Associate Director, Financial Aid Communications (Student Financial Support)

About the role

The Office of Student Financial Support (SFS) is seeking an exceptional individual to serve as Associate Director, Financial Aid Communications. Reporting to the Senior Director for Financial Aid & Scholarships, the Associate Director is a member of the SFS management team and partners closely with leadership to advance office and university-wide goals through strategic communications, effective policy development, operational planning, and leadership of key university-wide financial aid communications initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive, multi-channel financial aid communications strategy that enhances user engagement, improves access to resources, and effectively communicates Johns Hopkins' commitment to access and affordability to key audiences, including students, families, and high school counselors.
• Ensure all SFS messaging is clear, consistent, cohesive, audience-appropriate, and aligned with institutional priorities and branding standards.
• Provide strategic guidance on how financial aid policies, processes, and initiatives should be positioned across communications for prospective, incoming, and continuing students.
• Leverage data from student interactions, including in-person visits, email and phone inquiries, surveys, workshops, events, and campaigns, to inform communications strategy and continuous improvement.
• Manage the overall SFS communications and editorial calendar, collaborating with campus partners to plan, coordinate, and execute high-quality communications deliverables.
• Lead university-wide financial aid communications initiatives, ensuring alignment with institutional goals, enrollment strategies, and branding standards.
• Serve as the primary communications liaison to University Communications and Undergraduate Admissions, ensuring financial aid content is aligned with university branding and integrated across platforms.
• Partner closely with Undergraduate Admissions Communications and University Communications to co-develop messaging, campaigns, and content related to financial aid, affordability, and access.
• Lead the SFS Financial Aid Messaging and Presentation Working Group to coordinate messaging priorities and ensure consistency across audiences and channels.
• Hire, supervise, train, and evaluate Student Financial Support’s Federal Work Study (FWS) student employees, including establishing expectations, assigning work, and ensuring appropriate coverage aligned with office priorities.
• Develop and maintain onboarding and training materials for student employees to ensure consistency, accuracy, and compliance with federal and institutional requirements.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in a related field.
• Four years of related experience.

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:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent experience preferred.
• Five years of professional communications experience.
• Experience working in higher education (college/university) admissions and/or financial aid.

Qualifications

• Ability to think critically and develop strategic messaging, including experience developing media strategies.
• Familiarity with online communications platforms and content management systems such as WordPress, and other tools for editing and publishing web content.
• Sophisticated understanding of today’s digital landscape, including new and emerging technologies and platforms as well as usage trends among undergraduate and graduate students.
• Flexibility in dealing with a very diverse culture, and commitment to diversity and to serving the needs of a diverse population.
• Knowledge of HTML/CSS.
• Experience using Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.) a plus.