Communication Specialist - Career Development Center (3 Years Fixed-Term)

UAE Nationals are encouraged to apply

New York University Abu Dhabi seeks to appoint a Communication Specialist, reporting to the Associate Director, Strategy & Operations, Career Development Center.

 The Communications Specialist for the Career Development Center (CDC) at NYU Abu Dhabi will center all communication efforts around the CDC’s purpose: to empower every NYUAD student with access to career support, resources, and exploration opportunities to build their unique futures. With the multiplicity of audiences (current students, alumni, employers, faculty, government stakeholders, prospective students, etc.), the specialist is responsible for developing and executing effective communication and content strategies that shape the identity and reputation of the center, and drive awareness and visibility across various channels.

With an emphasis on cohesive and tailored storytelling, the Communications Specialist will amplify narratives, programs, initiatives, and outcomes of the CDC, engaging both the campus community and external stakeholders. He/She is responsible for planning and project managing the yearly stakeholder-facing and outcomes-focused campaigns including the story and data-driven Life Beyond Saadiyat report, developing compelling stories that support a wide definition of student success and communicating the significance and impact of the CDC’s work over the larger part of the academic year. They will ensure that the CDC’s work is clear for student, staff, faculty and external audiences by aligning key messages and updating content on the Student Portal, Intranet, public website, and social media.They will continuously seek to refine clarity of messages for various stakeholders, in collaboration with CDC staff members.

The communications materials he/she will craft and manage will be engaging, curated and strategic, supervised by the Associate Director of Strategy and Operations. Leveraging engagement data analytics to report and drive strategy and decision-making, the Communication Specialist will continuously look for ways to improve messaging and medium to drive marketing efforts. The Communications Specialist will manage assigned student assistants including briefing, guidance, regular check-ins and upskilling. He/She will maintain communications across all the center’s channels (public web pages, internal portals, social media accounts, email newsletters, etc.) and manage external supplier relationships, from planning to follow up on execution, quality check, and installation or delivery of finished content or products, e.g. print production, promotional items, photography/videography, etc.

As part of the Student Affairs division, the Communications Specialist will also support divisional communications efforts, inclusive of upskilling staff, facilitating inter-departmental collaborations, advising on brand alignment, as well as strategy. They will work divisionally to project manage the updating of content and streamline clear messages, assisting with visual report generation, and content curation for divisional resources.

Key Responsibilities:

Communications and Marketing (Content Creation):

• Develop and execute the CDC’s strategic omnichannel communications to establish the office with both internal and external stakeholders
• Develop consistent messaging and maintain a clear voice and content strategy
• Develop and maintain the CDC’s identity, presence, and content across channels (print and digital) including social media, public web pages, internal portals, email newsletters, handouts, guides, etc.
• Create and distribute high-value, tailored, and targeted content to engage different audiences for higher engagement on our channels
• Work with CDC staff to update digital and print content on a regular basis
• Maintain collaboration with the Office of External Relations to ensure brand consistency within the larger NYU institution
• Research and continue to align with best social media practices consistently
• Design sub-branding and maintain marketing collateral and content for the center’s events, programand campaigns in line with the yearly marketing plan including flyers, programming calendar, social media posts, etc.
• Manage and execute the content collection and creation of the student newsletter that is distributed biweekly
• Manage the production of branded promotional materials to distribute to different audiences
• Develop compelling stories that communicate the significance, impact, and value-add of the CDC idifferent formats
• Collect and analyze data insights to measure audience engagement and evaluate effectiveness of communication strategy
• Visualize data insights for end-of-year outcomes reports and key campaigns

Project Management:

• Build and execute responsive career-related communications campaigns to ensure key audiences are aware of future possibilities and inspired to action
• Project manage outcomes data storytelling with agility and persistence, including the noteworthy Life Beyond Saadiyat print and digital campaigns, as well as Internship Stories
• Work with team members to leverage communications to resolve challenges with various audiences
• Evaluate and maintain the diversity and inclusiveness of our story collection efforts in terms of outcomes (employment, grad school, gap year, fellowship etc.), as well as ethnic background, major, current industry, field of study, etc.
• Copyedit, review and edit marketing or other content
• Monitor engagement across digital channels on content created as part of the campaign
• Coordinate with other departments at the university, or external vendors, as needed
• Develop and build selective bilingual (English and Arabic) content for external audiences

Divisional Communications:

• Conduct communications needs assessment(s) to determine key communications needs
• Upskill students or professional staff as needed, building capacity for strong communications
• Curate and develop divisional or departmental content, ensuring clear and accurate messaging
• Contribute to divisional visual identity, reports, and other key priorities that involve a communication element
• Provide guidance and often times hands-on support on best communications practices, tried-and-tested approaches for other departments within the Student Affairs division
• Execute ad-hoc design projects for other departments within the division

Capacity Building and Vendor Management:

• Set up guiding documents and templates and provide guidance, clear and concise briefs on communications projects for student assistants
• Manage student assistants for communication projects, developing an atmosphere of support in navigating tools and software, and growth to develop assistants’ communications and essential visual design skills
• Draft RFPs and briefing documents for external vendors to maintain alignment
• Coordinate and oversee production and quality assurance of final deliverables from external vendors

Other duties as assigned:

• Contribute to other departmental, divisional, or institutional priorities as needed

Required Education:

• Bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, public relations, journalism, or a related field

Required Experience:

• 5+ years of experience in a similar field in an international and diverse environment
• Familiarity with a variety of communication channels (web, social media, etc.)
• Experience drafting content for online and print media for a variety of stakeholders
• Strong proficiency in the use of graphic design and media software (Adobe Creative Suite)
• Experience managing external vendors (printing press, suppliers, etc.)
• Track record on developing and implementing communication strategies and campaigns that have led to increase in engagement and brand awareness
• Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to work well under pressure, meet tight deadlines, and manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong interpersonal, collaboration and relationship-building skills
• Ability to work in a team in a dynamic and agile environment
• Ability to build consensus among team members and other stakeholders
• Excellent knowledge of social media platforms and best practices
• Ability to quickly and independently learn to use new software platforms
• Critical thinker and problem-solver
• Ability to work and think independently on how to best represent the office

Preferred Experience:

• Experience working in an international higher education setting, particularly in student affairs
• Drive for continuous learning to stay up-to-date with the latest communication trends and technologies (eg taking courses or attending conferences)
• Understanding of digital marketing and working knowledge of data-driven communication to help leverage online content effectively
• Experience with video content creation, including filming and editing (Adobe Premier)
• Knowledge of Tableau, HTML
• Experience in bilingual design
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in Arabic

This Position Description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee in this position. It does not limit the assignment of related duties not mentioned.

All employees are expected to carry out their responsibilities in a manner consistent with NYU and NYUAD’s values, principles, policies and strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging.

All employees are expected to demonstrate their awareness of and commitment by their actions to environmental health and safety measures.