Job Details

Senior Marketing Communications Specialist or Marketing Communications Specialist - SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education

Apply for this job

Position Number: 6962015
Location: Boulder, CO
Position Type: Public Relations, Marketing and Communications

Senior Marketing Communications Specialist or Marketing Communications Specialist - SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education

Requisition Number: 70322
Location: Boulder Colorado
Employment Type: University Staff
Schedule: Full Time
Posting Close Date: 03-Mar-2026
Date Posted:

Job Summary

We invite applications for a Senior Marketing Communications Specialist or Marketing Communications Specialist (MCS) at the SPIKE Center! This role, which will be hired at either the Senior Professional or Professional level, will lead marketing and communications efforts at the SPIKE Center. Reporting directly to the SPIKE Center Director of Partnerships and Engagement and indirectly to the Strategic Relations and Communications Director of Communications for Sustainability and Engagement, the MCS role will focus on students and will also serve employer, faculty, and staff audiences. Details on the various audience, formats, and channels are outlined below. For all of the various tactics, the MCS will engage in the strategy (audience, message, journeys, channels, etc.), lead the execution, and then collect and analyze performance metrics to drive continuous improvement. CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Who We Are

The University of Colorado Boulder has launched the SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education, a bold new initiative under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Sustainability (OVCS), supported by a transformational gift. The goal of the center is to further integrate and expand sustainability education into the curriculum offerings across all of CU Boulder's departments and degree programs, elevate the campus' baseline sustainability literacy, and develop the university as a leader in sustainability education nationally and internationally.The SPIKE Center seeks to enable CU Boulder to produce future generations of leaders and collaborators making sustainability impact at a rate and quality that significantly benefits our planet and future. The SPIKE Center aims to do so by working with all Divisions, Schools and Colleges across CU Boulder to implement a sustainability curriculum, to build experience-based learning opportunities with students in partnership with employers, to engage faculty and staff with resources and insights, and to engage students regarding educational opportunities around sustainability at CU and professional opportunities post-graduation.

What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be

Student Marketing & Communications

For the SPIKE Center to fulfill its mission, it must rapidly increase the proportion of students who focus their CU Boulder education on sustainability. To drive this shift, the person in this role will deliver marketing that drives awareness and adoption of sustainability curricular and extracurricular offerings.
The SPIKE Center envisions that the marketing that pursues the student audience be driven and produced by students themselves, as such authentic, peer-generated content is most effective at reaching such audiences. The MCS will hire and supervise a group of Sustainability Student Ambassadors (hourly student employees) to drive this effort. The MCS will direct the work of these ambassadors and their engagement with the larger student population to effectively produce and distribute video content.
The precise tactics will be developed in collaboration with students. Given time spent among students consuming short-form video on channels such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, such content and distribution will be the likely focus. We also anticipate posts on LinkedIn and perhaps BlueSky. The MCS will work with students to experiment with different approaches and learn from them.
Given the physical concentration of the CU campus and community, in-person events are another great opportunity for reaching students, including possibilities such as zines, postcards, or exhibits. Again, these are envisioned as possibilities to be steered by students and the SPIKE Center seeks an MCS with experience who can guide students in developing impactful and inclusive publicity.

Employer Marketing & Communications

The SPIKE Center also seeks to provide students with sustainability rich experience-based learning opportunities that have a strong connection to employers. Such experiences help develop a portfolio of evidence of job-readiness, enhance students' professional networks, and ultimately should lead to career opportunities. To provide these experiences, the SPIKE Center must rapidly build a network of professionals and companies in the sustainability sector who would be interested in partnering with CU Boulder to provide these experiences for students.
The MCS will lead marketing efforts to sustainability professionals regionally and perhaps globally. It is envisioned that this effort will focus on producing and distributing content telling the stories of sustainability professionals who are partnering with CU Boulder, with the stories (posts and video shorts) distributed primarily through LinkedIn (and other social platforms) in accessible formats that are spreadable. The intention is that awareness of the opportunity at CU Boulder for employers will be driven as such stories are shared, thereby building the network.

General Marketing & Communications

The MCS's efforts also will focus on general marketing and communications for the SPIKE Center. This includes publicizing the work of faculty and staff, although the majority of the outreach to that audience will occur person-to-person between SPIKE team members and faculty and staff across the campus. Channels may include email, website updates and articles (including use of Drupal CMS), LinkedIn and other social channels, and in-person events. Content activities include copywriting, signage, and other materials for in-person events, the use of Alt-Text, and video production.

What You Should Know

The work schedule will consist of traditional business hours (8:00am-5:00pm), with occasional requests for evening and/or weekend event staffing.
This position offers a hybrid work modality with some in-person and some remote work as prioritized by the business needs of the office.
Once the center's physical location is established, this position is expected to provide regular, in-person staffing at the center to ensure coverage during campus regular operating hours.

What We Can Offer

The annual salary range for this full-time position is:

Professional Level: $58,200-$64,000.
Senior Professional Level: $70,900-$72,000.

Relocation is available for eligible candidates.

Benefits

At the University of Colorado Boulder, we are committed to supporting the holistic health and well-being of our employees. Our comprehensive benefits package includes medical, dental, and retirement plans; generous paid time off; tuition assistance for you and your dependents; and an ECO Pass for local transit. As one of Boulder County's largest employers, CU Boulder offers an inspiring academic community and access to world-class outdoor recreation. Explore additional perks and programs through the CU Advantage program.

Be Statements

Be creative. Be impactful. Be Boulder.

What We Require

For the Professional level:

Bachelor's degree and 1+ years of related professional experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
Experience producing and distributing video to undergraduate student audiences or similar audiences via social networks
Professional development experience or mentorship experience

For the Senior Professional level:

Bachelor's degree and 3+ years of related professional experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
Experience producing and distributing video to undergraduate student audiences or similar audiences via social networks
Professional development experience or mentorship experience

What You Will Need

Strong writing skills
Passion for sustainability
Respectful, accountable, self-motivated to work well with groups and independently
Proficient with lightweight design tools such as Canva
Willingness to support students and colleagues as part of a team
Willingness to learn

Special Instructions

To apply, please submit the following materials:

A current resume.
A cover letter that specifically tells us how your background and experience align with the requirements, qualifications, and responsibilities of the position.
Please upload a link to a video that you helped produce or distribute. It can be of any length and need not be highly produced.

We may request references at a later time.Please apply by March 3, 2026 for consideration.Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email. For consideration, please apply through CU Boulder Jobs.
In compliance with the Colorado Job Application Fairness Act, in any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

To apply, visit https://jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDetail/Senior-Marketing-Communications-Specialist-or-Marketing-Communications-Specialist-SPIKE-Center-for-Sustainability-Education/70322