academic rigor, global perspective, school community, and student experience.
• Enrollment Marketing. Build and optimize integrated campaigns that generate qualified prospective-family leads and support enrollment across JPK–12, with focused strategies for priority entry points and programs, including PYP, MYP, and DP. Partner with Admissions to improve the full funnel from awareness and inquiry through tour, application, enrollment, and retention.
• Content & Storytelling. Own the editorial calendar and content strategy across the website, email, social media, digital advertising, print, video, photography, and school collateral. Proactively tell the stories of IST students, faculty, alumni, academic outcomes, athletics, arts, service, leadership, and community life. 
• Lead and manage third-party agency partners, establishing clear objectives, deliverables, timelines, budgets, and performance expectations. Hold agency partners accountable for results and ensure their work is fully aligned with IST’s brand, enrollment priorities, and overall marketing strategy.
• External Communications & PR. Lead public relations, media outreach, press materials, community visibility, executive communications, and crisis communications. Build relationships with local media, community organizations, realtors, feeder schools, and other partners that can expand awareness of IST.
• Parent & Community Communications. Partner with school leadership to ensure timely, clear, and consistent communications to current families, faculty, staff, and the broader IST community. Support key school announcements, events, change communications, and reputation management.
• Analytics & Reporting. Build and maintain a marketing dashboard that tracks the metrics most important to enrollment growth and marketing effectiveness, including lead volume, cost per lead, inquiry-to-tour conversion, application conversion, cost per new student, website performance, campaign performance, and channel ROI. Regularly present insights and recommendations to the Head of School and Board.
• Advancement Partnership. Work closely with Advancement leadership to support the Annual Fund, major school events, sponsorships, donor communications, stewardship, and campaign storytelling. Ensure marketing and advancement efforts reinforce a consistent institutional narrative and support long-term school priorities.
• Events & Community Visibility. Develop marketing and communications support for open houses, admissions events, school showcases, community events, fundraising initiatives, and other moments that increase engagement and visibility for IST.
• Own and forecast the marketing budget; manage agencies, freelancers, vendors, and contracts; and collaborate closely with Admissions, Advancement, PYP/MYP/DP leaders, Operations, Finance, and parent/community leaders to ensure strong execution and shared accountability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Journalism, Education, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 7+ years of progressive marketing and communications experience, ideally including experience in independent schools, education, nonprofit organizations, or another mission-driven organization.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing integrated marketing strategies that produced measurable growth in leads, enrollment, engagement, fundraising, or comparable organizational outcomes.
• Strong command of digital marketing, paid media, social media, email marketing, CRM or admissions systems (ex. Veracross), Wordpress, and Google Analytics.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate academic programs and complex information into clear, compelling messages for prospective families, current families, donors, faculty, and community audiences.
• Proven ability to manage budgets, agencies, multiple stakeholders, and competing priorities while maintaining a high standard of execution.
• Highly analytical and comfortable using data to evaluate performance, identify opportunities, and make recommendations to school leadership and the Board.
• Experience with public relations, crisis communications, advancement communications, or independent-school marketing strongly preferred.

Core Competencies

• Strategic thinking with a strong bias toward execution and accountability
• Enrollment growth mindset and understanding of the prospective-family journey
• Exceptional storytelling, writing, and brand judgment
• Data-driven decision making and comfort with measurable KPIs
• Strong collaboration, influence, and executive presence
• Entrepreneurial mindset, adaptability, and ability to manage multiple priorities

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

Primarily an onsite school environment with occasional evening or weekend participation for school events, admissions programs, fundraising activities, or community engagements.