Associate Director, Performance and Digital

Job Description

Auckland | Permanent | Full-time

Hybrid working environment (mix of on-site / work from home)

Marketing & Recruitment, Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland

$134,900 - $202,500 per annum (Band J), based on experience

• Own the strategy, governance and performance of a University-wide digital and performance marketing capability
• Purpose over products – ours are creating knowledge, transforming lives, shaping futures
• Balance ambitious work with flexibility - hybrid work, 37.5-hour week, and inclusive benefits that recognise life beyond work

Te Whiwhinga mahi | The opportunity

This is a senior leadership role for someone who can set the strategic and operational agenda for performance marketing and digital at university scale. Someone who still wants to be close enough to the work to know how it actually gets delivered.

Reporting to the Director of Marketing and Recruitment, you'll set the strategic direction, governance and operating framework for the University's performance marketing and digital capability, and lead three specialist managers; Web, Digital and Content, and Digital Marketing, through to delivery. You'll own significant media and technology budgets, shape a connected digital experience across every channel and touchpoint in the prospective student journey, and manage the agency and platform partnerships that support it.

You'll be part of the Marketing and Recruitment senior leadership team, sharing accountability for outcomes that go beyond your own portfolio; driving the digital and performance maturity of the wider University.

Find out more about our reimagining of digital, web and performance, and our broader Marketing, Recruitment, Communications and Engagement functions.

Key areas of focus include:

• Setting and leading the University's performance marketing strategy across all paid digital channels
• Driving acquisition, conversion and pipeline quality across the full student recruitment funnel
• Providing strategic leadership across web, digital platforms and marketing automation
• Building advanced measurement, attribution and ROI frameworks, and translating them into decisions senior stakeholders can act on
• Establishing enterprise-level governance for digital and performance investment, risk and compliance
• Leading and growing a high-performing team, and lifting digital capability and ways of working across the University
• Running experimentation, CRO and customer-journey optimisation programmes
• Managing agency and partnerships while building in-house capability over time
• Championing data-informed decision-making and performance transparency across the function

This is a full-time, permanent opportunity. The full salary range for this role is $134,900 - $202,500 per annum (Band J).

We have a structured salary framework with three zones for those developing into the role (developing), fully effective (target) and contributing beyond what is expected of the role (upper). Salary decisions for individual appointments are made based on skills, experience, and internal equity. We welcome conversations about your expectations and what matters to you in your overall package. Any offer will be made within the advertised range and guided by fairness, consistency, and our commitment to pay equity.

For more detailed information about the role and requirements, please refer to the Position Description.

He kōrero mōu | About you

You could be leading performance marketing, digital or growth for a large, complex organisation, or leading a portfolio of clients at an agency. Either way, you understand how modern acquisition ecosystems work end to end, and you know how to lead the people and functions that run them.

You've likely built acquisition programmes from the ground up, scaled marketing technology platforms, led digital optimisation initiatives, or grown high-performing performance marketing teams. What matters most is that you understand how digital performance actually works, and that you can build a function that's sustainable, ethical and built to keep improving.

We're particularly interested in people who bring:

• Significant experience leading performance marketing at scale, in a large or complex organisation
• Deep expertise across paid search, paid social, programmatic and digital acquisition
• Experience owning a marketing technology, automation and analytics stack
• Strong commercial and analytical judgement
• A track record of leading digital transformation and capability uplift
• Proven people leadership, including through change
• A track record of using data to sharpen marketing performance and investment decisions
• A genuine appetite for continuous improvement and innovation

Ngā āhuatanga kei a mātou | What we offer

Few organisations can offer the scale, complexity and opportunity available in this role.

This is a chance to join at the beginning of a significant transformation and shape the future of digital marketing for one of New Zealand's most recognised organisations. You'll have the opportunity to influence strategy, technology, capability and ways of working while building a function designed for long-term success.

For the right person, this is an opportunity to achieve in a few years what may take considerably longer within a more mature organisation. You'll help define the future state, build capability, develop talent and leave a lasting impact on an organisation that influences thousands of people every day.

Beyond the work itself, you'll be joining a vibrant and inclusive community. From staff networks and cultural communities to social clubs, volunteering opportunities, wellbeing initiatives and campus events, there are countless ways to connect, contribute and build meaningful relationships across the University.

We also offer:

• A commitment to work/life balance with a 37.5 hour working week, flexible hours and hybrid/remote working patterns
• A competitive remuneration package with up to 6.75% super, annual salary increase with performance-based multiplier
• Time to recharge and disconnect with 5 weeks' annual leave and additional leave buy/sell scheme,
• Support for parents and carers with subsidised on-site childcare (including Kōhanga Reo), gender-neutral parental leave up to 9 weeks’ full pay, on-site parenting and feeding spaces
• A commitment to the wellbeing of our people with confidential access to a range of EAP services, including mental health counselling, financial guidance, neurodiversity coaching and rongoā services, a world-class on-site fitness centre, access to student specialists across our supervised training clinics, discounted health insurance.
• The opportunity to grow with access to an extensive programme of professional, leadership and cultural development, including digital capability coaching, specialised leadership development programmes, and Te Ao and Te Reo Māori learning programmes for staff
• The opportunity to build your career with one of Aotearoa New Zealand's most diverse and complex organisations

Me pēhea te tuku tono | How to apply

Please submit an application online by the closing date of Sunday 27th September 2026. Please include your cover letter and your CV highlighting your interest in the role, your capabilities and relevant experience.

Please reach out to Faith Pallant, Recruitment Manager on [email protected] with any questions.

Reasonable accommodations - We are committed to building a more equitable and inclusive workforce and workplace, so we encourage applicants to reach out to discuss any reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process, including alternative ways to submit applications.

Whānau and support people - Should you be invited to an interview for this role, your whānau members and/or support people will be welcome to join you. The recruiter or hiring manager will provide more information about this as part of the interview arrangements.

Additional Information

Equity

The University is committed to meeting its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi and achieving equity outcomes for staff and students in a safe, inclusive, and equitable environment.  For further information on services for Māori, Pacific, women, LGBTQIATakatāpuiMVPFAFF+, people with disabilities, parenting support, flexible work and other personal circumstances go to www.equity.auckland.ac.nz