Vacancies

Director, Communications and Marketing

Agency: UCA

Duty Station: University of Central Asia's Central Administration Office in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic (with travel to other UCA Offices)

Accountable to: The Rector (dotted line to Director, Advertisement and Engagement)

Direct Reports: 5 Managers

UCA Background

The University of Central Asia (UCA) was founded in 2000 as a private, not for profit, secular university through an International Treaty signed by the Presidents of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, and His Highness the Aga Khan; ratified by their respective parliaments, and registered with the United Nations. The Presidents are the Patrons of the Universit,y and His Highness is the Chancellor. UCA’s mission is to promote the social and economic development of Central Asia, particularly its mountain communities, by offering an internationally recognised standard of higher education, and enabling the peoples of the region to preserve their rich cultural heritage as assets for the future. UCA brings with it the broader commitment and partnership of the Aga Khan Development Network. For more information: http://www.ucentralasia.org

Purpose

The Director, Communications and Marketing, proactively models a relationship-oriented, insightful, and results-oriented communications culture that cultivates, amplifies, and sustains trust in the value and impact of the University of Central Asia. The Director leads a collaborative team of clever, curious communications and marketing professionals who demonstrate best practice in identifying evidence-based, inspiring, and compelling communications and marketing solutions. A strategic thinker and courageous communicator, the incumbent makes high quality, informed decisions, provides sound counsel to leaders, and takes pride in the strength and resiliency of professional relationships.

Reporting: The Director has direct accountability to the Rector.

The dotted line relationship to the Director, Advancement and Engagement emphasizes the importance and value of direct, frequent collaboration given the connections between communications, marketing, fund development, community and government relations, and alumni engagement.

1. Critical Accountabilities and Outcomes

• Lead and model best practice, impactful internal and external communications.
• Lead the implementation of UCA’s communications and marketing strategies.
• Ensure the growth of UCA’s brand integrity, particularly with key stakeholders.
• Enable and ensure integration of, and alignment in, UCA’s messaging to continuously deepen trust and affinity in the university.
• Evolve a compelling, inspiring narrative to effectively capture the University’s value and impact.
• Ensure multi-stakeholder proactive, responsive, and reactive communications and marketing approaches and plans are strategized, implemented and evaluated.
• Lead proactive and responsive media relations, including establishing and sustaining relationships with journalists and media houses, pitching compelling stories to accurately position the university as active contributors in the region and its
• people, and that make research accessible.  
• Develop and execute crisis communication plans to address emerging issues and crises.
• Provide guidance and oversight to assess the impact of communications and marketing initiatives.
• Discern information to adjust approaches to increase impact and continuous improvement.
• Create and lead cross-representative teams to inform communications and marketing. 
• Represent UCA in Aga Khan Development Network’s communications community of practice.

Key Outcomes

• Communications accepted and appreciated as a strategic partner.
• Creativity, consistency, and responsiveness in communications and marketing initiatives.
• Robust communications and marketing plans with measurable outcomes.
• Sustainable communications and marketing solutions.
• Strategic and operational best practice in internal and external communications.
• Positioning of UCA as thought leaders including increased accessibility to research.
• Well-informed, sound approaches and recommendations to addressing issues and crisis.
• Relationships and collateral that amplify the value and impact of the University.
• Inspiring and consistent brand.
• Evidence-based, robust analytics to assess efficacy of communications and marketing.
• Wise use of resources.

2. Provide sound, responsive, and proactive counsel to senior leaders.

• Participate in senior leadership meetings.
• Apply a communications lens to issues and challenges discussed in leadership meetings.
• Conduct sound and informed risk analyses to strengthen informed decision-making.
• Offer strategic advice, recommendations, and solutions to leaders to advance their priorities.
• Coach colleagues, particularly senior leaders, to be strong, effective, visible communicators.
• Remain astute in understanding and articulating emerging, long standing, and shifting factors in the environment (socio-political, economic) that impact the university’s priorities and initiatives.

Key Outcomes

• Strategic communications expertise at decision-making tables.
• Increased confidence in senior leaders to communicate effectively.
• Increased comfort in senior leaders to make effective decisions related to communications.
• Sound, consistent communications risk assessment.
• Continuous awareness of external factors that impact UCA.

3. Lead and practice effective, relationship-oriented stakeholder relations.

• Contribute to the development of the University’s advocacy strategy.
• Understand, assess, and execute impactful stakeholder communications and marketing informed by shared values and fulsome environmental analysis.
• Develop and enable targeted leadership visibility strategies to strengthen UCA’s circle of influence.
• Continuously evolve and refine the University’s stakeholder and network mapping to reflect changes in regional and global political, social, and economic environments. 
• Work with the team to develop stakeholder-specific communications and marketing collateral that reflects shared values and profiles partnerships and accomplishments. 
• Liaise with the AKDN diplomatic offices and agencies in the region to coordinate, broaden, and deepen stakeholder relations, brand integrity, and affinity to UCA.

Key Outcomes

• Trusted, meaningful connections with stakeholders, informal leaders, and decision-makers.
• Increased leadership visibility with influencers and decision-makers.
• Astute understanding of the values and motivations of key stakeholders.
• Increased awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the University amongst stakeholders.
• Enhanced ability for the University to inform and/or influence decisions and policies in the region.
• Increased reciprocity and synergies with AKDN.

4. Elevate communications to be integrated and strategic across the University.

• Promote and enable the team to be strategic, knowledgeable partners in advancing University priorities.
• Draws on the expertise of colleagues within the team and across the University to inform and advance communications and marketing initiatives.
• Grow leadership competency and currency of knowledge and skill in communications and marketing (e.g., through designing and delivering workshops, offering in the moment lessons, etc).
• Elevate communications and engagement to be strategic and operationally effective including coaching and mentoring the team to continuously grow and refine their knowledge and decision quality.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve processes to streamline communications and marketing initiatives.

Key Outcomes

• Evidence-based decisions.
• Consistent, authentic positioning and brand.
• Increased collaboration within the University to advance communications and engagement.
• Strengthened and deepening communications competency among leaders.
• Fulfilled, competent team of communications and engagement professionals.

5. Cultivate a culture of trust and effective, open communication.

• Counsel the Rector and UCA leaders to practice effective communication internally and externally.
• Strengthen communications competency within the University.
• Model and promote collaboration.
• Effectively address interactions that negatively impact a culture of effective, open communication.
• Embrace diversity of opinion, perspective, experience, and knowledge.

Key Outcomes

• Effective, multi-way communication flow within the University.
• Recognition, appreciation, and embracing of communications as a core competency for all staff.
• Communicative culture and accountability to communicate effectively across the University.

6. Lead with integrity, offering mentorship and promoting subsidiarity.

• Create an enabling environment for direct report to flourish.
• Offer active, frequent mentorship and coaching to direct reports.
• Ensure direct report(s) have agency to make decisions.
• Model the co-creation of a fulfilling work environment.
• Recognize and celebrate colleagues.
• Support the professional and personal growth of direct reports.
• Initiate candid discussions to respond to emerging issues and/or conflicts.
• Collaborate with direct reports on performance development.

Key Outcomes

• Positive, fulfilling work environment.
• Agency in decision-making and understanding of their impact.
• Respectful, functional team dynamics.
• Affinity with and loyalty to the university.

7. Demonstrate curiosity, growth, and collaboration.

• Identify gaps in own abilities and actively work to strengthen competence.
• Maintain currency, continually deepen understanding, hone expertise, and grow as a leader.
   

Key Outcomes

• Continuous professional and personal growth.
• Evolving understanding and practice of effective communications.

Independent and Collaborative Decision-Making

• The Director, Communications and Marketing, leads, promotes, and models approaches, attitudes, and behaviours that build and sustain trust, demonstrate open and effective communication, practice collaboration and engagement, and grow internal communications capacity.
• The Director has accountability for making independent decisions to: 
• Implement the university-wide communications strategy.
• Prioritize incoming requests for communications and marketing support.
• Continuously improve communications processes.
• Approve content for communications and marketing collateral.
• Ensure regular, frequent recognition and performance development for direct reports.

The Director will practice collaborative decision-making to identify, implement, and evaluate sustainable communications and marketing solutions to:

• Respond to an emerging issue or crisis.
• Navigate high-risk or highly sensitive communications.
• Engage some stakeholder segments, including government.
• Lead task forces and working groups on specific initiatives.
• Recommend changes in communications practices.
• Make hires onto the team.

Consequences of Error

• Inability to foster and sustain trust with peers and direct reports would compromise collegial relationships and negatively affect organizational culture.
• Inability to be an agent of change would result in status quo processes and decisions, compromising quality and potential of evidence-based, inspired communications and marketing.
• Ineffective and/or inconsistent strategic communications would compromise UCA’s credibility, integrity, reputation with internal and external stakeholders.
• Lack of sound counsel would compromise the integrity of leaders and the university.
• Improper understanding and discernment of constituents, factors in the environment, issues, and crises would undermine trust in UCA, particularly with primary and targeted stakeholders.
• Inability to astutely understand and articulate changes in the environment would result in poor presentation of UCA with its stakeholders.
• Inability to align communications and marketing strategy with institutional priorities would result in ill-considered initiatives, and misuse of human, financial, digital, and capital resources.
• Lack of trust-focused, audience-centred communications and marketing would result in disengagement and disenfranchisement of internal and external stakeholders.
• Inability to motivate, inspire, and co-create a fulfilling team environment would result in ineffective communications and marketing, high staff turnover, mistrust, and misuse of resources.

Qualifications

Education

• Master’s degree in communications, marketing, government relations or related field.
• Designation, or eligibility for designation, in a recognized professional association.

Experience and Knowledge

• Minimum of ten years of experience in progressively responsible strategic communications and marketing in a complex organization, preferably in a university environment or not-for-profit sector.
• Demonstrated experience with high-risk, multi-stakeholder communications and marketing.
• Demonstrated experience making sense of complex issues and offering well-informed solutions.
• Proven experience leading and inspiring a team to be high functioning, results-oriented, and fulfilled.
• Demonstrated expertise in developing, implementing, and evaluating innovative, measurable communication and engagement strategies.
• Proficiency in digital communication tools and platforms by demonstrating deep knowledge of communications and engagement with various audiences via media, channels and platforms.
• Proven experience building and maintaining relationships with multiple stakeholders including, and not limited to, internal leaders and staff, government, legislative bodies, development and not-for-profit organizations, industry, media, and granting agencies.
• Strong knowledge of government processes, public policy, and regulatory environments of the region and the Founding States in particular.
• Demonstrated understanding of the function of advocacy in a University environment.
• Proven understanding of and experience with assessing the effectiveness of communications and marketing initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience in managing budgets for communication projects and initiatives, ensuring cost-effectiveness and alignment with University’s strategic goals.
• Experience and comfort in integrating and aligning diverse ideas and perspectives together towards achieving a shared goal.

Abilities

• Self-starter; works independently with minimum supervision. 
• High level of critical thinking, judgement, and discernment.
• Bright, solutions-oriented; learns quickly.
• Listens carefully; actively invites a diversity of opinion, perspective, experience, and knowledge.
• Team-oriented; collaborates effectively with diverse teams and stakeholders and models collaborative decision-making.
• Maintains calm and responds with integrity in difficult situations.
• Adaptable and resilient in a fast-paced environment.
• Successfully manages multiple projects.
• Excellent written and spoken English and Russian, required.
• Written and spoken Kyrgyz, Tajik and/or Kazakh, preferable.

Considerations

• This position will require occasional travel to countries where UCA operates.

How to Apply: Please submit your application (cover letter, CV, and contact information of three references) at https://tinyurl.com/234pm5jw by 31 May 2025. 

Applications will be reviewed when received. Early applications are strongly encouraged.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Review other job vacancies at: https://ucentralasia.org/career-opportunities.