Head of Admissions & Marketing

Job Description: Head of Admissions & Marketing

Department: Admissions & Marketing

Reports to: Director

Direct reports: Admissions and marketing team (Senior Registration Officer, Admission Officers, Sales Officers, Marketing Officer)

Location: Ignite School, Al Warqa'a 3, Dubai

Purpose of the role

To lead the school's enrolment growth by setting the admissions and marketing strategy, building a high-performing, data-driven team, and delivering enrolment and retention targets.

Key responsibilities

Strategy and enrolment growth

• Develop and deliver an annual admissions and marketing plan aligned with the school's enrolment and budget targets
• Forecast enrolment by grade and division, and advise leadership on capacity, pricing position and growth opportunities
• Analyse market trends, competitor schools and demographic data to guide decisions

Sales team leadership

• Lead, coach and manage the admissions and marketing team, setting individual targets and holding the team accountable for results
• Manage the full enquiry-to-enrolment pipeline, including follow-up standards, conversion tracking and response times
• Build a performance culture driven by data, with regular pipeline reviews

Marketing and brand

• Plan and deliver digital, social media, event and community marketing campaigns
• Manage the marketing budget and measure campaign return on investment
• Strengthen the school's brand and reputation as an American curriculum school

Data, systems and reporting

• Own the admissions CRM and keep the data accurate and complete
• Produce weekly reports for leadership on enquiries, tours, assessments, enrolments, conversion rates and leavers
• Use data to identify drop-off points in the pipeline and act on them

Retention and parent experience

• Lead re-enrolment campaigns and work with Principals to reduce student attrition
• Design a consistent, professional experience for families from first enquiry through to onboarding
• Collect and act on parent feedback

Compliance and collaboration

• Ensure admissions processes comply with KHDA requirements and school policy
• Work with Finance on fees, discounts and budget, and with Principals on placement and assessments
• Build partnerships with corporate partners, relocation agencies and feeder nurseries

Key performance indicators

• New enrolments against target
• Enquiry-to-enrolment conversion rate
• Re-enrolment and retention rate
• Marketing cost per enrolment
• Timeliness and accuracy of weekly admissions reporting
• Parent satisfaction with the admissions process

Qualifications and experience

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business or a related field; Master's or MBA preferred
• Minimum 8 years of experience in sales, admissions or marketing, including at least 5 years leading teams
• Proven experience leading data-driven sales teams in a service industry, with a track record of meeting targets
• Education sector experience, particularly with K-12 or American curriculum schools, is an advantage
• Strong command of CRM systems, reporting dashboards and performance data
• Excellent English; Arabic is an advantage
• UAE market experience preferre