Job Overview

The Executive Director of External Relations and Marketing plans and directs a strategic and effective communications and external relations program for the School that increases stakeholder engagement and public interest in the School, and enhances the image of the School – including oversight of the School’s communications and events team, as well as the external relations staff and outreach activities of the School.

They provide strategic leadership to the constituent academic units of the School on all matters relating to communications and external relations, with the aim of ensuring consistency and efficiency in the development and delivery of all communications and in engagement with stakeholders; and develop and implement a strategic marketing campaign to increase applications to SFS undergraduate and graduate programs with particular attention to strengthening our international and under-represented applicant pool.

The Executive Director strengthens our outreach to the SFS alumni community including regular communications on campus happenings, fast-break analysis from SFS faculty in response to global issues, and specially tailored alumni events in key alumni markets; and works with SFS faculty to promote their research on areas of interest to the policy community. Additionally, they oversee the conceptualization and implementation of signature and/or stakeholder-focused events related to the School; and engage University officials – to include the Office of the GU President, Chairs, Deans and Directors – on matters pertaining to communications, marketing, and event planning for the school.

The Executive Director strengthens the School’s engagement with the broader Washington, DC policy, multilateral, and business communities, ensuring topical and high-profile visits from policymakers and practitioners to campus and strategic outreach on key global issues.

At Georgetown’s Washington, D.C. and Qatar campuses, the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) provides a rigorous education combining theory and practice and instills the values of service.  The School’s liberal arts undergraduate program, leading to the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, includes a two-year required core curriculum followed by two years of multidisciplinary electives. Eight interdisciplinary graduate programs are designed to teach students to think, analyze and act with imagination, good judgment and compassion. The vision of the School is to contribute to global peace, prosperity and human well-being by educating future generations of world leaders and expanding the knowledge, understanding and values that will inform their leadership.

Work Interactions and Work Mode Designation

Reporting to the Dean, the Executive Director of External Relations and Marketing supervises the School’s Director of Communications and the Director of Events.

As a member of the School’s senior leadership team, they participate in critical decisions and advise the Dean on important matters related to the School and its role in the broader policy dialogue, and have a key advisory role in developing strategies for those areas that impact the stakeholder experience.

This position has been designated as Hybrid. Please note that work mode designations are regularly reviewed in order to meet the evolving needs of the University.  Such review may necessitate a change to a position’s mode of work designation. Complete details about Georgetown University’s mode of work designations for staff and AAP positions can be found on the Department of Human Resources website: https://hr.georgetown.edu/mode-of-work-designation

Requirements and Qualifications

• Master’s degree in public relations, communications, marketing, higher education administration, or related field
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in communications and/or external relations, preferably in higher education, government, multilateral or policy-related institutions.
• Supervisory experience and a broad and up-to-date understanding of communications and external relations strategies
• Exceptional writing and presentational skills, and a demonstrated ability to organize teams to achieve results
• Ability to quickly garner credibility, and to develop and maintain relationships with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders
• A high level of organizational competence and effective time management

Preferred qualification

Knowledge of the Washington, DC institutional landscape