Lead Marketing Strategist

Principal International; Des Moines (IA); On-site; USD 127,000 - 171,000; Full time

Job summary

Principal International in Des Moines, IA is seeking a Lead Marketing Strategist to connect customer needs, market insights, and business priorities to develop messaging and content strategies that help audiences understand complex products and solutions.

You will partner across marketing and the business to understand audiences, develop positioning, and bring stories to life through content and go-to-market initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required or equivalent.
• 10+ years of related marketing experience resulting in advanced knowledge of the marketing profession and modern marketing strategies.
• Proven track record building and implementing strategic marketing programs that deliver strong results.
• Experience developing positioning, messaging, and content strategies for complex products, solutions, or audiences.
• Ability to translate data and analytics into meaningful implications and actionable marketing strategies.
• Advanced strategic and critical thinking skills, with the ability to connect customer needs, market insights, and business priorities.
• Strong ability to simplify technical or complex information and turn it into compelling, audience-focused stories.
• Strong influence and informal leadership skills, with the ability to bring stakeholders together around a clear strategy and consistent message.
• Thorough understanding of the customer journey, competitive landscape, market opportunities, and customer experience.
• Experience partnering across teams, including with creative teams or agencies, to bring strategies and stories to life.
• Ability to manage complex initiatives, competing priorities, and deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Develop positioning, messaging, and content strategies grounded in customer needs and market insights.
• Translate complex products into clear and compelling audience-focused stories.
• Partner across marketing and the business to understand audiences and align stakeholders around strategic direction.
• Apply customer, competitive, and market research to inform marketing strategies.
• Partner with creative teams to translate strategy into effective content.
• Lead through influence, bringing stakeholders together around clear strategies and messages.
• Manage complex projects and competing priorities while maintaining strategic focus.
• Explore new approaches to marketing, including the thoughtful use of AI.

Skills

Marketing strategy

Strategic thinking

Storytelling

Cross-functional collaboration

Data analytics

Project management

Communication

Customer insights

Influence

Audience understanding

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

What You'll Do

As a Lead Marketing Strategist, you'll connect customer needs, market insights, and business priorities to develop messaging and content strategies that help audiences understand complex products and solutions.

You'll partner across marketing and the business to understand our audiences, develop positioning and messaging, and turn complex ideas into clear, relevant stories. You'll then help bring those stories to life through content and go-to-market initiatives. You'll also apply customer, competitive, and market insights to strengthen how solutions are positioned and identify opportunities to evolve our marketing.

What you'll do:

• Develop positioning, messaging, and content strategies grounded in customer needs, market insights, and business priorities.
• Translate complex products, solutions, and concepts into clear and compelling audience-focused stories.
• Partner across marketing and the business to understand audiences and align stakeholders around strategic direction and messaging.
• Apply customer, competitive, and market research to inform marketing strategies and identify opportunities.
• Partner with creative teams to translate strategy into effective content.
• Lead through influence, bringing stakeholders together around clear strategies, priorities, and messages.
• Manage complex projects and competing priorities while maintaining strategic focus.
• Look for new and innovative approaches to marketing, including thoughtful opportunities to apply AI where it can improve the work.

Who You Are

• A bachelor's degree (BS or BA) or equivalent.
• 10+ years of related marketing experience resulting in an advanced knowledge of the marketing profession and modern marketing strategies.
• Demonstrated experience building and implementing strategic marketing programs that deliver strong results.
• Experience developing positioning, messaging, and content strategies for complex products, solutions, or audiences.
• Ability to translate data and analytics into meaningful implications and actionable marketing strategies.
• Advanced strategic and critical thinking skills, with the ability to connect customer needs, market insights, and business priorities.
• Strong ability to simplify technical or complex information and turn it into compelling, audience-focused stories.
• Strong influence and informal leadership skills, with the ability to bring stakeholders together around a clear strategy and consistent message.
• Thorough understanding of the customer journey, competitive landscape, market opportunities, and customer experience.
• Experience partnering across teams, including with creative teams or agencies, to bring strategies and stories to life.
• Ability to manage complex initiatives, competing priorities, and deadlines.

Preferred experience

• Experience within financial services, retirement, asset management, or another complex industry.

How you'll make an impact

Success in this role requires equal parts curiosity, strategic thinking, storytelling, and collaboration. You'll help teams understand both what we need to say and why it matters to the customer, creating stronger connections between customer insight, business strategy, and the stories we take to market.

Salary Range Information

Salary ranges below reflect targeted base salaries. Non-sales positions have the opportunity to participate in a bonus program. Sales positions are eligible for sales incentives, and in some instances a bonus plan, whereby total compensation may far exceed base salary depending on individual performance. Actual compensation for all roles will be based upon geographic location, work experience, education, licensure requirements and/or skill level and will be finalized at the time of offer.

Salary Range (Non-Exempt expressed as hourly; Exempt expressed as yearly)

$127000 - $171000 / year

Time Off Program

Flexible Time Off (FTO) is provided to salaried (exempt) employees and provides the opportunity to take time away from the office with pay for vacation, personal or short-term illness. Employees don't accrue a bank of time off under FTO and there is no set number of days provided.

Pension Eligible

Yes

Work Authorization/Sponsorship

At this time, we're not considering applicants that need any type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) now or in the future to work in the United States. This includes, but IS NOT LIMITED TO: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, L-1, J-1, etc. For additional information around work authorization needs please use the following links.

Nonimmigrant Workers and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants

Investment Code of Ethics

For Principal Asset Management positions, you'll need to follow an Investment Code of Ethics related to personal and business conduct as well as personal trading activities for you and members of your household. These same requirements may also apply to other positions across the organization.

Experience Principal

At Principal, we value connecting on both a personal and professional level. Together, we're imagining a more purpose-led future for financial services – and that starts with you. Our success depends on the unique experiences, backgrounds, and talents of our employees. And we support our employees the same way we support our customers: with comprehensive, competitive benefit offerings crafted to protect their physical, financial, and social well-being. Check out our careers site to learn more about our purpose, values and benefits.

Principal is an Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Principal uses artificial intelligence tools to assist in reviewing and evaluating job applications, fraud prevention, and candidate matching and comparisons. These AI tools support our human recruiters in the initial review process but do not make final hiring decisions without human involvement. By submitting your application, you acknowledge this use of AI in our recruitment process. Please review our Workforce (U.S.) Privacy Notice for more details on our practices and your data privacy rights.