Director of Strategic Marketing

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Disability insurance

Life insurance

ESOP

401(k) with company match

PTO & holidays

Flexible schedule

Professional development

Job summary

Ayres Associates is seeking a Director of Strategic Marketing to lead the firm's marketing function and align activities with strategic growth priorities. You will guide marketing operations, brand positioning, pursuit support, and communications while collaborating with Business Development and operations leaders.

The role emphasizes market intelligence, client insights, growth planning, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to drive business development and client services across regions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications or related field.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive marketing or growth leadership.
• Experience in the architectural, engineering, construction, professional services, or consulting industry.
• Proven success leading teams and developing talent.
• Experience supporting proposals, pursuits, and client development initiatives.
• Strong communication, facilitation, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to lead through change.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Marketing team with 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.
• Establish priorities and allocate resources to support growth objectives.
• Ensure consistency in messaging, positioning, visual identity, and client-facing communications.
• Partner with operational leaders and Business Development to support strategic growth initiatives.
• Support CRM usage, client intelligence, and pursuit analytics.

Skills

Strategic marketing leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Brand management

People management

Client development

Pursuit/support experience

Education

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

Tools

CRM systems

Pursuit analytics

Client intelligence

Market research

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

Marketing Leadership

• 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.
• Professional development opportunities.

Please note, benefits vary depending on job status. To learn more about our great benefits, visit our website at https://www.ayresassociates.com/careers/the-ayres-advantage/

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.