Manager, Communications and Digital Content Operations

About the department

The primary purpose of the Office of University Branding is to advance the good reputation of George Mason University through increasing public awareness, understanding, and advocacy of the university. The organization serves as the university's central steward of institutional brand strategies, policies, guidelines, expertise, and resources, used to promote the university's newsworthy and noteworthy educational, research, and service efforts that support the fulfillment of its mission. In addition, University Branding is the central resource for communication internally and between the university and its various publics.

About the position

The Manager, Communications and Digital Content Operations serves as the operational backbone for the university’s communications and digital strategy, coordinating the end-to-end lifecycle of internal and external campaigns—from initial concept to multi-platform distribution and analysis. This role manages the master editorial calendar to ensure the timely production and delivery of news, executive messaging, and major initiatives like the Grand Challenge Initiative. Beyond workflow management and productivity improvements, the successful candidate will uphold brand integrity and support on strategy development by reporting on core themes and areas of coverage, production timelines, content performance, and audience engagement.

Responsibilities

• Content Operations and Lifecycle Management
  • System Design Architects and manages the end-to-end lifecycle of internal and external communications, moving projects from concept to production, distribution, and analysis;
  • Campaign Management: Coordinates the development, asset delivery, team meetings and assignments, calendar and measurement for high-profile campaigns and major announcements, including the Patriot Plan for Safety, AI initiatives, and the Grand Challenge Initiative;
  • Multiplatform Formats: Coordinates deliverables across news stories, executive speeches, press releases, social media, and web development.
• Project Management and Editorial Planning
  • Calendar Ownership: Develops and maintains a master editorial calendar in Wrike, serving as the single source of truth for the university’s communications and digital editorial planning;
  • Workflow Optimization: Manages deadlines and routes all central office stories through appropriate approval chains to ensure on-time delivery;
  • Asset Maximization: Ensures all content is optimized for multi-platform exploitation (web, social, email) to meet measurement goals.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration ("Liaison")
  • Serves as the primary "traffic controller" inside OUB connecting writers, editors, web developers, and creative teams (video/photo) with stakeholders to ensure review, partnerships, approvals, etc.;
  • Problems Solving: Proactively identifies and resolves production bottlenecks, resource conflicts, or delays before they impact the publishing schedule.
• Quality Assurance and Brand Stewardship
  • Brand Integrity: Acts as a guardian of the university's brand, ensuring all content adheres to style guidelines and visual identity standards;
  • Compliance: Manages permissions for images and materials, collaborating with the Brand Manager to troubleshoot issues;
  • Accuracy: Implements rigorous proofing processes to ensure zero-defect content delivery.
• Reporting and Analytics
  • Develops a shared topline editorial calendar for visibility across key university stakeholders aligned to strategic direction and measurement goals;
  • Performance Tracking: Collaborates with the analytics team to prepare reports on content performance, offering data-driven recommendations to senior management to improve audience engagement.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, Journalism, Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field;
• Experience in project management (typically 3-5 years), creative operations, or traffic management, preferably within an in-house agency, higher education institution, marketing firm or affiliated membership organization;
• Demonstrated experience managing editorial calendars and complex content lifecycles (from concept to multi-platform distribution);
• Experience interpreting data visualization tools to track project health and content performance;
• Advanced proficiency in Wrike (or demonstrated expertise in similar tools like Asana, Monday.com, or Basecamp with an ability to adapt quickly);
• Familiarity with Content Management Systems (CMS), social media scheduling tools, and Microsoft Office/Google Workspace suites;
• Proven ability to act as a central liaison between creative teams (writers, editors, web developers, and creative teams (video/photo)) and stakeholders to resolve bottlenecks;
• Strong attention to detail with experience adhering to brand and editorial guidelines;
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to manage expectations and negotiate deadlines with senior leadership and academic partners;
• Meticulous eye for detail to ensure accuracy and quality in all content and processes;
• Capacity to identify issues, develop actionable solutions, and adapt to unexpected changes or delays;
• Ability to work collaboratively with various departments to achieve common goals;
• Expertise in managing time efficiently to keep projects on schedule and prevent delays.

Preferred qualifications

• Certification in Project Management (PMP, CAPM);
• Experience working in Higher Education or large nonprofit environments;
• Experience managing campaigns related to crisis communications or large-scale organizational initiatives.