[Hiring] Associate Director, Brand & Experience Strategy @Noodle

Role Description

The Associate Director of Brand and Experience Strategy shapes how Noodle's university partners engage prospective students across the full recruitment lifecycle. This role works across brand and messaging strategy, lifecycle communications, content strategy, and student experience design, pairing deep partner knowledge and cross-functional fluency.

As a strategist, you'll act as a consultative partner to both our university partners and internal teams, developing breadth across practice areas while building deeper t-shaped expertise in one or more over time. You'll contribute to frameworks, execute against them with a high degree of independence, and bring strategic thinking to partner-facing work without always being the most senior voice in the room.

The Associate Director plays a supporting role in discovery for their partners, contributing to partner onboarding, program launches, and portfolio expansions. They also act as a consistent second voice in partner relationships, bringing strategic grounding and cross-portfolio insight to partner engagements.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Practice & Framework Contribution
  • Contribute to one or more strategic practice areas (such as event strategy, lifecycle communications, content strategy framework, messaging architecture, or UX/student experience design).
  • Execute against shared strategic frameworks and contribute to their documentation and evolution.
  • Partner with other teams and SMEs to understand the possibilities and limitations as you contribute to and apply shared frameworks.
  • Maintain awareness of cross-portfolio patterns, what is working, what is drifting, and why.
  • Stay current on market trends, student behavior, and higher education recruitment best practices.
• Partner Engagement & Discovery
  • Develop familiarity with an assigned set of university partners and their corresponding programs.
  • Serve as a consistent second voice in partner relationships.
  • Participate in discovery engagements for new program launches and portfolio expansions.
  • Contribute to strategy sessions and workshops with university partner stakeholders.
  • Develop and deliver presentations that articulate strategy and recommend tactics.
• Lifecycle Communications & Student Experience Design
  • Lead the design and mapping of cross-channel lifecycle communications.
  • Oversee journey mapping processes to capture internal stakeholder perspectives.
  • Translate journey insights and partner priorities into clear, actionable briefs.
  • Contribute to brand strategy, messaging frameworks, and student experience design.
• Measurement & Visibility
  • Contribute to reporting on strategy performance.
  • Use data and analytical reasoning to identify gaps and flag recommendations.
  • Partner with analytics, SEO, and implementation teams to close feedback loops.
• Team and Organizational Contribution
  • Support peers and cross-functional collaborators in executing against shared frameworks.
  • Contribute to cross-functional initiatives.
  • Support knowledge transfer from discovery and strategy into creative and implementation teams.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in marketing strategy, brand strategy, content strategy, engagement communications, or a related field; higher education experience preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to work across multiple practice areas with developing strategic depth in at least one.
• Working understanding of cross-channel lifecycle communications and the student recruitment journey.
• Experience contributing to partner-facing strategy sessions, workshops, or discovery engagements.
• Comfort working in a matrixed environment where influence matters as much as authority.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• English fluency.

Bonus Points If You Have

• Experience in brand strategy, UX, content strategy, sales enablement, or SEO.
• Familiarity with higher education enrollment tools and CRM or marketing automation platforms.
• Experience contributing to discovery or go-to-market planning.
• Comfort navigating ambiguity and evolving team structures.

Requirements

• Must reside in the continental US, within close proximity to a major airport.
• Reliable high-speed internet connection required.
• Available during core hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with some flexibility by time zone.

Benefits

• Work from our beautiful NYC office OR the comfort of your home office!
• Computer and charger on us!
• 401(k) with company match, plus equity opportunities.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family.
• Employer-paid life and disability insurance.
• Optional voluntary coverage.
• Health Savings Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), and commuter benefits.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Paid parental leave.
• Wellness initiatives and resources.
• Free subscription to the Calm app.
• Employee discount program.
• 4 weeks of paid vacation + 10 paid holidays + paid sick leave.
• Monthly mobile connectivity stipend.
• Annual education stipend for lifelong learning.
• Growth opportunities.