Marketing Officer | Ottawa School of Art
Full-time, permanent | Hybrid (ByWard Market & Orléans, Ottawa) | $56,500
The role, in plain terms
The Ottawa School of Art (OSA) is one of this city's oldest artistic institutions, a 140+ year-old community art school with real presence across three campuses (Downtown, Orleans, and Online). We're looking for someone who wants to build and run the digital and physical marketing channels that carry that presence forward: someone who respects what's been built and gets excited about how much further it can go.
You'd be inheriting a warm, loyal audience: thousands of students a year, a segmented email list of ~8,000 people who already trust us, and real infrastructure already in process. This isn't a blank slate, and it isn't a finished system either. It's a school with deep roots and a marketing engine still being built, and we want someone who'll take what's working seriously and keep pushing the strategy further.
What you'd actually be doing
Owning the funnel end to end - From someone's first Instagram scroll to their first class registration, across three campuses. Finding the leaks. Fixing them.
Getting hands-on with the data - GA4, GTM, cross-domain tracking, email automation, so decisions are made on what's actually working, not vibes.
Building segmentation and lifecycle email that runs itself - so the right message reaches the right person at the right time, automatically.
Setting the content strategy - deciding what gets made and why, then directing it.
Reporting to the Executive Director and Board on what's working, with real numbers behind it.
Who we're looking for
You know how to build and run digital and traditional marketing channels, and would rather spend an afternoon untangling why a Meta pixel isn't firing or reworking a segmentation strategy than designing posters. You've maybe already built an email automation or a funnel somewhere, even a small one, and you know that feeling of watching it work successfully while you're not even in the room. But you also know that channels don't get built from scratch every time. You can walk into an existing system, understand what it's doing well, and build on top of it instead of tearing it down.
You also need to enjoy making art, or at least appreciate the value that creating art provides people. You don't need to be a painter or a potter, but you should walk into a room full of student ceramics or a diploma graduate exhibition and feel something. This school runs on the belief that creating art matters, and that belief should be genuine, not performed.
You'll thrive here if you:
Know how to build and manage marketing channels — web, email, social, paid, print (and get energized by the systems behind them)
Have 3+ years of marketing/communications experience in arts, education, or non-profit a plus, not a requirement
Have touched CRM/email tools, GA4, or ad platforms and want to go deeper
Can write and design content for various channels
Collaborate easily across multiple departments with differing schedules
Genuinely value being part of an established, respected artistic institution and still want real room to grow its strategy
Why this role, specifically
You'd be marketing an institution with real weight in this city's visual arts community. OSA’s reputation is already an asset, not something you have to build from zero (but there’s room to improve how we collect social proof). At the same time, small non-profit teams move fast. There's no ten-layer approval chain here, if you see a better way to run a channel or a funnel, you can build it. A lot of the infrastructure is still being established, which means you will shape the architecture of how this school is experienced and known, not just this quarter's Instagram grid.
Full Job Description
Marketing Officer
Position Type: Full Time, Permanent
Hours: 9:00am – 5:00pm, with some over-time on weekends and/or evenings
Location: On-site at ByWard Market and Orléans campuses, ability to work remotely; equipment provided for remote work
Reports to: Executive Director
Salary: $56,500 annually
About the Ottawa School of Art
The Ottawa School of Art is a non-profit community art school serving thousands of students annually through courses, youth camps, outreach initiatives, post-secondary technical programs, and exhibitions. We are committed to creativity, accessibility, and fostering the next generation of artists across the region.
Position Summary
We are seeking a strategic, systems-minded Marketing Officer to own OSA's marketing function end to end: the funnels that turn interest into enrollment, the data that shows what's working, and the content strategy that feeds both. This is not a content-production role with strategy on the side, it's a strategy and infrastructure role that also produces content in service of a plan. You'll run a small, always-on enrollment engine across three campuses, with real ownership over analytics, CRM/email architecture, and campaign design.
This role suits someone creative who thinks in systems and funnels first, and executes content second, someone who'd rather fix a broken conversion path or build a segmentation strategy than post for the sake of posting.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy & Funnel Infrastructure
Develop and maintain OSA's annual marketing and communications plan, aligned with programming cycles, enrollment targets, and institutional goals
Own the full online enrollment and donor funnel across three campuses, from first touch through registration, identifying and fixing leaks at each stage.
Build out and maintain marketing analytics infrastructure (GA4/GTM, cross-domain and cross-platform tracking) to ensure campaign performance and conversion data are accurate and actionable
Design and manage CRM/email segmentation architecture (e.g., audience groups, automated triggers, lifecycle sequences) to move prospects and past students through the funnel with minimal manual effort
Report on campaign and funnel performance against KPIs, translating data into recommendations for the Executive Director and Board
Content Strategy & Campaign Execution
Set content strategy and campaign calendars across digital, print, and social channels, you’ll be deciding what gets made and why, not just producing it
Design and build the OSA websites to ensure pages are rich in information and visual assets to convert visitors to students or donors
Oversee paid digital advertising and email campaigns, from strategy through execution and optimization
Direct the creation of content (posts, stories, reels, promotional materials) that serves specific funnel stages, whether produced in-house, by the marketing assistant, or via outside support
Ensure consistent branding, tone, and messaging across all platforms and materials
Promote courses, diploma programs, summer camps, exhibitions, and events through targeted, funnel-aligned campaigns
Design, proofread, edit and distribute promotional materials (digital and print) for internal and external audiences.
Communications & Community Engagement
Prepare and distribute e-newsletters, blog posts, student/alumni profiles, and press releases; build and maintain subscriber lists as segmented, funnel-ready assets rather than static mailing lists
Serve as media liaison and coordinate promotional opportunities (interviews, event listings, articles)
Collaborate with the Development Officer on donor communications, fundraising campaigns, sponsorship recognition, and legacy giving initiatives
Cultivate relationships with community partners, media, and arts organizations
Qualifications
Required:
Degree or diploma in Marketing, Communications, Public Relations, Arts Administration, or related field
3+ years of experience in a marketing or communications role, preferably in the arts, education, or non-profit sectors
Demonstrated experience building or managing marketing funnels and CRM/email automation (segmentation, triggered sequences, lifecycle campaigns)
Proficiency with Content Management Systems (e.g., Wix/Wix Studio, WordPress) and basic knowledge of HTML/CSS
Working knowledge of GA4/GTM or equivalent analytics tools, and experience diagnosing and fixing tracking or attribution issues
Experience developing and executing an annual marketing plan tied to measurable goals
Strong content creation skills (graphic design, social, print) sufficient to direct or execute campaigns — proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and/or Canva
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple deadlines and campaigns concurrently
Assets:
Familiarity with the visual arts and arts education landscape
Knowledge of French (oral/written)
Experience with e-commerce/registration platforms (e.g., Amilia Smart Rec) and integrating them with CRM/email tools
SEO experience and GEO knowledge
DSLR photography, video editing, or Adobe Premiere/Audition skills
Experience managing a small team or freelance/contract support
Ready to build something real with us? Send your CV, a cover letter, and samples of your relevant work (ex. funnels, webpages, campaigns, email systems, whatever best shows how you think) to admin@artottawa.ca before 5pm on September 1st, 2026.