Director, Content Marketing & Strategy

Position Information

• Position Title:
  
  Director, Content Marketing & Strategy
• Position Type:
  Regular
• Job Number: SA93024
• Full or Part Time: full-time 40 hours weekly
• Fair Labor Standard Act Classification:
  Exempt
• Anticipated Pay Range: $140,000-$160,000
• Pay Range Information:
  Chapman University is required to provide a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this position. This range takes into account a variety of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. Salary offers are determined based on the final candidate’s qualifications and experience, as well as internal equity and other internal factors.
  
  The anticipated pay range is not a promise of a particular wage.

At Chapman University, we believe collaboration thrives through in-person engagement. This position is fully on campus, and employees work alongside colleagues, faculty, students, and staff each day to support our vibrant university community.

The Director, Content Marketing & Strategy, leads Chapman University’s organic search and content ecosystem, ensuring the university’s digital presence is discoverable, authoritative, and aligned with brand and enrollment priorities. This role sets the strategic direction for SEO and AI visibility performance and editorial content across chapman.edu. The Director partners closely with web, brand, strategic & editorial comms, enrollment marketing, and agency stakeholders to ensure content strategy is embedded into broader marketing, communications, and engagement initiatives, including publications.

This position is in person in Orange, CA and the candidate will be expected to be in the office 5 days a week.

• Content Strategy & Leadership
  • Develop and maintain a university-wide content strategy that balances brand storytelling with SEO performance, ensuring content serves search and AI visibility.
  • Lead the editorial vision and information architecture of Chapman’s centralized storytelling platform connecting audiences with the people, experiences, and outcomes that make the university distinctive.
  • Own the ongoing content management of the storytelling platform including story sourcing, publishing cadence, tagging/taxonomy for discoverability, and platform performance against reach and engagement goals.
  • Oversee a content calendar and workflow that balances always-on organic content needs with news updates and other campaign-driven content.
  • Establish editorial standards, style guidelines, and a content governance model spanning web copy, blog/news content, program pages, landing pages, and Chapman’s storytelling hub.
  • Write and edit compelling articles and feature stories that strengthen Chapman University’s brand and support strategic storytelling initiatives.
  • Ensure all content reflects brand voice, accessibility standards, and institutional accuracy.
• SEO Strategy & Organic Growth
  • Own SEO strategy, including technical SEO, on-page optimization, keyword architecture, and organic search performance across chapman.edu properties.
  • Conduct ongoing technical audits (crawlability, site speed, structured data, mobile performance, etc.) in partnership with web, IS&T, and vendors.
  • Conduct content gap analysis and competitive research to identify underserved topics, ranking opportunities, and areas where competitor institutions are outperforming Chapman in search and AI visibility.
  • Build and maintain keyword and topic-cluster strategies aligned to institutional priorities and enrollment funnels, structuring content to establish topical authority across priority program and subject areas.
  • Monitor rankings, organic…