Vice-President, Marketing

Position Overview:

Vancouver Whitecaps FC seeks a dynamic leader that will evolve the way the Club develops its marketing strategy and delivers measurable ROI across the business.

The Vice-President, Marketing will report to the Club’s Chief Commercial Officer and lead the entire marketing function for the Club, with responsibility for strategic development and execution of the Club’s marketing, retail, creative and content production, website, and social media strategies.

The successful candidate will focus on performance marketing, tying revenue metrics to marketing initiative development and decision-making, while leading and executing a strategy that elevates the Club’s brand in the market. They will work cross-functionally to drive market awareness and support various internal and external business needs. This person will work closely with the Business Intelligence group to develop and monitor marketing specific KPIs that will increase visibility into performance.

With a fan-focused approach, the VP, Marketing will oversee all brand initiatives and steer the direction of the Club’s marketing campaigns to ensure they resonate with our supporters, the local Vancouver community, and our corporate partners.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Leadership and Organizational Oversight

• Collaborate with other departments to develop revenue-impactful strategies that create exceptional brand interactions with a clear vision and story that will resonate with fans including in-centre experience, promotional communications, web, and social media.
• Mentorship of the Marketing team to support corporate/team culture and engagement, as well as development and career growth.
• Clarify and evolve the way the team develops their marketing strategy and delivers measurable ROI across the business.
• Oversight of all divisional projects, ensuring that deadlines and budget guidelines are being met or exceeded.

Marketing Strategy and Execution

• Develop an end-to-end marketing strategy that is constructed of specific insights, objectives, results, and roadmaps that further the Club’s priority goals.
• Work with the Business Intelligence team to develop marketing KPIs and reporting that align with revenue goals for the senior executive team and ownership.
• Develop an insight-led and fan centric culture in all facets of the role
• Develop the thinking and lead the execution of marketing initiatives to help drive up revenues across all the club’s ticketing products
• Evaluate all brand initiatives to ensure consistency and steer the direction of marketing campaigns to ensure each endeavour resonates with the fan and local Vancouver community.
• Enable the Corporate Partnerships team’s revenue opportunities via new product development and Go-To-Market support.
• Manage the relationship with our merchandise retailer to develop quality branded merchandise and maximize our online and in-venue retail strategy
• Develop, edit and present high-quality materials such as marketing plans, white papers, proposals, press releases, news and online media materials, bylined articles, trend analysis summaries, executive correspondence, and presentations.
• Guide and coordinate the development of all marketing channels; provide creative input and direction; identify potential cross-promotional partners and implement strategic opportunities.

Qualifications/Experience:

In addition to bringing a commitment to Vancouver Whitecaps FC vision and values, the successful candidate will have degrees of demonstrated skills and experience as follows:

• 10+ years of Marketing leadership experience, with a proven ability to story-tell, link marketing plans and activities to business results, and leverage data and analytics to develop insights, inform plans and measure performance
• Proven leadership skills, with the ability to balance strategic and tactical functions, motivating a functionally diverse team (including graphic designers, social media producers, copywriter) in the pursuit of excellence
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to represent the Club at public events, and build strong relationships with internal and external partners
• Knowledge in sports, entertainment, business media, and well-developed skills in building and maintaining traditional and digital media relationships.
• Talented self-starter with a creative mind for strategic ideas and solutions, and strong networks within the industry, ideally within the local Vancouver market.
• Demonstrated success in leading content development and distribution that reflects the organization’s product and service strategy.
• Adept at developing and executing traditional, experiential, and digital marketing strategies for a broad portfolio of entertainment-based products and services, including retail.
• A demonstrated ability to work under pressure, maintain attention to detail, and meet tight deadlines, successfully overseeing multiple projects and tasks simultaneously within budget.
• Business writing skills to oversee the development and editing of high-quality materials such as marketing plans, white papers, proposals, press releases, news and online media materials, bylined articles, trend analysis summaries, executive correspondence, and presentations.
• Bachelor’s degree related to Business/Marketing education required, additional specialization is an asset

The Club

Vancouver Whitecaps FC is the longest-running professional soccer club in Canada and the United States. Since its inaugural season in 1974, the club has united generations of loyal fans in British Columbia and beyond. With academies in eight out of ten provinces, a network of partner clubs, and hundreds of camps and clinics every year, Whitecaps FC provide a foundation for Canada’s soccer future.

In addition to its two professional men’s teams, the Club is proud to be one of the first two founding teams for a new professional women’s league in Canada, which will be launched in the year 2025. We are also strongly committed to providing opportunities to Canadian athletes, both male and female, with the largest soccer development structure in Canada. This includes academy programs in eight of ten provinces across the country.

In addition to building a winning team on and off the pitch, the Club places great importance in giving back to our community, harnessing the power of sport to create a stronger, more equitable & inclusive society through three key community goals: helping meet critical needs, using soccer to build life skills and creating soccer participation opportunities in Indigenous communities.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC believes that diversity and inclusion is critical to our success, and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. This includes but is not limited to people of colour, Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, and persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity. Should you require any accommodation throughout the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to contact our People & Culture department.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC provides a competitive compensation and benefits package. If you are interested in applying, please apply for the role using the link: Vice-President, Marketing

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for further consideration will be contacted. No recruiters or agencies, please.