Chief Marketing & Growth Officer University of Plymouth

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Chief Marketing & Growth Officer University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth seeks an exceptional Chief Marketing & Growth Officer to drive sustainable growth, strengthen reputation and shape institutional strategy.

University of Plymouth is seeking an exceptional Chief Marketing & Growth Officer to join our Executive Group and play a central role in shaping our future.This is an opportunity to influence the direction of a large, complex and ambitious institution with a clear purpose: advancing knowledge and transforming lives through education and research.

Reporting directly to our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Richard Davies, and working alongside executive colleagues across the University, you will provide strategic leadership across marketing, communications, student recruitment, admissions and institutional growth. Your leadership will help determine how we position ourselves in an increasingly competitive higher education landscape, strengthen our reputation and identify opportunities that support our long-term sustainability. You will bring together market insight, institutional ambition and organisational influence to help us make informed choices about where we invest, how we develop and how we extend our reach. For the successful candidate, this is a rare opportunity to combine strategic influence, institutional purpose and tangible impact at one of the UK's most distinctive universities.

Who we are Located in Britain's Ocean City, we are a broad-based, research-intensive university with an international reputation for excellence and a strong commitment to civic engagement.

We combine outstanding teaching, impactful research and meaningful partnerships to create opportunities for our students and deliver benefits for communities and organisations regionally, nationally and globally.

Our heritage and location have helped us develop internationally recognised strengths in marine and maritime education and research, health, sustainability and innovation. From our pioneering research into marine microplastics to our contribution to healthcare education and regional economic growth, we have a long history of tackling real-world challenges through research, partnership and enterprise.

Our purpose is advancing knowledge and transforming lives through education and research. Our vision is to deliver outstanding interdisciplinary research, experiential education and civic engagement.

Four principles guide our work:

• Quality: striving for the highest quality in everything we do
• One Team: working, planning for and delivering a shared vision, underpinned by a strong sense of collegiality.
• Reputation: building our institutional reputation through confidence in our pioneering contributions, excellence in education and research, socio-economic impact, and thought leadership
• Sustainability: sustainability in our finances, reputation, services, partnerships, environmental performance and global contribution.

These principles shape our culture, inform our decisions and provide the foundations for our future development. We combine academic excellence with societal impact, creating opportunities for individuals and communities while contributing to economic, environmental and social progress.

About the opportunity As our Chief Marketing & Growth Officer, you will shape and deliver our integrated growth, marketing, external engagement and communications strategies.

You will hold executive responsibility for a significant portfolio spanning marketing, communications, student recruitment, admissions and market development. Alongside providing leadership for these functions, you will identify opportunities for sustainable growth, market expansion and education-related income.

You will operate at the intersection of strategy, growth and reputation, bringing a market-informed perspective to our Executive Group and institutional decision-making. Your insight will help us respond confidently to change, make evidence-based choices and pursue the opportunities that are right for our University.

Working collaboratively across our Faculties and Professional Services, you will build shared ownership of our growth ambitions. You will ensure that market intelligence, customer understanding and external insight inform our strategic planning, academic portfolio and investment decisions.

Your success will depend on your ability to connect our institutional ambitions with the needs of learners, employers, partners and wider society. You will bring clarity to complex opportunities and help us translate ambition into focused, deliverable and sustainable plans.

Shaping our next chapter One of the most compelling aspects of this role is the opportunity to help define the next chapter of our development.

We are seeking your executive leadership to support sustainable student-related and education-led growth. You will help us identify opportunities across existing and emerging markets while responding effectively to changing learner expectations, employer needs and wider sector dynamics.

This will include exploring opportunities across:

• Undergraduate and postgraduate recruitment
• International student recruitment
• Lifelong learning and professional education
• Flexible forms of education delivery
• Strategic partnerships
• New products, services and growth opportunities informed by market demand

Your experience in interpreting market and commercial insight will be central to our academic portfolio development. You will help us understand learner and employer demand, anticipate emerging markets, evaluate new modes of delivery and identify opportunities for sustainable growth.

Working closely with colleagues across the University, including Research, Partnerships and Innovation, you will help us maximise opportunities for collaboration, external engagement and impact. Your leadership will support our ambitions to strengthen our regional, national and global reach while ensuring that new opportunities remain aligned with our purpose and values.

Strengthening our reputation We have a compelling story to tell and significant strengths on which to build.

As custodian of our brand, you will lead the continued development of our positioning and reputation. You will ensure that our identity, strengths and strategic ambitions are communicated clearly, confidently and consistently to prospective students, partners, stakeholders and wider audiences.

You will oversee our marketing and communications activity, strengthening our profile and ensuring that our voice remains distinctive and relevant in an increasingly competitive environment.

There is a considerable opportunity to develop an even more compelling and differentiated proposition for our University. Your leadership will help us communicate the breadth of our achievements while drawing particular attention to our strengths in marine and defence, health, sustainability, innovation, civic engagement and regional leadership.

You will bring together our growth, brand, and reputation strategies, ensuring that they reinforce one another and support our wider institutional ambitions.

Leadership, influence and collaboration As our Chief Marketing & Growth Officer, you will operate at the heart of institutional decision-making.

We value collaboration, evidence-based decision-making and inclusive leadership. We are looking for someone who shares those values, is comfortable operating in complexity and ambiguity, and inspires confidence through sound judgement, intellectual curiosity and a commitment to meaningful outcomes.

Your ability to deliver through influence will be as important as your formal authority. You will listen carefully, challenge constructively and create the conditions in which colleagues can contribute their expertise. You will also provide clear and supportive leadership to the multidisciplinary teams within your portfolio, enabling them to work collaboratively and perform at their best.

This opportunity offers something increasingly rare: the chance to influence the future of a university with a strong identity, a clear social purpose and ambitious plans for the years ahead.

You will join a university that is internationally recognised for its impact, deeply connected to its city and region, and committed to improving lives through education, research and partnership.

We will give you the scope to shape strategy, challenge thinking, strengthen our market position and help create the conditions for sustainable growth. You will be able to connect our institutional success with wider societal benefit, ensuring that more people can access the transformative opportunities higher education provides.

This is a role for a leader who wants to make a lasting contribution, rather than simply oversee a function. You will help shape the future direction of our University and extend our reach, relevance and influence.

Who we are looking for We are seeking an accomplished executive leader who combines strategic judgement, commercial awareness and a deep understanding of how growth, reputation and market positioning contribute to organisational success.

We welcome applications from commercially astute leaders within higher education, as well as from adjacent sectors and commercial environments. Your experience might have been gained in a university, a purpose-led organisation, a consumer-facing business or another complex setting.
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