Marketing Automation Lead

About NCSA College Recruiting

NCSA College Recruiting is the world largest college recruiting platform, providing student-athletes content, tools, coaching and access to a network of 40,000 college coaches across 37 sports. NCSA is an online experience of IMG Academy, the world’s leading sports education brand and one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the Nation in 2024 and Top Remote Places to Work in 2024. IMG Academy provides a holistic education model that empowers student-athletes to win their future, preparing them for college and for life. Additional on-campus and online experiences include:

• Boarding school and camps, via a state-of-the-art campus in Bradenton, Fla.
• Online coaching via IMG Academy+, with a focus on personal development through the lens of sport and performance

Position Summary

We are seeking a highly technical Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) Solutions Architect to own solution design, support data architecture, and technical strategy for our marketing automation ecosystem. This role sits between marketing strategy and engineering, translating complex business requirements into scalable, secure, high-performing SFMC solutions.

This individual will act as the technical authority for Marketing Cloud, providing architectural direction and hands-on expertise, while leveraging external developers on retainer for complex or urgent build needs.

This role is critical to reducing technical friction, improving platform scalability, and enabling smarter, more efficient marketing execution. You’ll help move the organization from reactive builds to intentional, well-architected solutions — while still getting things shipped.

Position Responsibilities

Solution Design & Architecture

• Design scalable, secure, and performant end-to-end marketing solutions using Salesforce Marketing Cloud and adjacent Salesforce products.
• Create high-level and detailed solution designs covering data models, journeys, automation, and integrations.
• Ensure solutions follow SFMC best practices and align with long-term platform strategy.

Requirements & Stakeholder Collaboration

• Partner with marketing, CRM, data, and product stakeholders to gather and translate complex business requirements into technical solutions.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor, helping teams understand trade-offs, constraints, and opportunities within SFMC.
• Anticipate future needs and proactively propose architectural improvements.

Technical Leadership

• Serve as the technical lead for Marketing Cloud, setting standards, patterns, and best practices.
• Provide guidance and mentorship to internal team members on SFMC capabilities and technical concepts.
• Review and oversee work delivered by external developers to ensure quality and alignment with architecture.

Campaign & Journey Optimization

• Design and optimize customer journeys, segmentation strategies, and personalization frameworks to improve performance and ROI.
• Partner with marketing strategy teams to translate campaign goals into technically sound implementations.
• Balance speed-to-market with long-term maintainability.

Data, Performance & Scalability

• Architect and maintain SFMC data models using Data Extensions and related tooling.
• Design integrations with Salesforce CRM, Data Cloud, and external systems (APIs, SFTP, CDPs).
• Ensure solutions are built to handle large data volumes, frequent automation, and audience growth without degradation.
• Monitor and address performance, stability, and data hygiene issues.

Technical Environment

• Salesforce Marketing Cloud (Journey Builder, Email Studio, Automation Studio, Contact Builder)
• Salesforce Data Cloud
• Salesforce CRM integrations
• SQL, AMPscript
• APIs, data feeds, and automation frameworks

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Deep expertise in Salesforce Marketing Cloud architecture and implementation.
• Strong technical proficiency in SQL and AMPscript.
• Hands-on experience designing journeys, automations, and complex data models.
• Experience integrating SFMC with Salesforce CRM and external systems.
• Ability to balance strategic architecture with pragmatic execution.
• Excellent communication skills — able to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with Salesforce Data Cloud or other CDPs.
• Experience operating in environments with external development partners or agencies.
• Familiarity with enterprise-scale marketing operations and governance.
• Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Engagement Administrator
• Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Email Specialist
• Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Engagement Developer

Background Requirements

• Requires a background check upon offer

Benefits

As a full-time member of our team, you will enjoy a comprehensive offering listed below. Connect with your talent acquisition specialist to learn more about benefits for our part-time roles.

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental and Vision
• Flexible Spending Account and Health Savings Account options
• 401k with an Employer Match
• Short Term and Long Term Disability
• Group and Supplemental Life & AD&D
• Gym Discount Program
• Pet Insurance
• Wellbeing Program
• and more!

Don’t meet every single requirement? We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Get To Know Us Better

www.ncsasports.org

www.ncsasports.org/careers

NCSA provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.