Indian School Of Development Management - Head - Marketing & Communications

The Role:

We are looking for an experienced and strategic marketing leader to drive the institution's marketing, communications, and stakeholder engagement agenda. The role will be responsible for shaping and executing ISDM's integrated marketing strategy to strengthen brand visibility, thought leadership, stakeholder engagement, learner acquisition, partnerships, and institutional reputation. Working closely with senior leadership and cross-functional teams, the Marketing Lead will translate organizational priorities into compelling branding narratives, strategic campaigns, and high-impact engagement initiatives. The role requires a balance of strategic thinking, brand stewardship, team leadership, and execution excellence to position ISDM as a leading institution in the social impact and development sector.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Marketing & Brand Leadership:

- Develop and drive ISDM's integrated marketing and communications strategy aligned with organizational goals, growth priorities, and brand positioning.

- Lead the development of audience and stakeholder engagement strategies by building deep insights into key stakeholder segments, market trends, competitive positioning, and emerging opportunities.

- Strengthen and evolve ISDM's brand architecture, messaging framework, and value proposition to ensure consistency across all touchpoints and stakeholder groups.

- Identify opportunities to enhance ISDM's thought leadership presence through strategic storytelling, content marketing, partnerships, media engagement, and sectoral visibility initiatives.

2. Stakeholder Engagement & Institutional Positioning:

- Partner with academic, programs, admissions, placements, research, partnerships, and leadership teams to design marketing and communication strategies that advance institutional objectives.

- Develop and implement integrated communication plans to drive engagement across prospective learners, alumni, employers, partners, donors, sector leaders, and the broader social impact ecosystem.

- Build and nurture strategic relationships with agencies, media partners, freelancers, sector networks, and ecosystem stakeholders to amplify ISDM's reach and influence.

3. Digital Growth & Audience Engagement:

- Lead ISDM's digital marketing strategy across social media, website, content marketing, email marketing, SEO, performance marketing, and emerging digital channels.

- Drive audience acquisition, engagement, conversion, and retention through data-informed marketing initiatives and campaign optimization.

- Oversee the strategic management and continual enhancement of ISDM's digital assets, ensuring an engaging and high-impact user experience.

4. Campaigns, Content & Communications:

- Provide strategic direction for the development of campaigns, content, creative assets, publications, and communication collaterals, ensuring alignment with brand standards and organizational priorities.

- Lead the content and communications roadmap, promoting compelling narratives that showcase ISDM's impact, community, programs, placements, research, and thought leadership.

- Ensure all communication outputs maintain high standards of quality, relevance, consistency, and brand integrity.

5. Team Leadership & Marketing Operations:

- Lead, mentor, and build a high-performing marketing and communications team, fostering innovation, accountability, learning, and collaboration.

- Manage external agencies and creative partners to ensure effective delivery, quality outcomes, and alignment with strategic objectives.

- Establish marketing performance metrics, dashboards, and evaluation frameworks to assess effectiveness, generate insights, and inform decision-making.

- Own marketing budgets, annual planning processes, resource allocation, and project governance to maximize impact and efficiency.

- Continuously monitor industry trends, evolving audience behaviour, technological innovations, and best practices to strengthen ISDM's marketing effectiveness and market positioning.

Education Qualification & Experience:

- 15+ years of experience in marketing, communications, brand management, or stakeholder engagement, preferably within the development/social impact sector, higher education, consulting, research institutions, or mission-driven organizations.

- Master's degree in marketing, Communications, Journalism, Business Administration, or a related field.

- Demonstrated experience in developing and executing organization-wide marketing and brand strategies.

- Strong understanding of brand management, digital marketing, content strategy, reputation management, stakeholder engagement, public relations, and integrated communications.

- Experience in leading cross-functional initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and delivering measurable organizational outcomes.

- Experience in building and managing high-performing teams and external agency relationships.

- Strong analytical capabilities with experience leveraging marketing data, audience insights, and performance metrics to guide strategy.

- Excellent communication, storytelling, and presentation skills with a strong aesthetic sensibility and attention to detail.

- Ability to operate effectively in dynamic environments, influence senior stakeholders, and translate strategy into action.