Director Marketing Strategy - Center Core and Gifting

Be Part of an Amazing Story

Macy’s is more than just a store. We’re a story. One that’s captured the hearts and minds of America for more than 160 years. A story about innovations and traditions…about inspiring stores and irresistible products…about the excitement of the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks, and the wonder of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. We’ve been part of memorable moments and milestones for countless customers and colleagues. Those stories are part of what makes this such a special place to work.

Job Overview

The Director, Marketing Strategy - Center Core & Gifting will be a strategic marketing and brand leader responsible for defining how Macy's brings Center Core & Gifting to life across the customer journey. This role will translate customer insights, business priorities, merchandising opportunities, cultural trends, and market dynamics into compelling category stories, demand-generating marketing strategies, and innovative customer experiences that drive discovery, engagement, and growth.

As a key partner to Center Core Merchandising leadership, the Director will establish annual and seasonal marketing strategies, identify opportunities to create customer demand, and orchestrate how storytelling, content, media, digital, CRM, stores, and experiences work together. This leader will help strengthen Macy's position as a destination for discovery, gifting, and everyday inspiration by creating compelling reasons for customers to shop across special occasions, seasonal moments, and everyday needs.

The ideal candidate combines strategic marketing expertise with strong brand-building capabilities, a customer-first mindset, and the ability to influence complex organizations. They are equally comfortable developing long-term growth strategies, building data-driven business cases, challenging traditional retail thinking, and leading cross-functional teams to deliver measurable business impact.

What You Will Do

Set the Center Core and Gifting Marketing Strategy

• Develop annual and seasonal marketing strategies that drive customer engagement, category growth, and brand relevance.
• Translate customer insights, cultural trends, merchandising priorities, and market opportunities into compelling growth strategies.
• Identify opportunities to create demand, increase discovery, and drive customer consideration across Center Core & Gifting.
• Establish strategic priorities and focus the organization on the stories, occasions, and moments that matter most.
• Strengthen Macy's position as a destination for discovery, curation, gifting, and everyday inspiration.

Lead Seasonal & Campaign Strategy

• Develop integrated seasonal strategies and campaign briefs across Center Core & Gifting.
• Connect gifting occasions, life moments, cultural moments, promotions, content, and experiences into cohesive customer journeys.
• Create compelling category stories that inspire discovery and give customers meaningful reasons to shop throughout the year.
• Define how channels work together to maximize customer impact and business results.
• Continuously optimize plans based on customer behavior, business performance, and emerging opportunities.

Lead & Elevate the Team

• Provide strategic leadership and direction to the Center Core & Gifting Marketing Strategy team, fostering innovative thinking, collaboration, and business ownership.
• Develop and coach talent while encouraging creativity, curiosity, accountability, and growth.
• Create clarity across complex opportunities and challenges by prioritizing investments and focusing resources on the highest-impact initiatives.
• Raise the quality of strategic thinking across the organization by challenging assumptions and introducing new perspectives on consumer engagement and demand creation.

Partner Across the Organization

• Serve as a strategic marketing partner to Center Core Merchandising leadership.
• Influence stakeholders across merchandising, creative, media, digital, CRM, stores, PR, and social teams.
• Advocate for customer-led growth opportunities and challenge conventional approaches where appropriate.
• Build organizational alignment and ensure strategic priorities translate into clear, connected execution.

Turn Insights & Data into Action

• Use customer, category, cultural, and competitive insights to identify growth opportunities.
• Build data-driven business cases and strategic recommendations.
• Leverage analytics to inform marketing priorities, investment decisions, and optimization opportunities.
• Identify emerging customer behaviors, discovery trends, gifting patterns, and life moments that create new opportunities for growth.
• Translate insights into actionable strategies that drive measurable business impact.

Build the Future of Center Core & Gifting Marketing

• Identify new and innovative ways to drive discovery, engagement, and demand.
• Create signature customer occasions, storytelling platforms, and content experiences that elevate the business beyond promotion.
• Explore AI, personalization, creators, emerging platforms, and evolving consumer discovery behaviors.
• Bring external perspectives and challenger thinking to Macy's.
• Help the organization stay connected to evolving consumer expectations, cultural trends, and commerce innovations.

Skills You Will Need

Product-to-Story Marketing: Demonstrated ability to transform products, categories, customer occasions, and insights into compelling stories that drive discovery, engagement, and demand.

Brand Building & Demand Creation: Experience building, growing, repositioning, or transforming brands, categories, or customer experiences through strategic marketing leadership.

Marketing Strategy Development: Ability to develop and articulate clear growth strategies that align customer needs, business priorities, cultural insights, and market opportunities.

Consumer & Cultural Insight: Strong understanding of consumer behavior, gifting occasions, lifestyle trends, cultural relevance, and evolving shopping behaviors.

Cross-Functional Leadership: Proven ability to navigate complex organizations and align merchandising, marketing, creative, media, CRM, digital, and retail partners around a common vision.

Data-Driven Decision Making: Strong analytical mindset with the ability to translate insights into persuasive recommendations and measurable business outcomes.

Innovation & Commerce Thinking: Deep curiosity about consumer discovery, modern commerce, AI, emerging technologies, and the future of retail marketing.

Strategic Agility & Prioritization: Ability to identify high-impact opportunities, make investment tradeoffs, and prioritize resources effectively.

Executive Communication & Storytelling: Exceptional ability to communicate complex ideas through compelling narratives, business cases, presentations, and strategic recommendations.

Who You Are

• 10+ years of experience in marketing strategy, brand marketing, retail marketing, category marketing or a related discipline.

• Demonstrated experience developing enterprise or divisional marketing strategies.

• Strong understanding of Center Core and/or Gifting merchandising and retail.

• Proven ability to translate complex business objectives and insights into a clear, compelling strategic narrative.

• Experience leading integrated marketing strategies across multiple channels and functions.

• Strong executive presence and ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional partners.

• Highly analytical and comfortable using data and insights to inform strategic decisions.

• Strong understanding of the Center Core, gifting, retail and cultural landscape.

• Exceptional communication, presentation and storytelling skills.

• Ability to balance strategic thinking with strong execution and a bias toward action.

• Experience leading and developing teams, with a track record of building high-performing, collaborative organizations.

• This role involves performing essential job functions such as communication, collaboration, and use of office and computer systems. Responsibilities include the ability to access and review written and electronic information, and to move within the work environment and interact with workplace materials as needed to carry out job responsibilities.
• Able to work a flexible schedule based on department and company needs.

What We Can Offer You

Join a team where work is as rewarding as it is fun! We offer a dynamic, inclusive environment with competitive pay and benefits. Enjoy comprehensive health and wellness coverage and a 401(k) match to invest in your future. Prioritize your well-being with paid time off and eight paid holidays. Grow your career with continuous learning and leadership development. Plus, build community by joining one of our Colleague Resource Groups and make a difference through our volunteer opportunities.

Some additional benefits we offer include:

• Merchandise discounts
• Performance-based incentives
• Annual merit review
• Employee Assistance Program with mental health counseling and legal/financial advice
• Tuition reimbursement

Access the full menu of benefits offerings here.

About Us

This is a great time to join Macy’s! Whether you’re helping a customer find the perfect gift, streamlining operations in one of our distribution centers, enhancing our online shopping experience, buying in-style and on-trend merchandise to outfit our customers, or designing a balloon for the Thanksgiving Day Parade, we offer unique opportunities to be part of some of the most memorable moments in people’s lives. 

Join us and help write the next chapter in our story - apply today!

This job description is not all-inclusive. Macy's, Inc. reserves the right to amend this job description at any time. Macy's, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment.

MARKETING00

Salary Range Minimum: 156,960

Salary Range Maximum: 261,360