Manager, Content Strategy & Marketing

Come join the Goddard Systems, LLC (GSL) corporate team, part of a nationally recognized brand with a strong reputation in early childhood education! GSL manages The Goddard School franchise system, supporting approximately 675+ schools across the United States and serving more than 100,000 children and families. Our corporate team enables the network by building the strategy, systems, and support that help schools deliver high-quality, play-based learning every day.

In this role, your work has reach across a national system, influencing how hundreds of franchise schools operate and how thousands of educators and families experience The Goddard School. You will collaborate with experienced professionals who are focused on strengthening performance, improving systems, and driving meaningful.

Position Summary

The Manager, Content Strategy & Marketing is a pivotal role within The Goddard School's Brand Marketing & Creative Services team. Sitting at the intersection of strategy, creativity and audience intelligence, this role serves as the architect and steward of our integrated content ecosystem — developing and executing content strategies that attract, engage and convert prospective families across every stage of their journey.

This role leads content strategy and channel planning across the full marketing ecosystem, oversees content creation across written, visual and multimedia formats, and owns the master cross-channel content calendar. A critical responsibility of this role is understanding how content fuels organic and local search visibility — and how an increasingly AI-driven discovery landscape is reshaping the way families find and evaluate early childhood education options. This leader will ensure Goddard's content ecosystem is built to meet prospective families wherever they are searching, whether on a traditional search engine or through an LLM-powered experience.

This is a highly collaborative role that works in close partnership with the Social Media Manager, Insights & Analytics, Corporate Communications, Paid Media and field marketing to ensure content is strategically unified, channel-coherent and built to perform. Leveraging The Goddard School's Brand & Creative Strategy Agency and Social Content Agency as key execution partners, this leader focuses on driving strategy, integration and measurable impact.

Responsibilities

Content Strategy & Planning

• Develop and execute the integrated content strategy for The Goddard School, aligned to brand positioning, enrollment marketing goals and the prospective family journey from awareness through conversion
• Define content pillars, messaging frameworks and channel-level content approaches that serve both brand-building and lead generation objectives
• Work in close partnership with the Social Media Manager to ensure content strategy is unified and coherent across all channels — with social as a fully integrated pillar of the broader ecosystem
• Identify content gaps and opportunities through audience research, competitive analysis and consumer insights, in close partnership with the Manager of Insights & Analytics
• Monitor emerging content trends and formats, continuously evolving the strategy to reflect how prospective families discover, consume and engage with content Content Calendar Management
• Own and manage the master cross-channel content calendar, working collaboratively with the Social Media Manager and key stakeholders to ensure all content is planned, sequenced and aligned to campaign priorities and business goals
• Ensure content is briefed, produced, approved and published on schedule across all channels
• Coordinate with internal partners and agency teams to ensure content flows seamlessly across organic and paid channels Content Creation & Channel Execution
• Lead the development of compelling, brand-consistent content across formats — including long-form editorial, short-form copy, video scripts, email, landing pages and digital advertising content
• Brief, manage and provide strategic direction to the Brand & Creative Strategy Agency, ensuring output meets quality, brand and strategic standards
• Serve as a senior content reviewer and brand voice guardian, ensuring consistency in tone, messaging and visual storytelling across all consumer-facing touchpoints
• Partner with the Associate Creative Director and creative team to ensure content strategy informs and elevates creative execution across campaigns and channels
• Partner with external agencies — Brand & Creative Strategy and Social Content — to ensure strategic alignment, brief quality, and high-quality output; support scope, timeline, and deliverable management in collaboration with the Creative Services Project Manager
  
  

Search & AI-Driven Discovery — Content as the Engine

• Partner closely with the Paid Media team to ensure content strategy is informed by SEO and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) insights, developing content that fuels organic and local search visibility for Goddard schools across markets
• Develop a deep fluency in how LLM-powered search tools — including Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and others — surface and prioritize content, ensuring Goddard's content ecosystem is structured to earn presence in AI-driven discovery experiences
• Build content that answers the real questions prospective families are asking at every stage of their search journey, from broad early childhood education queries to hyper-local school-specific searches
• Serve as an internal advocate and educator for AEO and LLM search best practices across the marketing team
  
  

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with the Director of Corporate Communications, PR & Events to align brand content with earned media, thought leadership and events storytelling
• Collaborate closely with the VP of Marketing's team to ensure content supports paid media strategy, field marketing initiatives and sales enablement needs
• Work in partnership with the Head of Marketing Sales & Technology to ensure content integrates effectively within the broader marketing technology and lead management ecosystem
• Build a strong, ongoing feedback loop with the Paid Media team — using search performance intelligence to continuously sharpen content strategy and ensure Goddard is capturing demand at the local level
  
  

People & Agency Management

• Directly manage and develop the Associate Brand Marketing Manager, providing clear direction, meaningful mentorship and intentional growth opportunities
  
  

Qualifications

• At least 6 years of progressive experience in content marketing, brand marketing or an integrated marketing role, ideally within a franchise, multi-location, consumer or education brand.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing content strategies that drive measurable business outcomes, including lead generation and enrollment or conversion growth.
• Experience managing or directing agency partners and internal creative or marketing team members.
• Experience managing direct reports with a demonstrated commitment to developing talent.
• Hands-on familiarity with SEO tools such as SEMrush, Moz or Google Search Console in a content strategy context.
• Experience working alongside or within paid media teams with an understanding of how organic content and paid amplification work together.
• Familiarity with marketing automation and CRM platforms such as HubSpot or Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
• Experience building local marketing content strategies at scale across multi-location or franchise brands is a plus.
• A genuine passion for purpose-driven brands and connecting families with meaningful, life-shaping experiences.
  
  

Skills & Competencies

• Strong command of content marketing across channels — including organic social, email, SEO-driven web content, video and digital advertising.
• Fluency in SEO principles and a working understanding of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and how LLM-driven search tools are reshaping content discoverability — candidates who are actively evolving their practice in this space will stand out.
• A natural collaborator with demonstrated experience building integrated content strategies across channel-specific functions.
• Exceptional written communication skills with the ability to adapt voice and tone across audiences, channels and formats.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to interpret content performance data and translate findings into actionable content decisions — in partnership with dedicated analytics and paid media resources.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
• Effective people leader who leads with clarity, fosters growth and brings out the best in those around them. There will be periodic requirements to travel for in-person events, at the discretion of your manager or the requirement of the company.