Director – Customer Strategy

Job Description

As Director, Customer Strategy you will join a team of talented and experienced marketers who focus on helping Merkle clients achieve their business goals. 

In this role you will be a key member of our client account team and will ensure that the programs we execute are based on a deep understanding of our client’s business and strategic objectives.  You’ll appreciate the importance of strong relationships and become a trusted advisor to the client and Merkle account team. You will be a person who thrives in both analytic as well as creative thinking and will be nimble in solving for client problems.  As a leader your skills and passion for communicating strategy will get others to believe in the ideas that you present and follow that belief through to execution. 

At Merkle “Strategy” means a key idea that is informed, executable and provides results.  Those ideas need to be applicable to a variety of client scenarios and must cross any service that is necessary to achieve the client objective.  As a Director in the Customer Strategy team you will demonstrate experience in planning across media and channels, development and management of campaigns that generate measurable ROI and have the ability to work across many of our core vertical markets (Insurance, Financial Services, Non-Profit, Retail, Automotive, Travel, Media and Entertainment, B2B, High Tech) 

To be successful in this role you’ll have a strong passion for problem solving, and a deep understanding of how businesses, brands and customers interact, with an advanced understanding of the rapidly evolving role that data and technology play in this relationship. You must possess the ability to identify business growth opportunities and develop strategic recommendations to support the growth of client relationships. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the building, development, and delivery of strategic omni-channel marketing plans. 
• Act as a subject matter expert and be able to translate new technology - particularly in the areas of digital marketing and CRM - into new marketing ideas for the client. 
• Show a strong understanding of differences in marketing to customers in different verticals and environments. 
• Develop trusted, long-term relationships with key client contacts and executives. 
• Ensure meaningful client value is delivered through a mix of best-practice solutions, skills, capabilities, and original thinking. 
• Collaborate with team leadership (account management, operations, creative, analytics etc.), and partner agencies to turn ideas into executable plans 
• Identify key data points and measurements to show the impact of our approach and strategy on the client’s business. 

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree required.

• 8-12 years’ experience in data driven marketing – specifically CRM, email, online/offline media and 3- 5+ years working in an agency or consulting firm. 

• Proven experience in developing solutions to support the sale of new services to clients. 

• Hands-on skills using data and research to drive decisions –proficiency in Excel and research tools a plus. 

• Strong writing, presentation and client facing communication skills. Experience translating data analysis into actionable marketing recommendations and presentations – proficiency in PowerPoint is a must. 

• Attention to detail and the ability to incorporate internal and external feedback on an iterative basis. 

• Superior multi-tasking, networking, time management and inter-personal skills. 

• Self-starter high intellectual curiosity, drive, determination, and persuasion skills. 

• Comfort and experience working within a highly matrixed organization in roles with a wide degree of latitude. 

• Average 20%-30% travel (contingent on comfort level of client)