Director of Strategic Marketing

Ayres; Saint Paul (MN); On-site; USD 125,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

ESOP and 401K with company match

PTO and paid holidays

Flexible work schedule

Job summary

Ayres is seeking a Director of Strategic Marketing to lead the marketing function and drive long‑term growth. You will oversee marketing operations, brand positioning, pursuit support, and communications while partnering with Business Development and operations leaders to support strategic growth initiatives.

You will shape market intelligence, client insights, growth planning, and development of cross‑functional collaboration across regions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required in marketing, communications, or related field.
• Minimum 10 years of marketing, business development, or growth leadership experience.
• Experience in architectural, engineering, construction, or professional services industries.
• Demonstrated success in leading teams and developing talent.
• Experience supporting proposals, pursuits, and client development initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Marketing team, fostering collaboration, accountability, continuous improvement, and client service.
• Oversee proposals, pursuit support, brand management, communications, digital marketing, events, and industry visibility.
• Align priorities and allocate resources to support firmwide and divisional growth objectives.
• Ensure messaging consistency, positioning, visual identity, and client-facing communications.
• Partner with operational leaders and Business Development to support strategic growth initiatives.
• Identify market opportunities, client needs, and competitive positioning to guide growth.
• Support market expansion initiatives and cross‑service line collaboration.
• Improve the connection between Marketing and Business Development through shared planning and processes.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic marketing

Proposal support

Client development

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Public Relations, or related field

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

When you join Ayres as our next Director of Strategic Marketing, you'll lead the firm's marketing function while helping strengthen the capabilities that support long-term strategic growth.

In this role, you will provide leadership for marketing operations, brand positioning, pursuit support, and communications while partnering with Business Development and operational leaders to support strategic growth initiatives, market expansion, client development, and companywide collaboration.

At Ayres, we believe growth is built through strong client relationships, market awareness, technical excellence, and collaboration across disciplines. We're seeking a leader who can preserve the strong marketing foundation already in place while helping the organization evolve its capabilities in market intelligence, client insights, growth planning, and business development support.

Through your leadership, you will help connect marketing activities to business outcomes while supporting the execution of Ayres' strategic priorities.

On Any Given Day, You'll

• Lead and develop the Marketing team while promoting a culture of collaboration, accountability, continuous improvement, and client service.
• Provide oversight for proposals, pursuit support, brand management, communications, digital marketing, events, and industry visibility activities.
• Establish priorities and allocate resources to support firmwide and divisional growth objectives.
• Ensure consistency in messaging, positioning, visual identity, and client-facing communications.

Growth Enablement

• Partner with operational leaders and Business Development professionals to support strategic growth initiatives.
• Help identify and evaluate market opportunities, emerging trends, client needs, and competitive positioning.
• Support market expansion initiatives and strategic growth priorities.
• Facilitate collaboration across service lines, divisions, and regions to strengthen companywide execution.
• Support development of client-focused messaging, account strategies, and market positioning efforts.

Business Development Partnership

• Partner with Business Development professionals to support strategic pursuits, capture planning, and client development activities.
• Help strengthen the connection between Marketing and Business Development through shared planning, priorities, and processes.
• Support effective utilization of CRM systems, client intelligence, and pursuit analytics.
• Provide insight and recommendations that improve growth decision-making and pursuit effectiveness.
• Support development of thought leadership, market visibility, and reputation‑building initiatives.

Strategic Planning & Operations

• Contribute to strategic planning discussions related to growth, markets, clients, and positioning.
• Establish and monitor marketing performance measures and growth‑related metrics.
• Evaluate marketing investments and activities to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.
• Develop annual marketing plans, budgets, and resource recommendations.
• Assist with recruitment, onboarding, mentoring, and career development of marketing professionals.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Public Relations, or professional services related field.
• Minimum 10 years of progressively responsible marketing, business development, or growth leadership experience.
• Experience within the architectural, engineering, construction, professional services, or consulting industry.
• Demonstrated success leading teams and developing talent.
• Experience supporting proposals, pursuits, and client development initiatives.
• Strong communication, facilitation, and relationship‑building skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with technical professionals, operational leaders, and business developers.
• Experience developing and implementing strategic marketing initiatives.
• Strong organizational and project management skills.
• Solid understanding of business development.
• Ability to lead through change.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading Marketing within a multidiscipline A/E/C consulting environment.
• Experience supporting market expansion, service diversification, or strategic growth initiatives.
• Experience with CRM strategy, client intelligence, and pursuit analytics.
• Knowledge of account planning, capture planning, and business development processes.
• Experience supporting cross‑selling and enterprise client development efforts.
• Experience utilizing market research and competitive intelligence to inform business decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to align marketing activities with organizational strategy and growth goals.
• Experience supporting thought leadership, industry positioning, and market visibility initiatives.
• Active participation in industry organizations and professional associations.

Benefits of being part of the Ayres team:

• Health, dental, and vision Insurance.
• Short and long‑term disability and life insurance.
• Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and 401K with company match.
• PTO, paid holidays including two floating holidays, and a flexible work schedule.

Our good‑faith compensation approach is fair and equitable, and takes into consideration only permissible factors including, but not limited to, market data, education, training, skills, and experience, and geographic location where the work is performed. A salary range for this posting is $125000 - $180000. The foregoing salary range represents what the company believes, in good‑faith, it will pay for the posted opportunity. The individual selected for this role will be evaluated with the compensation factors in mind and placed appropriately.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.