Full-Time

Sr Director

Growth Marketing, Higher Education

Posted on 5/27/2025

Cengage Group

Cengage Group

1,001-5,000 employees

Global edtech company providing educational resources

Compensation Overview

$175k - $200k/yr

+ Incentive Compensation

Expert

Massachusetts, USA

Candidates are preferred to be based in Massachusetts.

Category
Growth Marketing
Growth & Marketing
Required Skills
Salesforce
Marketing
Google Analytics
Requirements
  • Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or a related field or master’s degree or equivalent experience.
  • Minimum of 12 years of progressive marketing experience, with 10+ years in leadership roles dedicated to customer acquisition, retention, or lifecycle marketing.
  • Proven ability to lead revenue-generating marketing strategies, with clear understanding of marketing-sourced pipeline, conversion optimization, and lifecycle impact.
  • Strong leadership and team-building skills, with experience leading both direct reports and matrixed execution teams.
  • Deep understanding of customer journeys across both B2B and B2C environments (faculty, student, institutional).
  • Expertise in multi-channel campaign strategy and modern demand generation practices, including automation, A/B testing, and funnel metrics.
  • Outstanding cross-functional collaboration skills; comfortable working across Product, Sales, and Operations.
  • Strong analytical skills and experience in applying performance dashboards, metrics, and measuring marketing return on investment.
  • Familiarity with marketing technology platforms (e.g., Salesforce, Google Analytics, etc.).
  • A growth mindset with a bias toward innovation, operational rigor, and measurable outcomes.
Responsibilities
  • Lead the Growth Marketing team, including the Growth Marketing, Director - Acquisition and Retention Marketing, Director.
  • Guide the creation of marketing strategies aligned with go-to-market priorities, working collaboratively with various teams.
  • Manage a group of campaign managers, demand generation specialists, and marketing coordinators tasked with achieving acquisition and lifecycle goals.
  • Foster a culture dedicated to excellence through strategic prioritization, teamwork, and accountability.
  • Own the end-to-end growth marketing strategy to deliver against share growth and customer value targets.
  • Translate business priorities and product strategy into measurable campaigns that drive marketing-sourced pipeline, increase conversion efficiency, and support marketing-closed revenue.
  • Align segmentation, messaging, and tactics across the funnel.
  • Drive engagement across the full customer lifecycle, from top-of-funnel acquisition to post-sale retention, upsell, and onboarding.
  • Ensure faculty and student experiences are personalized, timely, and aligned with behavioral and intent data.
  • Lead cross-functional teamwork to build scalable self-service programs and drive adoption efficiency.
  • Coordinate the planning and execution of full-funnel, multi-channel marketing campaigns using email, paid media, digital channels, and in-product touchpoints in partnership with Marketing Operations.
  • Collaborate with RevOps or equivalent experience and Marketing Analytics to establish critical metrics and track pipeline, conversion, and performance value.
  • Support a culture of experimentation and continuous optimization.
  • Partner closely with Product Marketing to translate GTM strategy into acquisition and lifecycle campaigns.
  • Collaborate with Sales Enablement and Sales Leadership to align campaign execution to selling motions.
  • Work with Institutional Marketing to coordinate customer touchpoints and with Brand to ensure messaging consistency.
  • Regularly assess and optimize team structure, tools, and processes to drive greater efficiency and impact.
  • Champion the use of marketing automation, segmentation, and performance analytics to scale efforts.
  • Mentor the team on modern growth tactics and data-informed decision-making.

Cengage Group provides educational resources and technology to support learners at various stages of their education, from middle school to graduate school and skills training. Their offerings include a wide range of quality content and tools that cater to different learning preferences and environments. The company operates through three main divisions: Cengage Academic, which focuses on academic resources; Cengage Work, which emphasizes career-oriented education; and Cengage Select, which offers tailored learning solutions. What sets Cengage apart from its competitors is its commitment to student choice, allowing learners to access materials in a way that best suits their needs. The goal of Cengage Group is to empower students worldwide to achieve their educational and career aspirations.

Company Size

1,001-5,000

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

$509.5M

Headquarters

Boston, Massachusetts

Founded

1903

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Cengage's digital offerings benefit from the rise of remote work and online learning.
  • Growing demand for micro-credentials aligns with Cengage's skills training programs.
  • Cengage's focus on diversity and inclusion enhances its educational content's relevance.

What critics are saying

  • AI-driven competitors like Coursera threaten Cengage's market share with advanced offerings.
  • Economic pressures may reduce educational institutions' spending on Cengage's products.
  • Open educational resources offer free alternatives, challenging Cengage's paid offerings.

What makes Cengage Group unique

  • Cengage Group integrates AI to create personalized educational content, enhancing learning experiences.
  • Visible Body acquisition strengthens Cengage's science offerings with interactive 3D models and simulations.
  • Cengage's Infosec Institute offers AI-powered cybersecurity training, addressing industry skill gaps.

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Benefits

Flexible Work Hours

Remote Work Options

Performance Bonus

Company News

PR Newswire
Mar 24th, 2025
Cengage Group Explores Ai'S Impact On Education At Asu+Gsv Summit 2025

BOSTON, March 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --What: Cengage Group, a global edtech company, today announced that four executives will speak at the 2025 ASU+GSV Summit, taking place next month in San Diego, Calif. ASU+GSV is a world-renowned education conference that brings together education, technology, business and government leaders to explore innovations in learning and skills development

PR Newswire
Mar 4th, 2025
New Ready To Hire Research Suggests Financial Barriers Preventing Gen Z From Closing The Skills Gap In The Skilled Trades

Research finds nearly all (98%) Gen Z jobseekers open to skilled trades careers would pursue those opportunities if training was funded and nearly 3 in 4 would be "extremely likely" to pursue programs offering paid training, revealing opportunities to attract new generation to manufacturing, healthcare and skilled tradesBOSTON, March 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ready to Hire, part of the skills training business of Cengage Group, a global edtech company, today released its Gen Z in the Skilled Workforce report - which surveyed 525 Gen Zers (age 18-29) currently working in or considering entry-level roles in manufacturing, skilled trades and healthcare - to better understand how they discover and evaluate career pathways. The research comes as industry estimates suggest that 4.2M U.S. workers are planning to retire next year, highlighting the urgent need for organizations to reach this next generation

Finsmes
Jan 13th, 2025
Cengage Group Acquires Visible Body

Cengage Group, a Boston, MA-based edtech company, acquired Visible Body, a company which specializes in interactive, 3D models and software for the sciences.The amount of the deal was not disclosed.This acquisition enhances Cengage Group’s science offerings across its portfolio, providing new mediums and interactive experiences for learners.Co-founded by CEO Andrew Bowditch and CFO Matthew Bowditc, Visible Body provides highly detailed, anatomically accurate 3D models of the body, which are developed by medical artists with degrees in biomedical illustration. The company offers more than 24,000 visual assets in seven languages, including animations and simulations, formative assessments and flashcards to test understanding. It is used at more than 1,000 institutions and provides a wide range of resources to support educators. Its immersive experience, including augmented and mixed reality offerings, lowers the barriers of access for real-world learnings in the sciences.Led by CEO Michael Hansen, Cengage Group, a global education technology company serving learners, provides digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. It serves education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide.FinSMEs13/01/2025

PR Newswire
Jan 8th, 2025
Cengage Group Earns Equality 100 Award In Human Rights Campaign Foundation'S 2025 Corporate Equality Index

Cengage Group has been recognized for the fifth consecutive year as a leader in LGBTQ+ workplace inclusionBOSTON, Jan. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Cengage Group, a global edtech company, today announced its score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's (HRCF) 2025 Corporate Equality Index (CEI). The CEI is the nation's foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality. This year's CEI includes 1,449 businesses –the highest number of companies rated since the start of the CEI in 2002

PR Newswire
Nov 15th, 2024
Infosec Institute'S Ai-Powered Skills Navigator Creates Customized Cybersecurity Training Plans In Seconds

Based only on job descriptions, organizations can effortlessly create tailored training plans for different cybersecurity roles and levels. MASON, Ohio, Nov. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosec Institute, a leading cybersecurity education provider and part of Cengage Group, today announced the launch of Infosec Skills Navigator, a groundbreaking addition to the Infosec Skills training platform. Leveraging generative AI (GenAI), the platform creates tailored training plans in seconds. Using only a job description or list of job duties, individuals, team leaders, and learning and development (LD) professionals can quickly get custom learning plans aligned with the skills recommended for success in each unique role. Training and retaining cybersecurity professionals remain a challenge across industries

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