Director, Strategic & Creative Communications

Director, Strategic & Creative Communications (6566U) Intercollegiate Athletics 85497

About Berkeley

At the University of California, Berkeley, we are dedicated to fostering a community where everyone feels welcome and can thrive. Our culture of openness, freedom and belonging make it a special place for students, faculty and staff.

As a world-leading institution, Berkeley is known for its academic and research excellence, public mission, diverse student body, and commitment to equity and social justice. Since our founding in 1868, we have driven innovation, creating global intellectual, economic and social value.

We are looking for applicants who reflect California's diversity and want to be part of an inclusive, equity-focused community that views education as a matter of social justice. Please consider whether your values align with our Guiding Values and Principles, Principles of Community, and Strategic Plan.

At UC Berkeley, we believe that learning is a fundamental part of working, and provide space for supportive colleague communities via numerous employee resource groups (staff organizations). Our goal is for everyone on the Berkeley campus to feel supported and equipped to realize their full potential. We actively support this by providing all of our full-time staff employees with at least 80 hours (10 days) of paid time per year to engage in professional development activities. Find out more about how you can grow your career at UC Berkeley.

Departmental Overview

The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics consists of more than 275 staff members and coaches and sponsors 30 varsity sports programs. These 30 programs include more than 850 student-athletes who participate in the various sports programs annually within the National Collegiate Athletics Association.

Application Review Date

The First Review Date for this job is: April 24, 2026

Responsibilities

Guided by the overarching Athletics strategic plan, the employee will create and lead the planning and execution of digital content and communications specific to the Department's Olympic Sports portfolio and the sports they are assigned to either execute or oversee.

This employee will exhibit proficiency in graphic design and video editing platforms. A specific output created, managed and updated by the employee is the Olympic Sports media plan - an overarching strategy that highlights how each sport will communicate to the variety of audiences. The Director will also supervise 1-2 staff members performing similar work and will provide direction, oversight, and guidance to them.

The Director will leverage his or her content creation skills specific to the medium of choice, intended audience to drive social media strategy and output for assigned sports in conjunction with the overarching media plan. This position will demonstrate competency in establishing relationships with key stakeholders involved with the sports they are assigned, including, but not limited to, media members, governing body heads, conference resources, NCAA employees, and sport-specific influencers and content strategists. These relationships will be critical in ensuring optimal coverage, attention, brand recognition, and publicization for external audiences. This role requires collaborative work and sport-specific media plan leadership across the department, including with coaches, senior leaders and campus entities. Internally, there is an emphasis on integrating with other content creators, Athletics digital ecosystems directors, Cal Athletics fundraisers and game day entertainment. Other duties may include arranging and conducting interviews, maintaining and compiling records and statistics, and serving as a team historian for assigned sports.

Team and Employee Management

• Supervise and manage 1-2 Assistant Directors, Strategic & Creative Communications, through directing and providing leadership to achieve the goals of the unit. Ensure that direct reports are meeting the demands of the unit and the department's mission, and executing their job tasks expertly and efficiently. Responsible for human resources oversight of direct reports, such as recruitment, hiring, training, evaluations, etc.

Staff Integration within Olympic Sports

• As a manager of staff, engage with all direct reports and critical members of the assigned Olympic Sports teams to assist the immersion of the unit into the team, its student-athletes, and coaches, all for the goal of sharing a consistent and exciting message for public consumption.
• As a contributor, engage with all members of the assigned Olympic Sports teams to learn the student-athletes' personalities, talents, and abilities, exploit coaches' strengths for public consumption, identify sport influencers, and engage to broaden the message and identify and target critical audiences that can amplify the strategies of elevating the sport publicly.

Capture and create content organization

• As a supervisor, manage, organize, and track the content in support and in alignment with the Media plan.
• As a contributor, extension, and critical player with the Olympic Sports team makeup, capture content (as needed) in support and in alignment with the Media plan. Content can be in all forms - video, visual, graphic, written, spoken, etc. Platforms include, but are not limited to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premier, iMovie, et.

Olympic Sport Media Plan Creation

• For all supported Olympic sports by the staff, create, manage, communicate,and continue to revise a Media Plan template for staff to use. The media plan will highlight on a scheduled basis the flow of information, how communication will occur, cadence of messaging, types of required content, intended audiences and other key factors in publicizing the team.

Storytelling Integrator

• Collaboratively work with the management group that oversees content creators, Athletics digital ecosystems directors, Cal Athletics fundraisers and game day entertainment employees to ensure strategy is being followed and the unit is in synch with others.
• Keep a firm working knowledge of the overall strategy shared by these groups that in totality make up the external engine of Cal Athletics.

Strategic Communications Project Manager

• Serve as the main trouble-shooter, problem solver and the public's management face for the unit and the Olympic sports in regards to all storytelling aspects.
• Project manage requests, coverage, and alterations or additions to the media plan and maintain historical knowledge of each sport.

Required Qualifications

• Strong background in managing staff members in a team environment promoting an established vision, direction and goals.
• Ability to teach and train staff and create mechanisms for quick ways for them to learn key facets of college sports programs quickly - including personnel, trends, participants, national landscape and critical audiences and use that information to perform job responsibilities.
• Creation and execution of sport-specific storytelling strategies
• Creation and execution of a sport-specific media plan that includes cadence of messaging, audiences, mediums, types of content, and schedules and support in its execution.
• Ability to thrive in a flexible, fast-paced and dynamic work environment.
• Strong collaborator that is flexible in adjusting schedules, timelines, content, messaging, mediums, etc. in order to best fit the immediate and impactful needs of a sports program.
• Strong digital media and content creation knowledge including strategies to use.
• Proficient user of social media related to promote teams and Athletics.
• Previous experience using Facebook, X, TikTok, Instagram and other other social media channels to story tell on behalf of a sports team.
• Knowledge of NCAA/Power 4 landscape, including recruiting cycles, NIL trends, and student-athlete retention drivers.
• Working knowledge of concepts and principles of news and media communications.
• Must maintain current knowledge of applicable rules and standards of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), as well as other associations and agencies to which the Berkeley campus of the University of California adheres, and, at all times avoid any and all violations of these rules and standards.
• Strong time and project management skills
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously from concept through completion.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively with a diverse client group.
• Ability to multi-task effectively; demonstrates sound judgment and decision-making; is an effective problem solver and effectively communicates verbally and in writing.
• Functional knowledge of the intercollegiate athletics function.
• Bachelor's degree in related area and / or equivalent experience / training