Senior Brand & Content Lead

Rice University; Houston (TX); Remote; USD 97,000 - 124,000; Full time

Job summary

Rice University OpenStax seeks a Senior Brand & Content Lead to own brand strategy, editorial voice, and external communications across K-12 and Higher Education markets. The role drives cross-functional collaboration with marketing, product, design, sales, and leadership while guiding the content calendar and owned channels.

You will oversee PR, executive messaging, and a consistent brand style across multi-audience content, including blogs, newsletters, podcasts, and social media, to advance

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of experience in brand management, content strategy, communications, marketing, or public relations.
• Experience owning brand or style guidelines and cross-audience messaging.

Responsibilities

• Own brand strategy, editorial voice, and external content across K-12 and Higher Education markets.
• Lead public relations, media relations, and external communications.
• Oversee content calendar and owned channels (blog, newsletters, podcast, social).
• Collaborate with growth, events, product, design, sales, and leadership across teams.

Skills

Brand management

Content strategy

Editorial voice

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Editorial calendars

Project management

Communication

Content governance

AI in content

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Salesforce

Pardot

Content collaboration tools

Job description

Job Description

The Senior Brand & Content Lead within OpenStax at RiceUniversity owns brand strategy, editorial voice, and external content and communications across the OpenStax K-12 and HigherEducation markets. OpenStax is a nonprofit educational initiativeof Rice University that publishes free, peer-reviewed, openlylicensed textbooks and builds interactive teaching and learningtools used by students and educators across high school and highereducation. Working under the direction of OpenStax marketingleadership, the Senior Brand & Content Lead develops andimplements complex, multi-audience communications and marketingstrategies; sets, governs, and enforces the OpenStax brand andstyle guide; leads public relations, media relations, and externalcommunications; supports executive messaging; owns the editorialvoice, content calendar, and the organization’s owned contentchannels, including the blog, newsletters, podcast, and socialmedia; and serves as a core member of the cross-functional productmarketing group, contributing to positioning, messaging, andsales-facing collateral. This is an individual-contributor rolethat drives cross-functional collaboration across marketing,product, design, sales, and leadership and provides expert guidanceand mentorship to colleagues without formal supervisoryauthority.

About OpenStax

OpenStax is a nonprofit educational initiative of Rice University.OpenStax publishes free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed textbooksand builds interactive teaching and learning tools that are used bystudents and educators across high school and higher education. Ourmission is to make an amazing education accessible to all, and ourwork spans both the K-12 and Higher Education markets, from opentextbooks and courseware to research partnerships and instructorsupport.

Ideal Candidate Statement

The ideal candidate is an accomplished brand and contentprofessional who can maintain a consistent voice across verydifferent audiences, including high school teachers, collegefaculty, students, supporters, and the press, without diminishingwhat makes each audience distinct. You have owned a brand or styleguide and enforced it with care and good judgment, and you arecomfortable being the final authority on brand questions whilebringing colleagues along rather than simply overruling them. Youwrite well and edit even better. You can manage an editorialcalendar across multiple channels and markets simultaneously, andyou know how to work with growth, events, design, product, andsales colleagues who do not report to you. You are at ease handlinga media inquiry, shaping an executive message, and reviewing asales one-pager in the same week. Most of all, you are motivated bya mission that puts free, high-quality learning materials into thehands of students who need them.

Workplace Requirements

This is a desk-based, computer-intensive role performed in a remotehome-office environment. Reliable high-speed internet access and asuitable, distraction-minimized workspace are required. Occasionaltravel is required for team meetings, conferences, partner andpress events, and organizational convenings.

Physical and environmental requirements for this classification

• Movement: Walk, Occasionally (<3%); Climb Stairs,Ladders, Inclines, Objects/Equipment, Step Ladders, Rarely/AsRequired
• Mobility: Sitting, Standing, As Required; RepetitiveHand/Wrist/Finger Movement, Frequently
• Weight: 0-20 lbs.
• Sensory: Vision, Depth Perception, Hearing, Touch,Dexterity, Speech
• Environment: Office/Indoor
• Computer/Visual: Close visual acuity required forviewing computer monitors, reading documents, analyzinginformation, and performing computer-based work.

Rice provides reasonable accommodations to qualified persons withdisabilities so that they can perform the essential functions ofthis role.

Workplace Location

This position is fully remote, permitting all tasks to be completedfrom any location within the United States. Working hours willremain on Central Standard Time. Per Ricepolicy 440 , work arrangements may be subject to change.

Hiring Range

$96,859 - $123,624

*Exempt (salaried) positions under FLSA are not eligible for overtime.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree
  • In lieu of the education requirement, additional relatedexperience above and beyond what is required may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis.
• Four or more (4+) years of experience in brand management,content strategy, communications, marketing, or publicrelations

Skills

• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Strong leadership and strategic-management skills
• Strong project-management and organizational skills
• Strong organizational and creative skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong editorial and brand judgment, including experiencedeveloping or maintaining brand or style guidelines
• Ability to manage multiple content workstreams and editorialcalendars simultaneously
• Ability to collaborate effectively and build consensus withcolleagues across teams without formal authority over them
• Proficiency with standard office and content-collaborationtools
• Familiarity with responsible AI tools and strategies forcontent and marketing purposes

Preferences

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism,Writing, or a related field
• Eight or more (8+) years of experience in brand management,content strategy, communications, or public relations, includingexperience developing or maintaining brand or styleguidelines
• Experience in a nonprofit, higher education, K-12, or edtechorganization
• Experience owning brand or content strategy across more thanone audience or product line simultaneously
• Direct experience with media relations, press outreach, orexecutive communications
• Experience contributing to product marketing or sales-facingcollateral as part of a cross-functional group
• Familiarity with marketing automation or CRM platforms (e.g.,Salesforce, Pardot)

Essential Functions

• Responsible for overseeing strategic long-range plans andprograms to meet organizational objectives for a school ordepartment
• Crafts and defines the comprehensive communication and brandstrategy for the organization, adeptly incorporating diversechannels to amplify the institution’s presence and reputation
• Directly oversees and strategically manages vendorrelationships at a level that significantly influences departmentaloutcomes and organizational objectives
• Innovates, writes, designs, and orchestrates the production ofsophisticated marketing and communication materials, ensuring acohesive and impactful organizational image
• Leads comprehensive market-research and analysis initiatives,employing advanced methodologies to derive actionable insights forstrategic decision-making
• Guides the organization in using results to inform strategicmarketing direction, product segmentation, and customertargeting
• Participates in university-wide and/or organization-wideinitiatives and cross-functional teams to establish theorganization as a strategic partner and thought leader
• Provides expert guidance and mentorship to team members,fostering a collaborative and high-performing culture within theorganization
• Owns brand strategy and governance for OpenStax, includingsign-off and enforcement of the brand and style guide across K-12and Higher Education marketing
• Leads public relations and communications, including mediainquiries, press releases, and other external communications, andsupports executive messaging as needed
• Owns the editorial voice and content calendar across K-12 andHigher Education marketing, coordinating with the growth/demand andevents functions to keep messaging consistent across channels
• Serves as a core member of the cross-functional productmarketing group, contributing to positioning, messaging, andsales-facing collateral alongside marketing and productcolleagues
• Owns and grows OpenStax’s owned content channels, including theblog, newsletters, podcast, and social media, across the K-12 andHigher Education markets
• Performs all other duties as assigned

Additional Functions

• Partners with the Design Lead on brand execution across visualand written materials, ensuring consistency between design andcontent.
• Supports the development of sales and marketing materials,including one-pagers, decks, and other collateral, in partnershipwith sales and marketing colleagues.
• Contributes to a culture of learning, collaboration, andcontinuous improvement across the OpenStax team.
• Performs other duties as assigned in support of OpenStax andRice department and program objectives.

Rice University HR | Benefits:

https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits

Rice Mission and Values:

Mission and Values | RiceUniversity

Rice University is committed to ensuring Equal EmploymentOpportunity and welcoming the fullness of diversity into ourcandidate pools. Rice considers qualified applicants for employmentwithout regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexualorientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, geneticinformation, disability, or protected veteran status. Rice alsoprovides reasonable accommodations to qualified persons withdisabilities.

If an applicant requires a reasonable accommodationfor any part of the application or hiring process, please get intouch with Rice University’s Human Resources Office via email at [e-mail] for support.

Please email us at [e-mail] . Thank you for yourinterest in employment with Rice University.