With Who: Stanford University Athletics
Location: Stanford, CA
Type of Employment: Full-Time
Position Description: Stanford’s Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (“DAPER”) is the premier intercollegiate athletics program in the country. We are the proud Home of Champions! We lead the nation with 126 NCAA championship titles, completed an unprecedented sweep of both the men’s and women’s Capital One Cups, and have brought home the Learfield Director’s Cup for 25 straight years. We support nearly 900 varsity student-athletes who compete on 36 intercollegiate athletics teams, as well as the University’s physical education and recreation initiatives. Our dedicated coaches and staff members are guided by the core tenets of the Athletics Department culture, “The DAPER Way,” which are: Embrace Scholar-Athleticism, Pursue and Revere Excellence, Lead with Courage and Work Cohesively.
Are you ready to inspire champions in life? If yes, then this may be the right opportunity for you!
Reporting to the Executive Associate Athletics Director overseeing External Relations (“ER”), the Associate Athletics Director, Communications & Digital Media will oversee a dynamic team of content creation, public relations, and digital strategy professionals whose ultimate charge is to inspire people around the world to value the simultaneous pursuit of excellence in both athletics and academics. The team pursues this lofty goal by identifying, telling, and amplifying the powerful and inspirational stories of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff members, as well as highlighting their achievements in the classrooms and laboratories, in athletics, and in their lives beyond The Farm.
Responsibilities:
- Managing a team of 14 full-time communications, public relations, content creation, and digital media professionals
- Setting the strategic direction for and overseeing the operation of the official Athletics website, the main Athletics social media accounts, the main Athletics YouTube channel, all varsity team social media accounts, and other external-facing news and content channels managed by DAPER
- Refining, reinforcing, and advancing DAPER’s key messages and initiatives through all relevant content formats
- Ensuring that DAPER’s communications and digital media strategies and tactics adhere to, and even advance, relevant industry trends and best practices
- Ensuring compliance with relevant University, DAPER, and ER policies and best practices pertaining to communications, editorial content, press releases, media relations, digital media, use of name and marks, copyright, and other related areas
- Overseeing all aspects of DAPER’s media relations function, including managing inbound media inquiries and proactively building and tapping into national and local media relationships
- Coordinating DAPER’s approach to maintaining non-media influencer relationships, including with current and former student-athletes, current and former coaches and administrators, and other interested parties
- Overseeing and managing strategic vendor relationships, including with respect to the website, mobile app, social media, asset storage and management, photography, music, and others
- Overseeing the content-related aspects of the Stanford Home of Champions, an interactive museum that chronicles and celebrates the history of Stanford Athletics
- Cooperating closely with the university’s communications office to ensure consistent and complementary strategic plans with overall university outreach and communications
- Serving as DAPER’s primary point of contact with the Pac-12 Networks and the Pac-12 Conference Public Affairs & Communications office
- Serving as the primary escalation point for content-related inquiries and requests from student-athletes, alumni, coaches, and staff members
- Assisting the Executive Associate Athletics Director with special DAPER and University communications projects and issues
- Assisting the DAPER Executive Team with internal communications projects and initiatives
- Collaborating with the Executive Associate Athletics Director overseeing ER and the other Associate Athletics Directors within ER to set and manage the strategic and cultural direction for all of ER
- Identifying revenue-generating and attendance-driving opportunities in the digital media space and collaboratively pursuing them with the appropriate groups (e.g., Marketing, Corporate Partnerships, Ticket Office)
- Assisting with the development and implementation of recruiting strategies and asset-creation processes that support recruiting efforts across all varsity sports
- Collaborating with relevant stakeholders to set and manage the strategic and creative direction of our live video streaming function for non-televised home competitions
- Overseeing day-to-day management of on-air talent for radio broadcasts, live audio and video streams, and other forms of content requiring the use of on-air talent
To be successful in this role, you will bring:
- Bachelor’s degree and eight years of relevant experience, or combination of education and relevant experience
- Demonstrated leadership, supervisory, planning, and change management skills
- Ability to motivate, develop, and train staff
- Excellent oral and written communication skills and presence at all levels and for all audiences
- Ability to influence people, solve problems, troubleshoot, think creatively, and resolve conflicts
- Ability to strike the right balance between managing, coaching, rolling up your sleeves, and leading by example
- Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills
- Demonstrated editorial and storytelling skills
- Capacity to write and synthesize complex materials and communicate highly technical information in a manner easily understood by a broad audience
- Strategic expertise in the media relations field
- Strategic expertise and vision in the digital media landscape
- Understanding of brand management principles
- Understanding of the complexities of media and television environments surrounding a vibrant Division I athletic program or professional sports organization
- Demonstrated passion for intercollegiate athletics
- Willingness to work nights and weekends occasionally
Apply (or request more information): See the job posting, or request more information, on the Stanford University Careers site.
