ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT ENTERPRISE CONTENT, External Affairs

Boston University's award-winning External Affairs division seeks an Assistant Vice President of Enterprise Content. This role serves as the University leader for content strategy and storytelling, working among other senior leaders within an integrated and matrixed central communications team that is responsible for defining, advancing, and delivering a multi-channel narrative across the university. This individual will report to the Senior Vice President of University Relations. This role operates at both a strategic and systems level, establishing the frameworks, workflows, and practices that enable coordinated, high-quality storytelling across a complex, decentralized university environment. The AVP leads the development of an integrated content strategy that connects institutional messages and priorities with school- and unit-level storytelling. This includes aligning distributed communications efforts, supporting editorial standards, and elevating the visibility and reputation of the Universitys research, teaching, impact, and mission delivered by faculty, staff, students, supporters, partners, alumni and others. As a recognized thought leader, this individual serves as a visible convener of institutional storytelling, working with colleagues within External Affairs and across campus to align storytelling into a cohesive narrative about Boston University's powerful contributions to Boston and to the world.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the development and execution of a comprehensive, enterprise-level content strategy aligned with university priorities and in partnership with senior leaders across External Affairs.
• Establish a unified content framework that coordinates decentralized storytelling efforts across schools and administrative units into a cohesive institutional narrative.
• Help define and advance the University's editorial strategy delivered across multiple platforms, including social media, multimedia, publications, and other storytelling channels.
• Oversee enterprise content functions, including editorial, photography, videography, and social media, supporting creativity, lively brainstorming, and consistent quality.
• Establish editorial governance, standards, and planning processes that guide narrative voice, storytelling quality, and institutional alignment.
• Convene and lead a campus-wide network of communicators, fostering collaboration, shared planning, and alignment on institutional storytelling priorities.
• Serve as content leader in partnership with school and college communications leaders, advising on messaging strategy, narrative development, and alignment with institutional priorities.
• Set division-wide priorities and strategy as part of the leadership of the divisions intake assignment hub, designed to distribute work and convene multi-function groups to engage in priority projects. The Assistant Vice President of Content, the Assistant Vice President of Strategy & Operations, and the Vice President of Media and University Communications will together make decisions, priorities, and activate workflows that integrate talents and skills from professionals across the division for best strategic and creative results.
• Collaborate with Digital Marketing & Brand Management and Interactive Design teams to align storytelling with audience engagement, distribution, and performance strategies.
• Partner with Executive Communications to ensure alignment between institutional storytelling, media narratives, and top leadership messaging.
• Develop and promote content performance frameworks in partnership with analytics teams, enabling measurement of impact and continuous improvement.
• Champion innovation and thought leadership in content strategy, building institutional capability through training, best practices, and governance models.

Required Skills

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive leadership experience in editorial strategy, content development, or institutional communications.
• Demonstrated success building and leading enterprise-level content or storytelling strategies in complex organizations.
• Experience leading integrated, multi-channel content teams, including editorial, multimedia, and social.
• Proven ability to influence strategy and drive alignment across decentralized teams.
• Strong editorial judgment and experience translating complex institutional priorities into compelling narratives.
• Excellent language and editing skills.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience in higher education, healthcare, or similarly complex, mission-driven organizations
• Experience working within decentralized communications environments with distributed stakeholders.
• Experience establishing content governance frameworks and editorial standards at scale.
• Experience navigating and leading through organizational transformation.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, natural or protective hairstyle, religion, sex, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, military service, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, or because of marital, parental, or veteran status. We are a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.