Director, Social Media & Narrative Strategy Intercollegiate Athletics

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Departmental Overview

The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics consists of more than 275 staff members and coaches and sponsors 30 varsity sports programs. These 30 programs include more than 850 student-athletes who participate in the various sports programs annually within the National Collegiate Athletics Association.

Position Summary

The Director, Social Media & Narrative Strategy leads the department's digital evolution by transforming raw fan data into compelling narratives that advance the Cal brand, drive fan engagement, ticket sales, donations, sponsorship value, and student-athlete recruitment and retention. This position serves as a data-driven storyteller responsible for building a seamless "digital fan/athlete journey" across consumer segments that maximizes ROI and generates new fans across all owned and paid platforms. The Director, Social Media & Narrative Strategy, leads the strategy, planning, and organizational alignment of all of the Cal Athletics social media accounts in collaboration with sport-specific leads. The primary goal is to enhance the program's national reputation to attract elite recruits and brands, and to engage the fan base through authentic storytelling with an eye toward student-athlete acquisition and revenue generation. This role collaborates extensively with internal units to lead the seamless integration of all digital platforms and tools within the strategic framework of the department to drive decision making. Additionally, the position maintains key external contacts, including an influencer network for partnerships and collaborations. The Director, Social Media & Narrative Strategy is responsible for recruiting, building, and supervising a consistent workforce of students and interns to scale digital support across the department and oversees the creation of a comprehensive digital training program for student staff to mentor them in professional-level storytelling and ensure a consistent brand story across Athletics.

Application Review Date

The First Review Date for this job is: June 22, 2026. For full consideration, please apply on or before the first review date.

Responsibilities

Data-Driven Creation and Decision Making

• Build and oversee an integrated analytics framework to track the full fan and recruit lifecycle.
• Leverage the analytics and develop a dashboard to make data-driven decisions around content creation that increase conversion rates, optimize engagement rates, increase followers, and maximize ROI.
• Translate complex datasets into executive-level insight stories and dashboards that guide departmental strategy and create a reporting mechanism for department visibility.

• Direct a multi-channel content strategy to authentically tell the Cal brand story through athlete-driven narratives and exclusive access.
• Collaborate with creative and athletic teams to ensure every piece of digital content drives a specific "Call to Action" and consistent brand narrative.
• Leverage NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) opportunities within the overall Marketing strategy to integrate student-athlete stories into the department's commercial ecosystem.

• Own the digital sales funnel for tradition and new revenue streams, including season tickets, premium seating, key donation tent poles, auctions, loyalty programs and other digital workstreams.
• Optimize Cal's tech stack (e.g., Sidearm Sports, Paciolin, Google Analytics) to take advantage of key revenue generating moments throughout the calendar year.
• Partner with external sponsorship agencies (e.g., Learfield, TheLinkU) to monetize digital inventory through data-backed partner activations.

• Manage digital ecosystem budgets, track expenses, and evaluate the fan engagement via feedback and data to improve future stories.

• Own the Cal Athletics digital influencer network for collaborations and other brand advancing initiatives.

• Govern the post-campaign review process by analyzing fan engagement and digital performance; implement continuous improvements to maintain Power 4 conference excellence.

• Advanced knowledge of program activity and best practices.
• Problem-solving skills; multi-task, work with frequent interruptions, and effective listener.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in the English language.
• Proficiency in the use of computer applications relevant to job duties and/or the ability to learn.
• Mastery of tracking the fan/recruit lifecycle using tools and dashboards.
• Ability to build executive-level dashboards that translate complex raw data into actionable "insight stories."
• Expert knowledge of integrating disparate digital tools to create a seamless user journey.
• Deep understanding of A/B testing and digital sales funnels to maximize ticket sales and donation ROI.
• Skill in directing cohesive narratives across social media, web, and email that drive specific "Calls to Action."
• Knowledge of integrating Name, Image, and Likness opportunities into the broader college athletics commercial ecosystem.
• Experience in building and managing a network of digital influencers to amplify brand reach and student-athlete recruitment.
• Familiarity with emerging AI tools for content personalization, automated fan engagement, and workflow efficiency.
• Proven ability to partner with agencies to value and sell digital inventory through data-backed activations.
• Skill in managing complex digital budgets while providing post-campaign analysis to justify spend.
• Ability to design a "digital training program" that scales professional-level storytelling through a student and intern workforce.
• Capability to align Creative, Development (donations), and Ticket Office units under one unified digital framework.
• Strong skills in coaching and mentoring lower level staff, students, and interns.
• Time and project management skills to effectively establish priorities and meet competing deadlines both for themself and the team.
• Interpersonal communications and people management skills to interact effectively with a variety of clients, staff and vendors.
• Strong skills and fiscal responsibility to plan and manage the Digital Ecosystems budget.
• Must maintain current knowledge of applicable rules and standards of the Pacific-12 Conference, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), as well as other associations and agencies to which the Berkeley campus of the University of California adheres, and, at all times avoid any and all violations of these rules and standards and/or the ability to learn.

• None listed.

• Bachelor's degree in related area and / or equivalent experience / training

• This is an exempt, monthly-paid position.
• This is a full-time (40 hours/week) Career position eligible for UC benefits.

• This is not a visa opportunity. This position does not include sponsorship of a new consular H-1B visa petition that would require payment of the $100,000 supplemental fee.
• This position will be governed by the terms and conditions in the agreement for the Communications, Marketing, and Sales Professionals, represented by the UAW.