Director, Digital Marketing

Job Description:

The Director, Digital Marketing plays a pivotal leadership role within the Ohio State Athletics Marketing unit, overseeing the development, execution, and optimization of the department’s digital marketing strategy across owned and paid channels. Reporting to the Associate Athletics Director for Marketing & Live Events, this position serves as a key leader in shaping the department’s digital fan engagement ecosystem and aligning website, mobile app, email, texting, and digital advertising efforts with departmental brand, ticketing, and revenue objectives.

The Director leads the department’s email marketing strategy, website and app, texting platform, digital advertising planning, and digital communication calendar, ensuring that messaging is consistent, targeted, and audience-driven. This role is responsible for database growth, segmentation strategy, automation, personalization, segment health, and campaign development that supports ticket sales, attendance, fan retention, revenue growth, and new audience acquisition. The Director will work closely with Marketing, Creative Content, Digital Media, Communications, Ticketing, and other external-facing units to ensure coordinated and effective digital execution.

The Director oversees the strategy, user experience, and ongoing optimization of the athletics website and mobile app, ensuring accurate content updates, strong functionality, accessibility compliance, and alignment with brand standards. The position also serves as the central project manager for department digital initiatives, coordinating stakeholders, priorities, timelines, and platform enhancements across internal teams and external partners while managing relationships with digital vendors and platform providers.

The position maintains an in-depth understanding of fan behaviors, digital trends, and audience insights and applies those analytics to strengthen communication strategies and improve performance across all digital channels. The Director will establish reporting frameworks, dashboards, and key performance indicators; evaluate campaign effectiveness; and make data-informed recommendations related to content, segmentation, media spend, and user journey optimization. The role also helps ensure digital communications and platforms adhere to institutional standards, privacy expectations, and applicable accessibility and compliance requirements.

This position represents the department as a collaborative partner across internal and external units, supporting cross-functional projects aligned with institutional and departmental priorities. The Director is expected to demonstrate creativity, innovation, strong organizational leadership, and the ability to manage multiple high-visibility initiatives in a fast-paced environment. The role may supervise assigned staff, interns, or temporary team members and will help guide the long-term digital marketing direction of the department

Minimum Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. Advanced degree in relevant field may be desirable. 4 years of relevant experience required. 4-8 years of relevant experience preferred. Demonstrated experience developing and executing integrated digital campaigns across multiple platforms, along with strong written and verbal communication, project management, and analytical skills.

Desired Qualifications

Master’s degree in a related field. Experience working in collegiate athletics, higher education, sports, entertainment, or another fast-paced fan-facing environment. Familiarity with athletics-related digital, ticketing, CRM, and fan engagement platforms such as SIDEARM, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or comparable systems. Availability and willingness to work nights, weekends, and holidays as needed in support of athletics events and departmental priorities.

The university is an equal opportunity employer, including veterans and disability.