Vice President of Brand and Creative

About University of the People

University of the People (UoPeople) is America’s first non-profit, tuition-free, accredited online university, serving over 170,000 students across more than 200 countries, including nearly 19,000 refugees. Accredited by WASC Senior College and University Commission, UoPeople believes higher education is a fundamental human right capable of transforming students, families, communities, and nations globally.

Role Overview

The university is hiring a Vice President of Brand & Creative to spearhead global brand strategy, creative leadership, storytelling, and content management aligned with UoPeople’s mission of enrollment growth and enhancing its worldwide reputation. This role will lead a lean but impactful marketing team to build an emotionally resonant, adaptable, and culturally sensitive education brand that supports student acquisition, engagement, retention, and institutional credibility.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead global brand and creative operations ensuring consistent brand execution across regions and channels.
• Develop and refine global brand positioning, messaging frameworks, campaign narratives, and storytelling structures to raise awareness and foster enrollment growth.
• Supervise all creative outputs including campaigns, visual identity, copy standards, social content, presentations, and student communications.
• Establish scalable creative workflows and high-volume content production systems within a streamlined team.
• Championship student storytelling and user-generated content initiatives to highlight authentic experiences and deepen emotional ties to UoPeople’s mission.
• Collaborate with Growth, SEO, Analytics, and Operations teams to align creative strategy with funnel performance and enrollment targets.
• Utilize AI-driven creative tools and automation to accelerate content creation, support localization, and enhance team efficiency without compromising quality.
• Manage relationships with external agencies, video production vendors, freelancers, and localization partners ensuring speed, quality, cost-efficiency, and brand consistency.
• Ensure brand execution is culturally relevant and adapted for international markets including India, MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
• Build and mentor a high-functioning creative team promoting collaboration, accountability, agility, and innovation.
• Work directly with executive leadership to boost institutional standing through donor communication, strategic announcements, and mission-centric storytelling.

Experience and Qualifications

• 15 to 12 years in brand leadership, creative strategy, content marketing, or integrated marketing roles, ideally in digital-first, mission-driven, EdTech, technology, or consumer-focused environments.
• Strong track record leading global brand and creative teams, scaling brands internationally to achieve measurable growth.
• Ability to balance strategic leadership with hands-on execution in fast-paced, lean organizations.
• Expertise in campaign development, storytelling, creative direction, and integrated brand marketing across digital and social platforms.
• Experience managing multi-regional teams and external partners including agencies and freelancers.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled creative tools, automated content workflows, generative AI platforms, and marketing technology operations.
• Excellent executive communication, stakeholder engagement, and cross-functional partnership skills.
• Experience operating in multicultural/global environments with sensitivity to regional brand adaptation.
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degrees preferred.

Additional Role Impact

This executive role is pivotal in defining UoPeople’s global brand presence, creative ecosystem, and storytelling initiatives across major markets. It influences student acquisition effectiveness, institutional reputation, creative operational models, AI-driven content production, localization strategies, social engagement, and vendor relationships. This leader ensures UoPeople’s mission and growth goals translate into a compelling global brand experience that is also operationally efficient.