Senior Strategic Marketing Specialist

About Rewards Network®

Rewards Network is a fast-paced, restaurant-focused fintech company that connects restaurants with the world’s most powerful consumer loyalty programs to reward diners through card-linked offers. We are the leading capital provider for restaurants, and our partners—companies like United, Delta, Bilt, Fetch, and Rakuten—are the leaders in their industries. With a strong foundation built over four decades, Rewards Network has delivered enduring value to more than 100,000 restaurants.

Our Culture 

At Rewards Network, you'll be part of a driven and diverse team that excels in collaboration, issue resolution, and taking ownership of both personal growth and the company's success. We take pride in partnering with the world's most powerful loyalty programs to drive full-price paying customers to local restaurants through marketing services and flexible funding options. Our engaging and rewarding environment is designed to help you gain your full potential.

Job Overview

The Strategic Marketing Specialist is an integral part of the restaurant marketing team at Rewards Network.  You will be responsible for creating custom, sophisticated, compelling sales and service materials for our restaurant customers and prospects.    

You will partner closely with our Enterprise customer team as well as our broader Restaurant marketing team to craft compelling sales/service content and enablement for our most important customers.  By understanding each customer segment and particular customer need, you will produce personalized, clear, concise value propositions supported by data and analysis.  You will work hand in hand with your colleagues in marketing to detail proposed customer marketing campaigns.  

For current customers, you will own the creation of regular Business Review materials and proof of value tools.  The creation of these will require exceptional analytical and communication skills to ensure that customer performance is supported by clear and effective analytics and insights.  You will partner with analysts in Finance and Data Science. 

Your ability to think critically, understand complex marketing programs, distill sophisticated analysis into clear and concise conclusions, and communicate effectively will be paramount to your success in this role. 

 This is a hybrid position and requires in-office presence Tuesday through Thursday each week in Chicago.

What you’ll bring to the table: (Responsibilities) 

• Customer Campaign Communication: Create and direct the creation of multi-channel customer marketing campaigns and offer strategies for our most important customers and prospects from concept to execution to analysis.
• Content & Creative Optimization: Use AI-assisted tools to develop and refine marketing copy, email campaigns, social media content, and creative concepts while maintaining brand voice and quality standards.
• Product & Brand Storytelling: Create compelling stories and presentations to communicate our value proposition to our most important customers and prospects.  Partner with Creative Marketing to ensure that visuals clearly communicate the specific customer objective or marketing campaign.  Partner with analysts in Finance and Data Science to ensure messages are accurate and clearly supported by data, analysis and insights.
• Company Values: Exude Rewards Network’s company values: be open, honest and direct; put customers at the center of everything we do, set a high bar and achieve it, think and act like an owner and always with integrity, presume trust, celebrate others, and have fun.  

Do you have the right mix of ingredients: (Requirements)

• A deep and extensive understanding of the restaurant industry, specifically the business of restaurants.
• Exceptional ability to bring clarity to complex business situations, to apply frameworks to simplify a message, and to define the appropriate story and analysis to clearly communicate an outcome.
• Demonstrated experience creating clear, sophisticated marketing and sales materials: presentations, customer-facing summaries, analysis and insights.
• Experience working with creative tools, systems and technologies.
• Experience with AI tools Claude and Glean. 
• Experience interacting with senior leaders; comfortable asking detailed questions to clarify complex situations.
  Demonstrated ability to ramp quickly into ambiguous, in-flight programs, and operate independently within days or weeks, not months.

Education, Certifications and Experience: Preferred

• Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, or related field
• 3+ years experience creating customer facing presentations or sales materials
• Relevant experience may include: business development, strategy, consulting, marketing, banking, or similar role

What you’ll love about us:

Comprehensive benefits package, which includes:

• This is a full-time, exempt position and the base compensation for this opening in Chicago is expected to be $90,000-$100,000 annualized, depending on level, candidate experience, skills, and other factors. This position will be eligible for an annual bonus program with a 7.5% bonus target for total at target of $96,750-$107,500.
• Competitive Paid Time Off and company holidays
• Generous dining reimbursement when you dine with our restaurant clients 
• 401(k) plan with a company match
• Two medical plan options- Standard PPO or High Deductible Health Plan (HSA with company match for HDHP participants)
• Partnership with Rx n Go, offering certain prescriptions for free
• Two dental plan options and a vision plan
• Flexible Spending Accounts and a pre-tax commuter benefit program
• Accident, Critical Illness, and Hospital Indemnity Insurance Plans
• Short Term and Long Term disability 
• Company-paid life insurance and AD&D insurance, supplemental employee, spouse, and child life insurance 
• Employee Life Assistance Program
• Hybrid working space in our state of the art office downtown located by the Metra and Ogilvie train stations
• Catered lunches provided on Tuesday's in our Chicago office