Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
San Mateo, California
Posted: 11-Nov-25
Location: Washington, D.C.
Internal Number: 119109-en_US 1
We are seeking an Assistant Dean of Communications & Marketing at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a senior leadership role responsible for creating, implementing, and assessing comprehensive external and internal communications and marketing strategies to advance the school’s mission. They will enhance the school’s visibility and reputation by effectively communicating its achievements; sharing the accomplishments and contributions of faculty, students, staff, alumni, institutes, and centers; highlighting the academic rigor and policy relevance of its academic programs and degree offerings; and showcasing the unique co-curricular opportunities at SAIS locations in Washington, DC, Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. The Assistant Dean will oversee the school’s communications and marketing teams, ensuring the quality and integrity of the SAIS brand across all media channels.
The Assistant Dean of Communications and Marketing will partner with the Dean, SAIS leadership, faculty, and senior university leaders to develop and implement forward-thinking communications strategies that further establish the school’s reputation as a global leader in foreign affairs research, teaching, and learning. The successful candidate will be a strategic thinker with a deep understanding of the complexities of both academic and foreign affairs communications and demonstrated experience navigating fast-paced media environments. They will have a deep understanding of SAIS’ key external constituencies-press, public officials and policymakers, and influential voices in international affairs-and demonstrated ability to tailor content and delivery to engage each group. They will also have a strong track record of leading multifaceted communications efforts, managing and mentoring multidisciplinary teams, and driving initiatives in brand awareness, enrollment and recruitment marketing, and influencer and stakeholder engagement campaigns.
Specific Duties & Responsibilities
Strategic Planning and Leadership
- Develops and oversees the department’s mission and goals to align with the school’s strategic plan and core values.
- Work with the Dean, the school’s leadership team, and university leadership to craft an overall strategic communications and marketing plan-identifying key audiences, priorities, and deliverables-that leverages the school’s unique global presence and advances its strategic priorities.
- Establish clear objectives for the communications and marketing program. Develop and track metrics to continually monitor progress towards goals, measure digital and media success, benchmark against peers, and respond to opportunities for improvement. Provide reports to leadership and stakeholders to demonstrate impact.
- Support school and university leadership in navigating the communications opportunities and risks; provide strategic and tactical guidance to anticipate challenges and protect and enhance the reputation of the school, its people, and its work.
- Build the communications and marketing infrastructure to support future growth, including investment in visual and website assets.
- Liaise with communications and marketing offices at Johns Hopkins University and identify opportunities for collaboration.
External Communications and Media Relations
- Lead the school's media engagement and digital communications to promote the work of the school and its faculty, associated centers, and programs across multiple channels to reach target audiences.
- Drive an active, forward-looking media relations strategy to elevate school leaders, faculty experts, centers, and institutes as thought-leaders on key issues driving the media and public conversation.
- Develop and deploy a robust, owned-media strategy to leverage social media, websites, video, podcasts, live events, and other channels
- Oversee crisis communication for the school, ensuring preparedness and effective response strategies and execution for internal and external audiences.
- Serve as a spokesperson for the school as needed and advise and prepare faculty and other experts for media and public appearances.
Internal Communications
- Develop and execute internal communication plans to engage faculty, staff, and students, utilizing appropriate tools and channels, ensuring consistent messaging, and alignment with strategic goals.
- Partner with school and university leadership to build, refine, and anticipate needs for internal messaging.
Marketing and Branding
- Lead efforts to market and promote the school’s academic programs, scholarship, events, and activities through coordinated marketing campaigns. As needed, hire and manage external agencies to support this work.
- Develop marketing campaigns and strategies to enhance awareness, reputation and position the school with prospective students, faculty, staff, and the broader public policy community.
- Oversee the development of the school’s brand and visual identity, in coordination with University Communications and key stakeholders, and manage the use of the brand and creation of branded materials within the established university brand guidelines.
- Plan and execute a brand audit and website update campaign that engages all members of the SAIS community.
- Monitor and provide Dean and Dean’s leadership team with regular updates on trends in higher education and the international relations and diplomacy landscape, including regular benchmarking to support strategy and decision-making.
Team Management
- Lead, coach, develop, and supervise the long-term development of the team.
- Develop, manage, and oversee communications budget, ensuring optimal allocation of resources for maximum impact.
- Hire and manage any outside contractors or vendors needed to support the communications and marketing program.
- Develop and implement strategies for continuous improvement and adaptation to new communication technologies and practices.
Collaboration and Partnerships
- Serve as the liaison to the communications offices at the University, other divisions, Johns Hopkins Medicine, governmental organizations, and other universities’ policy schools to identify and leverage opportunities for collaboration.
- Represent the school in university committees and professional functions, fostering partnerships and enhancing reputation.
Special Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities
- Hands-on experience engaging national and international media, public officials, policy influencers, and multilateral/diplomatic communities, with a track record of developing audience-specific strategies and narratives that deliver measurable results.
- Exemplary interpersonal skills and the ability to influence and build trusted relationships with senior-level internal and external stakeholders.
- Superior writing and editing skills
- Ability to prioritize well and manage multiple complex projects simultaneously and produce results under pressure.
- Strong and sophisticated understanding of the current debates in foreign affairs and implications for institutions of higher education.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree.
- At least 10 years of managerial-level, progressively responsible experience in leading full-service strategic communications and marketing programs.
- Additional education may substitute for required experience and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience developing and running comprehensive strategic communications programs that engage with international and foreign affairs media.
- Comfort achieving results in a highly collaborative environment incorporating stakeholders and decision-makers across multiple teams and departments.
- Capacity to build trust and influence at the executive level; experience providing advice and counsel to senior leaders.
- Demonstrated ability to leverage a robust network of journalists, media professionals, communications professionals, and foreign policy experts to advance the school’s visibility and outreach efforts.
- Strong media relations experience, comfort speaking on the record and working with reporters, and the ability to seek and build new relationships with high-level media contacts as needed.
- Comfort and familiarity with a wide range of media relations and marketing tools and tactics, and a track record of evaluating and incorporating new tools as they become available.
- Demonstrated ability to lead and manage a multidisciplinary team, oversee multiple projects, and work in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong leadership skills with a track record of leading high-performing communications and marketing teams in the field of foreign affairs.
- Experience hiring staff, developing teams, crafting and overseeing budgets, and managing contract resources or agencies for discrete projects.
- Previous professional experience in and/or content expertise in academic or government environments.
- Advanced degree in a relevant field.
Classified Title: Assistant Dean-MGM
Job Posting Title (Working Title): Assistant Dean of Communications & Marketing (SAIS, School of Advanced International Studies)
Role/Level/Range: ADMOFF/01/EX
Starting Salary Range: $165,000 - $180,000 Annually (Commensurate w/exp.)
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm
FLSA Status: Exempt
Location: Hybrid: On-site 3-4 days a week
Department name: 10000893-Marketing & Communications
Personnel area: SAIS
This salary range does not include all components of the SAIS compensation program. This position may be eligible for a discretionary retention and performance bonus, based on individual performance and the SAIS performance during the applicable fiscal year, as determined by the leadership at SAIS in their sole discretion. Therefore, the actual compensation paid to the selected candidate may vary slightly from the salary range stated herein.