VP, Marketing

Job Description

Reporting to the Chief Digital Officer, the Vice President, Marketing & Segmentation will provide thought leadership in development of our marketing strategy and digital brand creative and transition the vision into tangible business goals in support of profitable growth.  Working with agile and cross-functional teams as well as leadership, the successful candidate ensures business objectives are considered and integrated holistically within performance marketing programs and planning. 

Based in Toronto, Canada, the Vice President, Marketing & Segmentation role will appeal to an accomplished, proactive, high-energy leader with a growth mindset who thrives in an ever-changing digital environment. S/he will recognize that this role represents a unique opportunity to be an integral part of a growing Canadian brand.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy and Planning:

• Identifies, develops and targets key customer segmentation for all marketing purposes. Along with partners in Pricing and Underwriting, and in conjunction with other digital teams, the VP will build a data-driven model for customers to target through all channels available.
• Builds, executes and monitors the strategies for marketing and business growth drivers, customer journey details as well as market, channel and segment potential to support growth in acquisition efforts and excellence within customer experience
• Responsible for the development of, oversight of, and execution of digital marketing strategies to drive identified customer segments to the distinct digital funnels.
• Builds and manages all key digital marketing partnerships for to support sustained, consistent business goals, including Google Meta, Tiktok and digital partners (Kijiji, Autotrader, and others).
• Influences and guides channel marketing strategies to meet business goals and development of SEM and SEO strategies to maximize both paid and organic traffic flow to website
  • Translates business strategies and insights such as Value Metric, underwriting & pricing principles, on-site behavior and target customer indicators into marketing plans by working with leadership and cross-functional teams (BI/AA, BD, Pods, etc.)
  • Encourages continuous improvement on process and implementation, evolving best practices for channels and strategies while overseeing timeliness, target accuracy and budgets Operational Expertise  (Customer Experience)

Channel & Team Leadership: 

• Establishes performance and personal development goals for the marketing department, based on business and marketing plans.
• Coaches and leads performance and planning team to deliver upon business objectives through the development of always-on and planned programs via brainstorms, recommendations and oversight of performance.
• Builds a high-performance culture through evaluating effectiveness of in-market channel activity, guiding optimization efforts – using data and analysis to maximize profitability 
• Build a culture of high performance and sustained profitable growth by promoting and supporting an environment that encourages data-driven decision making, productivity, collaboration, teamwork, and a high level of professionalism.
  • Leverages market research, audience data and media attribution insights, interpreting into actionable feedback for managers
  • Navigates roadblocks on behalf of the performance and planning team by engaging key stakeholders/sponsors/business units as needed
  • Supports partner planning and negotiations, led by channel managers

Reporting & Analysis:

• Works with digital and broker senior management to build reporting requirements that provide insight on funnel, channel, and sales management. 
• Responsible for the ongoing review of marketing funnel results against monthly plan and targets, and adjustments required to optimize results ensuring objectives are delivered on plan and pivoting as required to achieve targets
• Focuses and defines problems to solve by engaging resources across the organization to gather data, draw insights, make correlations and connections, driving meaningful targeting, segmentation and conversion action
• Analyzes results and media attribution details, making recommendations to maximize ROI/ROAS, consulting with customer insights and analytics teams
• Reviews performance marketing budgets against monthly results, ensuring pace against planned quotes and objectives
• Supports operations to meet all financial reporting requirements

Cross-functional Integration:

• Integrates marketing into a full-stack sales and experience funnel with all digital senior management to ensure that segmentation and marketing strategies/plans contribute actively to the success of all areas of Sonnet/Definity.
• Reviews and establishes vision of market-leading tech stack to maximize marketing value brought to customer experience, sales, and post-sales service.
• Partners with other senior leaders within the marketing team to ensure consistency against customer segmentation, communication objectives and competitive strategies
• Translates details of performance marketing objectives/strategies/performance to internal and external stakeholders as well as partners, ensuring alignment and awareness
• Provides performance marketing recommendations to all stakeholders/business units/Pods, 
• maximizing cross-functional efficiencies and enhancing learnings 
• Demonstrates strong, visible leadership and productive working relationships with cross-functional teams (BI/AA, BD, PR, Pods, CC, IT), leadership teams, legal, procurement and finance, as well as key marketing partners
• Effectively communicates marketing results, proving the value of programs and initiatives

Industry Insights & Innovation:

• Is a thought leader both in Definity, and the broader marketing community, around all aspects of Marketing, and digital insurance marketing.
• Stays informed of market shift, competitive positions, legal impacts and digital partner updates 
• Identifies opportunities for innovation for marketing and digital efforts, considering business objectives and organizational needs maximizing cross-functional efficiencies and enhancing learnings 
  • Demonstrates strong, visible leadership and productive working relationships with cross-functional teams (BI/AA, BD, PR, Pods, CC, IT), leadership teams, legal, procurement and finance, as well as key marketing partners
  • Effectively communicates marketing results, proving the value of programs and initiatives

Industry Insights & Innovation:

• Is a thought leader both in Definity, and the broader marketing community, around all aspects of Marketing, and digital insurance marketing.
• Stays informed of market shift, competitive positions, legal impacts and digital partner updates 
• Identifies opportunities for innovation for marketing and digital efforts, considering business objectives and organizational needs

IDEAL EXPERIENCE 

Marketing

• 10+ years of progressive marketing experience, in-depth understanding and application of marketing strategies and customer segmentation.
• Deep understanding of digital media ecosystem, channel performance measures, optimization opportunities (SEM, SEO, Brand, Social, Display, Video, Mobile, Programmatic, Remarketing)
• Strong analytical skills and ability to deliver actionable insights and recommendations.  Proven track record of successfully identifying, targeting, and maximizing the value of customer segmentation in both digital and analogue channels.

High Performing / Collaborative Teams

• Track record of personal and team achievement with substantial contributions to the growth of a business through cross-functional collaboration, innovative thinking, and people development. Experience leading, coaching and enabling a high performing team of professionals. Strong ability to provide on-the-job coaching and feedback to develop strong analytical skills within team.

 

CRITICAL LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES

Strategic Thinking

• Broad business mindset with strong analytical and quantitative skills, conceptualization, and problem-solving skills. 
• Track record of using hard data and metrics to back up assumptions. Ability to manage through ambiguity.
• Knowledge of emerging industry trends and best practices across in customer experience management across multiple channels (e.g., phone, web, mobile, social media, etc.) .
• Adopts a long-term perspective about the business. Translates business goals into well-defined performance plans for the marketing function and communicates link between current activities and goals. 
• Thinks beyond annual goals. 

Driving Results

• Results-oriented leader with a positive “can-do” attitude and a strong drive to win in a highly competitive market. 
• Is highly customer centric. Understands what content and messaging resonate with end-users. 
• Develops a high-performance team culture and acts to surpass goals, seizing opportunities to push the envelope.
• Has proven understanding of digital technology and delivery systems, digital product development and delivery.
• Is passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, and change. 
• Is comfortable working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment in which he / she is leading organizational change.

Collaborating and Influencing

• Establishes effective and collaborative relationships across the corporate enterprise that drive team alignment and execute strategic operations initiatives. 
• Has strong management and leadership skills with the ability to build and maintain effective relationships with peers and senior leadership. 
• Is a type of leader who can guide a team through sustained organizational change and who puts team before self and is energetically collaborative.
• Engages people in a dialogue to gain commitment and bring them "on board", linking their perspective to the intent. 
• Has experience in negotiating vendor contracts and managing vendor relationships.

 

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Commerce, Marketing, Math, Economics, or a related field preferred

 

 

 

About Us

Interested in this role, but don’t meet every requirement?  We encourage you to apply We know from experience that a candidate doesn’t need 100% of the qualifications listed to bring incredible value to our team. We’re actively seeking diverse backgrounds and perspectives to help us make insurance better. At Definity, inclusion, diversity, and equity aren’t just “nice to have” — they’re essential to our success. 

What’s in it for you?

• Hybrid work schedule for most roles
• Company share ownership program
• Pension and savings programs, with company-matched RRSP contributions
• Paid volunteer days and company matching on charitable donations
• Educational resources, tuition assistance, and paid time off to study for exams
• Focus on inclusion with employee groups, support for gender affirmation surgery, access to BIPOC counsellors, access to programs for working parents 
• Wellness and recognition programs 
• Discounts on products and services

Actual salary for the role may vary depending on work location of the successful candidate and other factors including but not limited to, skills, education, experience, working conditions and the local labour market.  In addition to base pay, eligible employees may participate in various incentive plans which are paid out at the discretion of the company and subject to individual and company performance.

Go ahead and expect a lot — you deserve it.

Our inclusive work environment welcomes diversity and supports accessibility. If you require accommodation at any time during the recruitment process, please let us know by contacting .

Background checks

This role requires successful clearance of background checks (including criminal checks and leadership references).

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