Director, Marketing Strategy & Operations

The Traits
- We are looking for an experienced marketing leader who is equal parts strategist and operator. You see the big picture but are equally comfortable getting into the details required to move work forward. You understand how brand, audience, media performance, and execution work together to create effective marketing. You are collaborative, decisive, curious, and highly organized, with the ability to bring clarity to complex work, develop people, and turn insights into action.

The Team
- The Marketing and Brand team leads the strategic development and positioning of the Thunder brand, identity, expression, and marketing. We approach our work with intentionality and purpose, continually looking for relevant opportunities to connect the Thunder to people in deeper and more meaningful ways. We work collaboratively across the organization to ensure the brand is thoughtfully and consistently brought to life.

The Role
- As Director, Marketing Strategy & Operations, you will provide day-to-day leadership for the Thunder's marketing function, overseeing integrated marketing strategy and planning, paid and owned media planning, performance marketing, and brand operations. Working closely with the VP, Marketing & Brand Engagement and Director, Brand Identity & Creative, you will connect brand strategy to marketing execution while building the processes, partnerships, and accountability necessary to deliver effective work.

You will lead and develop the Marketing team while serving as a strategic partner across the  this role you will:

Lead annual, seasonal, and campaign marketing strategy, establishing objectives, audiences, positioning, messaging, channel plans, key performance indicators (KPIs), and measurement

Partner closely with the Vice President, Marketing & Brand Engagement to advance brand strategy, positioning, and priorities and translate them into actionable marketing plans and campaigns

Lead paid media strategy and investment across digital and traditional channels, including audience strategy, channel mix, agency and media partner management, optimization, and emerging opportunities

Partner with the Fan Development department to develop and evolve audience profiles and segmentation, translating fan insights into actionable targeting strategies across marketing and media

Develop a performance marketing approach focused on testing, targeting, return on investment (ROI), return on ad spend (ROAS), and measurable fan and business outcomes

Lead integrated owned media planning in partnership with Social, Digital, Content, in-arena, and other channel owners and in collaboration with the Marketing Strategist Oversee campaign workflows, project management, prioritization, calendars, budgets, and cross-functional execution

Turn campaign, media, and audience insights into recommendations that strengthen marketing effectiveness, fan connection, and the Thunder brand

Provide strategic oversight of Brand Operations, empowering the Brand Operations team to strengthen workflows, processes, and prioritization that enable the Brand Expression team to operate efficiently and effectively

Champion brand governance across the organization, partnering closely with the Director, Brand Identity & Creative to ensure the Thunder brand is consistently and appropriately represented across internal and external touchpoints

Provide strategic oversight of the marketing relationship with Legends Global (Paycom Center management), ensuring third-party events, marketing requests, and arena activations appropriately represent and support the Thunder brand

Partner with NBA Marketing to align league and team initiatives, identify opportunities for local activation, and leverage relevant league resources and best…