Brand and Student Recruitment Manager Western Cape

BRIEF DESCRIPTION:-

The Brand and Student Recruitment Manager role involves overseeing the School's brand and student recruitment functions to drive market positioning, institutional reputation, and student enrolment growth. Key responsibilities include developing brand plans, leading integrated student recruitment strategies, and driving marketing campaigns across digital and traditional channels. The successful candidate will require a relevant bachelor's degree, at least seven years of experience in brand management or related fields, and strong leadership, analytical, and communication skills.

**Job Title: Brand and Student Recruitment Manager**

**Company: Stellenbosch University**

**About this Role:**

Stellenbosch Business School (SBS), a prestigious institution within the Stellenbosch University (SU) network, holds the coveted Triple Crown of international accreditations (AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA), solidifying its position among the top 1% of business schools globally. As a leading business school on the African continent, SBS is committed to cultivating responsible leaders for a better world through its cutting-edge graduate education, impactful research, and meaningful societal engagement.

The School is now seeking a highly skilled and experienced professional to fill the position of Brand and Student Recruitment Manager. This key role will report to the Head of Marketing and be responsible for overseeing the School's brand and student recruitment functions, ultimately driving strong market positioning, enhanced institutional reputation, and sustainable student enrolment growth.

**Key Responsibilities:**

The successful incumbent will be responsible for developing and implementing comprehensive annual brand plans aligned to the School's strategic objectives and growth priorities. This will involve strengthening and safeguarding the SBS brand through effective brand governance, standards, and positioning initiatives. The role also encompasses leading integrated student recruitment and conversion strategies across programmes and markets, as well as developing and implementing an integrated recruitment plan with annual budgets across all programmes, markets, and delivery modes.

Additionally, the Brand and Student Recruitment Manager will drive integrated marketing campaigns across digital and traditional channels to support recruitment and reputation objectives. The incumbent will oversee website performance, digital optimisation, search visibility, content development, and conversion pathways. Market research, customer insight, and competitor analysis initiatives will also be led to inform strategic decision-making.

Moreover, the successful candidate will monitor and enhance customer experience across all marketing touchpoints, develop and maintain recruitment dashboards, forecasting models, and performance reporting frameworks. They will also be responsible for monitoring marketing budgets, managing external agencies, and service providers.

As a leader, the Brand and Student Recruitment Manager will be responsible for leading, coaching, and developing the Brand and Student Recruitment team, while fostering a high-performance culture. The incumbent will build productive relationships with programme leaders, academic staff, alumni, students, employers, and strategic partners.

**Requirements and Qualifications:**

To be considered for this exciting opportunity, candidates must possess a relevant bachelor's degree (NQF Level 7) in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, or a related field. A minimum of seven years' progressively responsible experience in brand management, consumer marketing, student recruitment, or other customer-facing conversion functions is also required.

The successful candidate will demonstrate experience in strategic planning and implementation, proven people leadership and team management experience, and experience in budget management, project management, and the management of agencies or external service providers.

In addition, the ideal candidate will possess excellent communication, stakeholder engagement, and presentation skills, as well as strong analytical, organisational, and reporting capabilities. Willingness to work flexible hours is also essential.

**Desirable Qualifications:**

A relevant postgraduate qualification, experience within higher education, business education, or education marketing, and evidence of ongoing professional development through short courses or certifications in areas such as digital marketing, CRM, marketing automation, analytics, customer experience, or brand management, would be highly desirable.

The successful candidate will also have an understanding of branding, reputation management, marketing analytics, and marketing automation, as well as knowledge of the South African and broader African higher education landscape.

**Closing Date:**

The application deadline for this opportunity is 29th October 2026.