Social Media Manager

Job Location:

Milton Keynes, Remote/Hybrid

Department:
External Communications

Closing Date: 5 October 2026

Weekly

Working Hours:

37

Contract Type:
Fixed Term Contract

Fixed Term

Contract:

End Date: 2 years from start date

Welsh Language:
Not Applicable

The Open University is the UK's largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education, combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to You Tube by clicking this link).

The Social Media Manager will create and manage engaging content across the OU’s social channels, with a particular focus on reaching and growing our younger audience base. This is a hands‑on role, requiring experience in filming and editing for social-first formats.

They will play a key role in delivering the OU’s marketing and communications activity, supporting brand reputation and driving student recruitment and retention. The role is responsible for end-to-end campaign delivery across Meta, Tik Tok, Snapchat, Linked In and You Tube - from producing platform‑specific creative and publishing content, through to community and performance management, optimisation and reporting.

As part of a wider external communications team, they will collaborate with social media colleagues, students, academics and teams across faculties, nations and the central marketing unit to create content that is relevant, timely and social‑ready.

They will also provide guidance across the organisation on social media best practice, improving the quality, consistency and impact of our output.

• Create and publish organic social content across core university channels, with a focus on reaching younger audiences and supporting key strategic plans.
• Film, edit and produce social-first content - including video, photography and simple design - optimised for platforms such as Instagram, Tik Tok, Linked In and You Tube.
• Attend degree ceremonies, larger video productions, and other events to capture behind‑the‑scenes content and real moments for social channels.
• Identify and respond to cultural moments, events, trends and conversations, creating timely content that helps the OU show up in relevant and engaging ways.
• Work with students, academics and contributors to capture real stories and perspectives, supporting a range of on‑camera abilities to create authentic, relatable content.
• Manage and develop a network of student content creators, ensuring a consistent flow of content aligned to the social media strategy.
• Play an active role in campaign development, working with colleagues across Marketing and Communications to shape ideas into social‑first executions.
• Work closely with the paid media team to amplify content, ensuring organic and paid activity are aligned and delivering maximum reach and impact.
• Manage day‑to‑day community engagement across social channels, identifying opportunities to interact, amplify user‑generated content and manage reputational risk.
• Monitor performance and optimise content in real time, using insights and platform data to improve reach, engagement and effectiveness.
• Work with the Senior Social Media Manager to continuously improve social media output, capturing and analysing activity metrics to make recommendations.
• Support wider social media activity across the team as required, contributing to other channels, campaigns and priorities beyond the core younger audience focus.
• Share social media insight, best practice and emerging advancements across the organisation, helping to improve the quality and consistency of social content.
• Support on reputational issues…