Brand and Growth Associate Manager (South Africa) at Nova Pioneer

About the role:

• The Brand and Growth Associate Manager drives measurable enrolment demand while strengthening Nova Pioneer’s brand. This role translates enrolment priorities into well-run, insight-led campaigns across digital and offline channels, ensuring we are speaking to the right families in the right way. It also ensures our messaging, content and customer journey are coherent from first touch through application and arrival on their first day as a Novaneer.
• The role is both strategic and hands-on: setting direction, building plans, coordinating execution, tracking performance and driving iteration. It leads a small team of Coordinators and works closely with Admissions and campus teams to deliver outcomes.

Key responsibilities for the role include:
Brand leadership and messaging

• Lead Nova Pioneer’s brand messaging so we are understood clearly and consistently across campaigns and channels
• Build and maintain a practical understanding of our customer and what drives school choice, using research, campus and admissions input, competitor signals and funnel learnings (including occasional agency-supported research where needed)
• Use these insights to strengthen our positioning, value proposition, messaging focus, priority segments and how we address objections and build trust
• Evolve brand positioning and messaging pillars as Nova Pioneer grows and changes, ensuring our story stays current and credible
• Support brand reputation readiness through clear narrative discipline, proof guidelines and escalation pathways when needed

Growth marketing and demand generation

• Build and run campaign plans that drive lead generation, nurture and conversion into applications and assessment attendance
• Manage segmentation, targeting and audience journeys across the funnel (reach through conversion)
• Work with paid, organic and on-the-ground channels to deliver the right mix per campus and priority
• Identify conversion bottlenecks and implement improvements (journey fixes, content upgrades, process changes)
• Owns campaign budget allocation within approved limits, making trade-offs across channels and campuses to maximise enrolment impact.

Campaign management and execution

• Own end-to-end campaign delivery: briefs, timelines, dependencies, approvals, launch and post-campaign learning
• Coordinate internal and external partners (design, video, paid digital support, web support as applicable)
• Ensure campaigns are operationally tight, on time and on brand
• Create reusable playbooks so successful campaigns can be repeated across campuses with minimal rework

Performance, insights and reporting

• Track performance using dashboards and core metrics (leads, conversion rates, cost per lead, cost per enrolment, yield indicators)
• Produce clear regular reporting with insights and actions, not just numbers
• Use learnings to improve creative, targeting, journeys and channel mix over time
• Maintain strong data hygiene and disciplined campaign tagging and documentation

​​​​​​​Team leadership and ways of working

• Deliver outcomes through the team by setting clear direction, prioritising well and ensuring strong day-to-day execution
• Line manages the Marketing Coordinator (and Brand Coordinator when hired) with clear priorities, coaching and feedback
• Create simple systems for planning, execution and handover so work does not depend on one person

About You

Experience

• 4–7 years in marketing, growth marketing, brand, communications or campaign management
• Proven experience developing and applying brand messaging/positioning across campaigns and channels (not just execution)
• Proven experience running multi-channel campaigns end-to-end with measurable outcomes
• Strong track record using data and insights to diagnose performance, improve conversion and optimise channel and campaign ROI
• Experience managing or mentoring at least one direct report or project team
• Experience driving parent-focused marketing and enrolment campaigns within a school or education group would be advantageous

Skills and Capabilities

• Campaign strategy and planning (briefing, prioritisation, phasing, channel selection)
• Strong writing and messaging ability (clear positioning, proof points, parent-friendly communication)
• Data-informed decision making (funnels, conversion analysis, ROI thinking, testing mindset)
• Project management and operational excellence (timelines, stakeholder management, risk management)
• Creative judgment (quality bar for content, brand consistency, strong briefs)
• Systems comfort (CRM and reporting workflows, especially Salesforce; good spreadsheet and dashboard habits)
• Leadership and ownership (runs work independently, solves problems without waiting to be led)
• Collaboration and influence (works effectively with school leaders, admissions and central teams)

Education (recommended)

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business or related field (or equivalent experience)

Working Style Expectation 

• High ownership, clear structure, solutions-first execution
• Comfortable in a fast-moving environment with multiple campuses and priorities
• Willing to be hands-on while building systems that scale
• Strong stakeholder management across schools and central teams, with the judgment to balance brand consistency and campus nuance
• Takes a learning mindset – tests, learns and improves quickly using data and feedback
• Sets a high-quality bar while staying practical and delivery-focused
• Builds trust through clear communication, calm problem-solving and strong follow-through