Iowa Fan Relations - Senior Director, Marketing

Position Summary: The Senior Director of Marketing provides strategic leadership for Iowa Wild’s marketing, community relations, brand, digital media, creative services, and game presentation functions. This role leads an integrated department that grows awareness, strengthens fan engagement, and drives measurable revenue for ticket sales, corporate partnerships, and merchandise through coordinated campaigns and compelling storytelling. The Senior Director sets department strategy, develops staff, manages resources, and collaborates regularly with the Communications and Sales departments and partners across the organization to deliver a consistent brand and outstanding fan experience.
Responsibilities/Essential Functions:

Collaborate on revenue strategy and lead integrated marketing efforts.

Develop and lead the annual marketing strategy, collaborating regularly with the Communications department to align audience growth, brand priorities, campaign calendars, messaging, and department resources with organizational revenue goals.
Partner with Ticket Sales and Service leadership to build campaigns that generate qualified leads and increase season, group, partial-plan, and single-game ticket revenue.
Partner with Corporate Partnerships to support new business and renewal goals through sponsor-integrated campaigns, activation strategy, partner storytelling, and fulfillment visibility.
Support merchandise revenue through audience targeting, promotional strategy, creative campaigns, content, and cross-channel marketing; merchandise buying, inventory management, retail systems, and store operations are outside this role’s scope.
Establish campaign goals, performance indicators, attribution practices, and reporting cadences; use data and testing to improve conversion, efficiency, and return on marketing investment.
Oversee paid, owned, and earned media plans across digital, email, social, web, broadcast, print, and local media partnerships.
Manage the marketing budget, vendors, agencies, and media investments with a focus on revenue impact and responsible stewardship, coordinating regularly with the Communications department on shared initiatives.

Lead brand content and communications collaboration.

Own the Iowa Wild brand strategy and ensure consistent positioning, voice, visual identity, and messaging across all internal and external touchpoints.
Collaborate regularly with the Communications department on organizational communications strategy, including media relations, public relations, announcements, executive messaging, crisis communications, and reputation management.
Lead editorial planning and storytelling across marketing-managed digital platforms, social media, video, broadcast, and creative channels in regular coordination with the Communications department.
Serve as a senior marketing resource and spokesperson, as appropriate, in coordination with the Communications department, while building productive relationships with media outlets, league contacts, community partners, and other stakeholders.
Work closely with the Communications department to ensure marketing-related communications are timely, accurate, coordinated, and aligned with business priorities, hockey operations, league standards, and the Minnesota Wild organization.

Manage and coach the Marketing department and its team members.

Lead, coach, and develop five direct reports: Revenue Marketing Manager, Digital Media Manager, Graphic Designer, Game Presentation Director, and Community Relations Manager.
Set clear goals, priorities, performance expectations, and development plans; conduct regular one-on-one meetings and performance reviews.
Build an accountable, collaborative, and creative department culture that delivers high-quality work on deadline in a fast-paced environment.
Establish effective workflows across marketing, community relations, creative, digital, and game presentation; collaborate regularly with the Communications department and allocate staff and resources based on organizational priorities.

Lead the fan experience efforts.

Provide strategic oversight of game presentation so each home game delivers an energetic, entertaining, sponsor-supportive, and brand-aligned experience.
Guide the development of game scripts, in-game promotions, entertainment, music, video, graphics, announcements, and interactive activations while empowering the Game Presentation Director to lead execution.
Oversee broadcast and team services strategy, standards, staffing, and coordination through the Director of Broadcast and Team Services.
Connect game-day, broadcast, digital, and creative storytelling to deepen fan engagement and support ticket, partnership, and merchandise revenue.
Partner with internal teams to develop theme nights, promotions, member experiences, and other initiatives that build attendance, loyalty, and value for fans and partners.

Perform cross functional duties and community leadership efforts.

Build and maintain the season-long promotional and content calendar in collaboration with Ticketing, Corporate Partnerships, Experiential Marketing, Communications, Hockey Operations, Merchandising, and the Community Relations Manager.
Coordinate player, coach, mascot, and staff participation in marketing, media, community, and partner initiatives in collaboration with Hockey Operations, communications and team services.
Oversee the Community Relations Manager and guide community and grassroots initiatives that increase brand visibility, introduce new audiences to the Iowa Wild, and strengthen relationships across Central Iowa.
Lead planning meetings and communicate priorities, campaign details, deadlines, and game-day logistics to appropriate departments.
Represent the Iowa Wild with the AHL, vendors, media, community partners, and industry peers, and apply relevant best practices to advance the organization.

Perform other duties as assigned.

Position Requirements:
Formal Education & Certification:

Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, sports management, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
Advanced degree preferred but not required.

Knowledge & Experience:

At least seven or more years of experience in marketing, communications, sports, entertainment, live events, or a related industry, including meaningful people-leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated success developing integrated marketing strategies and collaborating with communications teams to support measurable revenue growth.
Experience partnering with ticket sales and corporate partnerships teams and translating business goals into audience-focused campaigns.
Strong background in brand management, media relations, digital marketing, content strategy, paid media, and performance measurement.
Experience leading multidisciplinary teams that may include marketing, community relations, digital, creative, game presentation, or broadcast functions, and collaborating effectively with communications teams.
Experience overseeing live-event presentation or fan engagement initiatives; professional or collegiate sports experience strongly preferred.
Demonstrated ability to manage budgets, agencies, vendors, media partners, and complex cross-functional projects.
Working knowledge of analytics and reporting platforms, customer relationship management systems, email marketing, social media, web content management, and creative workflow tools.

Personal Attributes:

Strategic, revenue-minded leader who can translate organizational goals into clear priorities and executable plans.
Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills, with sound judgment in sensitive or high-visibility situations.
Proven coach and team builder who sets expectations, provides useful feedback, and develops people.
Highly organized and decisive, with the ability to prioritize competing demands and deliver quality work within short time frames.
Collaborative relationship builder who works effectively across departments and with external partners.
Creative and curious, with a commitment to innovation, continuous improvement, and an outstanding fan experience.

Work Conditions:

Ability to work nights, weekends, and holidays as needed for games, events, and time-sensitive communications.

Physical requirements include sitting, walking, standing, bending, squatting, climbing, kneeling, twisting, lifting, grasping, etc.
Lifting up to 50 lbs.
Benefits offered including Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, and a robust PTO policy.

ADA/EEO Statement:

Our company is committed to complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you require an accommodation to participate in the application process or perform the essential functions of the job, please contact the People Team to request an accommodation. We will engage in an interactive process to assess your needs and provide appropriate accommodations to enable you to perform the essential functions of the position unless it would cause an undue hardship.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other legally protected status. It is our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment. We value diversity and inclusion in our workplace and promote a work environment that respects and supports individuals without bias.