Website Manager

Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development seeks an enterprising professional to manage its web strategy, content, page updates and all details related to its public facing college website (https://peabody.vanderbilt.edu) and related microsites. Candidates should be detail-oriented individuals with excellent verbal and written communication skills and a background in internet site management, content strategy and development, and user experience. Knowledge and prior experience with website content management systems is mandatory; knowledge of WordPress, SEO, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint software is desired. Use of websites in support of marketing efforts is strongly preferred. This individual will be part of the Peabody Office of Communications team. 

About Peabody College

Peabody College is a world-class college of education and human development consistently ranked among the top graduate schools of education in the nation. Its mission is to enhance the human condition by creating knowledge about learning and development in their social contexts, by translating discoveries into more effective practice and policy, and by preparing leaders who will generate positive change throughout the nation and the world. Vanderbilt degrees offered by Peabody include the bachelor of science, master of education, master of public policy, master of science, doctor of education, and doctor of philosophy. Peabody serves more than 2,600 students, both on campus and online, with a full- and part-time faculty of 270. 

About the Work Unit

The Peabody Office of Communications is responsible for identifying and communicating news about the college to key constituencies, for developing and executing marketing strategies for graduate and professional student recruitment, and for supporting the college’s leaders in delivering strategic messages for internal and external audiences. The Communications Office is charged with developing, maintaining, and disseminating content for digital properties and social media, including the college website and related microsites. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Web 

This individual will be charged with daily editorial management of peabody.vanderbilt.edu and related websites including text, video, graphics, and photography in support of college initiatives, with a particular focus on recruiting highly qualified graduate and professional students, disseminating research news, and conveying information to key audiences. Content creation and content maintenance is the primary duty of this position and experience with content management systems is necessary. Conceptualization and creation of related microsites using university resources is an expected growth area for the person in this role.

Specific responsibilities may include: 

• Identify, research, write, revise or edit new content. Strong editorial abilities are key.
• Establish a schedule for regular updates of existing page content, identifying and working with page owners to execute timely updates. 
• Recommend, research, and develop new content in collaboration with Peabody Communications colleagues. 
• Optimize site architecture and navigation, in collaboration with Vanderbilt Digital Strategies, to establish and maintain a friendly and intuitive user experience. 
• In collaboration with the college’s Marketing Manager and others, including third parties, revise page content to achieve SEO objectives. 
• Collaborate with faculty, departmental personnel, university offices, and Dean’s Office staff to ensure page content from automated feeds (including social media feeds) is current. Identify opportunities for additional tag-based automations of content. 
• Work with graphic designer and other members of the Communications team to ensure consistency with university and college branding, including visual elements across web, social media and print publications. 
• Collaborate with Peabody faculty and staff colleagues as well as Vanderbilt marketing and communications peers including digital developers, technical staff, graphic designers, or third-party consultants to establish project timelines and manage the development of related microsites for programs, departments, or centers. 

Supporting and building the knowledge base

A secondary function of this role will be to support the development of Peabody’s knowledge base through workplace collaboration tools such as Slack, Teams, SharePoint, Box and OneDrive software. This individual will serve as a resource for the Peabody Dean’s Office, interacting with users to gather requirements, build and maintain sites, organize and categorize content, and promote best practices for collaboration with peers and constituents. They also will migrate internal-facing content from Peabody’s remnant Omni CMS to the new environment, supporting information management, collecting and publishing documents, and building a team of core users in other college units to establish reliable sources of authoritative and continually updated information for faculty, staff and students. The candidate chosen for this position should have working knowledge of Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Box and other tools and should be able to manage a transition of knowledge to this environment. 

Specific responsibilities may include: 

• Identify user needs and evaluate existing web-based content and other digital assets for transition to internal facing resources. 
• Set up content architecture, with emphasis on end-users being able to maintain their own content. 
• Work with IT staff, content owners and end users to create engagingly designed and intuitive employee experiences, build out SharePoint sites, and troubleshoot problems. 
• Monitor and edit user-generated content for appropriateness, communicating standards and expectations as needed. 
• Promote user adoption through user and site manager training, consultation, and support of existing functionality. 
• Assist users by building training documents and providing guidance with Teams/SharePoint-related tasks. 
• Collaborate with users to develop pages, libraries, lists, views, workflows, and scripts. 
• Periodically update existing content to ensure currency of information. 
• Assess needs, develop strategies, and establish timelines and workflows. 
• Analyze and prepare usage reports and communicate results to college leaders. 
• Perform group and user management tasks, including setting and monitoring permissions levels. 
• Develop, document, and adhere to standard procedures and best practices. 

Additional duties as assigned.  

Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree in a communications or technology-related field is required.
• Minimum of two years’ experience developing or managing content for complex web sites with multiple audiences; experience in a higher education environment is preferred. 
• Demonstrated experience with the WordPress web platform and Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams software are highly desired
• Use of website landing pages to request information and initiate CRM activity will be helpful. 
• Demonstrated project management skills including the ability to meet deadlines. 
• Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal skills, including the ability to interact positively with users in a variety of roles, from senior faculty and administrators to undergraduate students. 
• Strong critical thinking skills, including an ability to organize and present information is needed. 
• Experience with graphic design, UX, or project management is helpful, as is fluency in  common web languages including HTML, CSS, and Javascript 

Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

At Vanderbilt University, we are intentional about and assume accountability for fostering advancement and respect for equity, diversity, and inclusion for all students, faculty, and staff. Our commitment to diversity makes us who we are.  We have created a community that celebrates differences and lets individuality thrive. As part of this commitment, we actively value diversity in our workplace and learning environments as we seek to take advantage of the rich backgrounds and abilities of everyone. The diverse voices of Vanderbilt represent an invaluable resource for the University in its efforts to fulfill its mission and strive to be an example of excellence in higher education. 

Vanderbilt University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

Please note, all candidates selected for an offer of employment are subject to pre-employment background checks, which may include but are not limited to, based on the role for which they have been selected: criminal history, education verification, social media review, motor vehicle records, credit history, and professional license verification.