Senior Director, Email Marketing

At 2U, we are all in on purpose. We are motivated by our mission – to eliminate the back row in education – and connected by our shared passion to deliver world-class digital education at scale. As the parent company of edX, the world’s leading online learning platform, 2U powers more than 4,000 online higher education offerings – from free courses to full degrees. Together with more than 230 colleges, universities, and corporate partners, we are helping to unlock human potential.

Summary of Job:

The Senior Director of Email Marketing will lead a global team responsible for the email marketing strategy, execution, analysis, and performance across four business lines and the full portfolio of products across 2U/edX. This role is accountable for driving results through sophisticated email marketing tactics, automation, and data-driven insights while ensuring flawless, on-time execution. 

You will collaborate closely with senior leaders across product, engineering, compliance, partner and marketing functions, including CRM, to influence the technical and data roadmaps, proactively manage email deliverability and reputation, and troubleshoot issues across multiple teams. A key focus of the role is to create scalable, automated solutions that support full lifecycle marketing—from content design to technical deployment.

You will thrive in a fast-paced, matrixed environment, be adaptable to shifting priorities, and possess a deep understanding of email monetization, audience targeting, test design, and technical implementation. The ideal candidate is results-driven, highly analytical, and possesses a strong background in cross-functional collaboration.

Key Roles and Responsibilities: 

Leadership & Strategy 

• Lead, mentor, and develop a global email marketing team, overseeing operations across multiple levels of management.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and data-driven decision-making.
• Set and communicate team goals, aligning email marketing strategy and targets with broader business objectives.
• Manage the email marketing budget in collaboration with the SVP of Marketing, overseeing investments in tools and technologies.
• Maintain key vendor relationships, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud, ensuring alignment with business and technical needs.

Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Collaboration 

• Build strong relationships with senior leaders across product, engineering, compliance, marketing, and partner teams to ensure alignment between email marketing and broader business goals.
• Influence cross-functional roadmaps and strategies to integrate email marketing needs into product, marketing, and technical initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with global regulations (GDPR, CAN-SPAM) through collaboration with compliance, cybersecurity, and legal teams, optimizing performance while mitigating risks.

Email Channel Innovation & Operations 

• Drive email channel innovation by collaborating with product and engineering teams to influence technical roadmaps and deliver scalable, automated solutions.
• Leverage data insights and past successes to enhance email deliverability, performance, and automation.
• Regularly evaluate and improve team workflows, manage capacity, and reallocate resources as needed to ensure efficient processes and support long-term growth.

Email Analytics, Strategy & Performance Optimization 

• Monitor and analyze email performance metrics, with a focus on audience segmentation, list ingestion, and automation accuracy.
• Implement anomaly detection procedures to maintain email deliverability and operational continuity.
• Use data-driven insights to refine email strategy, segmentation, content, and campaign design, continuously optimizing results.

Expertise & Best Practices 

• Act as the internal subject matter expert on email marketing, providing training, maintaining documentation, and sharing insights with key stakeholders.
• Stay informed of industry best practices, emerging trends, and evolving regulations to ensure compliance and sustained success in email marketing.

Education and Experience:  

• Bachelors’ degree required; MBA or relevant master’s degree a plus
• 8+ years of experience in marketing, 5+ years of people management experience
• 5+ years of experience in enterprise level Email Service Provider (ESP) systems such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Braze
• 3+ years experience with Salesforce CRM, including integration with ESP systems
• Advanced understanding of email platform configuration, email automation, campaign deployment, data ingestion, and system integration
• Strong data analysis skills with the ability to derive insights and create recommendations for optimization
• Proven experience managing multiple marketing initiatives with complex timelines and shifting priorities
• Strong project management skills, ability to lead cross-functional teams, comfort and ability to lead conversations with senior level stakeholders
• Comfortable learning and discussing technical concepts related to web development, information systems, and CRM-ESP integrations
• Team-player with experience communicating effectively across global, cross-functional teams and stakeholders
• Embrace a “test and learn” mindset with a rigorous testing framework applied to email marketing strategies 
• Strong problem-solving skills and adept at troubleshooting
• Experience with email coding in HTML, CSS, SQL, Ampscript (a plus)
• Experience with Customer Data Platforms such as Salesforce Data Cloud (a plus)

Working Conditions 

Standard conditions

Physical Requirements

None

Management Responsibilities

Email Marketing Director(s)

Email Marketing Manager(s) and Sr. Manager(s)

Email Marketing Strategist(s)

Email Marketing Specialist(s) and Sr. Specialist(s)

Email Data & Analytics Manager(s) and Analyst(s)

While this position is open to remote candidates across the U.S., we will prioritize those who live in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area and who are available to come into our Headquarters in Arlington, VA two days a week.

Benefits & Culture

Our global employee base is a diverse collection of innovators, dreamers, and doers working together to transform lives through higher education. We believe that every employee can advance our shared purpose, and that life at 2U should be fun and meaningful. If you’re excited by the opportunity to provide over 40 million learners and counting with access to world-class online higher education, then join us – and do work that makes a difference. #NoBackRow

We offer comprehensive benefits (unique per country) and excellent work/life balance.
Full-time, U.S.benefits include: 

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Life insurance, disability, and 401(k) employer match
• Employee stock purchase plan
• Free snacks and drinks in-office
• Generous paid holidays and leave policies, including unlimited PTO
• Additional time off benefits include: volunteer days, parental leave, and a company-wide winter break

The anticipated base salary range for this role is ($153,000 - $183,000), with potential bonus eligibility.  Salary offers are made based on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, budget for the position and cost of labor in the market in which the candidate will be hired.

2U Diversity and Inclusion Statement

At 2U, we are committed to building and sustaining a culture of belonging, respect, and inclusion. We are proud of the steps we’ve taken to bring together an employee base that embodies diverse walks of life, ideas, genders, ages, races, cultures, sexual orientations, abilities and other unique qualities. We strive to offer a workplace where every employee feels empowered by what makes us different, as well as by how we are alike. 

2U is committed to providing reasonable accommodations during our recruitment process. If you need assistance or accommodations, please reach out to us at: [email protected]. 

About 2U LLC.

For more than a decade, 2U, Inc. has been the digital transformation partner of choice to great non-profit colleges and universities delivering high-quality online education at scale. As the parent company of edX, a leading global online learning platform, 2U provides over 45 million learners with access to world-class education in partnership with more than 230 colleges, universities, and corporations. Our people and technology are powering more than 4,000 digital education offerings — from free courses to full degrees — and helping unlock human potential. To learn more: visit 2U.com.

About edX

edX is the education movement for restless learners and a leading global online learning platform from 2U, Inc. (Nasdaq: TWOU). Together with the majority of the world’s top-ranked universities and industry-leading companies, we bring our community of over 45 million learners world-class education to support them at every stage of their lives and careers, from free courses to full degrees. And we're not stopping there — we're relentlessly pursuing our vision of a world where every learner can access education to unlock their potential, without the barriers of cost or location. Learn more at edX.org.

Learn more at https://2u.com/careers/
#NoBackRow

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by individuals assigned to this position, and are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required. All employees may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed.

2U is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate against applicants or employees and ensures equal employment opportunity for all persons regardless of their race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, age, marital status, disability, citizenship, military or veterans’ status, or any other classifications protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. 2U’s equal opportunity policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including but not limited to recruiting, hiring, training, promotion, job benefits and pay.