Associate Director, Photography and Digital Asset Management

Position Description

Great opportunity for a skilled and creative photographer to help define the story of Santa Clara University and its community through compelling photography in a content-rich environment. Capture the beauty of our campus, our diverse Bronco community, the stories of our students and professors, and the essence of Santa Clara’s education through your lens. Through your work, you will help define the University’s visual style and set direction for communicators across the University. This includes oversight of our digital asset management system as a resource for communicators across the University. This is an exciting time to join as we embark on a new brand storytelling initiative for the University and are looking for a photographer who can help us establish that new vision.

Reporting to the Art Director, the Associate Director, Photography will be an important part of the visual design team. A strong working partnership with the Associate Director of Video Production also will be important, along with forging a strong collaborative relationship with print and web designers, storytelling, social media, magazine, and news team partners on the UMC team.

Job Responsibilities

Photography Production

• Responsible for all technical aspects of photography by serving as the Santa Clara University Associate Director, Photography. Create opportunities for elevating University Marketing projects by proactively seeking out, planning, and executing day-to-day and long-term photography projects at your discretion to support the University Marketing and Communications Division, campus partners, and their various initiatives and strategies.
• Develop a new photography style and visual language for the University as UMC works on initiatives to create efficient processes, reiterating when appropriate.
• Be the UMC champion of that style, and provide direction for community partners to align with Santa Clara University’s visual language and gain commitment from said stakeholders.
• Execute strategies that communicate the differences between the brands at SCU while still aligning with the style and visual language developed by UMC.
• Forge and maintain relationships with partners on campus to keep informed on new opportunities for UMC to feature in future marketing, leading best-practice and workshops.
• Leads internal and external marketing initiatives and strategies collaboratively that feature photography but also other creative assets.
• Partner with Project Managers to scope and manage photography shoot logistics for UMC and various campus clients and organizations, whether conducting them personally or managing an outside vendor, and occasionally on tight deadlines.
• Establish production schedules that consider factors such as talent availability, other events held on or around campus, budget limitations, time of year (e.g. environmental considerations), obtaining other resources needed to execute the photoshoot, etc. to execute photo projects.
• Utilize the design team, vendors, other units on campus, and your own technical skills and artistic eye to deliver high-quality creative assets in post-production. This includes editing, color corrections, and other adjustments to photography and related assets.
• Manage student workers under your direction with various aspects of photography to populate the Digital Asset Management (DAM) system and for social media.
• Coordinate photo reproduction in various formats as needed.
• Research vendors and tools to meet SCU’s photography needs and adhere to university policies when obtaining them.
• Own photographer-vendor relationships to provide consistent and timely communication during projects ranging from University hosted events to unit-specific photoshoots.
• Research industry and competitor trends, pitch new content ideas with extra attention to high-impact photography optimized for social media and produce the approved ideas.
• Pack and transport cameras, tripods, lighting, and other associated equipment to all necessary locations. At times, this position requires that you operate a motor vehicle. A valid driver's license is required.
• Procure, manage, and maintain all equipment needed for photography (camera, lights, etc.).
• Cast university-affiliated talent to appear in marketing photoshoots, including managing and maintaining a wardrobe of SCU-branded apparel in various sizes.

Digital Asset Management

• Create a visual consistency and manage assets that empower marketing teams across the University that reflect our unique identity as a Jesuit university in the heart of Silicon Valley and align with our strategic goals.
• Prioritize and organize the assets in a way that matches the visual consistency of the University.
• Create and manage tagging and file taxonomy for SCU’s entire creative library, including photography, videography, etc.
• Evaluate, communicate, and establish day-to-day administration of SCU’s digital asset management system (Cloudinary), including occasionally heavy data entry to maintain good processes and folder structures for all teams.
• Maintain our relationship with Cloudinary and continue to learn new features, functionality, and implications of future changes of policy as they are added.
• Create a workflow to independently meet with SCU teams to find, ingest, and organize photo and video assets into the creative library and DAM.
• Search for and purchase stock imagery/footage/etc.
• Facilitate communication of policies and procedures between internal staff and campus partners; evaluate established procedures and suggest ways to improve the use of SCU-owned images, stock images/footage/etc, as needed.
• Manage photo releases from talent during photoshoots.
• Establish a process for ongoing management of digital asset hygiene (e.g., remove/archive older or irrelevant assets from the DAM).
• Direct student workers as they assist with managing our digital assets.

Provides Work Direction

• Draft job descriptions for positions held by student employees.
• Post job openings on Workday, conduct interviews and selection of student employees.
• Supervise, train and mentor student employees, including timesheet approvals.

General Guidelines

• Recommends initiatives and implements changes to improve quality and services.
• Identifies and determines cause of problems; develops and presents recommendations for improvement of established processes and practices.
• Maintains contact with internal and external stakeholders and solicits feedback for improved services.
• Maximizes productivity through use of appropriate tools; planned training and performance initiatives.
• Researches and develops resources that create timely and efficient workflow.
• Prepares progress reports; informs supervisor of project status; and deviation from goals. Ensures completeness, accuracy and timeliness of all operational functions.
• Prepares and submits reports as requested and required.
• Develops and implements guidelines to support the functions of the unit.

Qualifications

This position requires the ability to effectively establish and maintain cooperative working relationships within a diverse multicultural environment.

Education

Bachelor’s degree required.

Experience

• Minimum 6 years experience as a marketing-focused photographer. Experience covering events and portrait photography is a plus.
• 3+ years of experience using a DAM tool with the flexibility to learn new systems.
• Experience with digital asset management systems (Preferred: Cloudinary).
• Experience on-set at photoshoots as a primary or secondary photographer.

Skill Set

• Exceptional attention to detail, organizational, multi-tasking, initiative, and follow-through skills.
• Ability to lead a project or initiative from conception to completion.
• Must be able to identify production concerns on various project types and create working solutions with creatives/stakeholders/vendors.
• Familiarity with Canva and Adobe Creative Suite.
• Familiarity with project management software such as Asana is a plus.
• Ability to work well in a team setting and independently, with a proactive attitude in a collaborative work environment.
• Ability to work on multiple projects concurrently.
• Ability to maintain positive client relationships.
• Ability to work a variety of hours including early mornings, nights, weekends, and holidays. This includes, but is not limited to, annual signature events such as Move-In Weekend, Grand Reunion and Commencement, as well as Major Feasts and Holy Days such as Easter, Christmas Eve, and Christmas.

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