Senior Director - Brand Marketing at The Big 12 Conference Inc – Irving, Texas

Big 12 Conference | Job Description

POSITION TITLE: Senior Director – Brand Marketing

EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Full Time

DEPARTMENT NAME: Marketing

POSITION FUNCTION:

The Big 12 is seeking an industry-leading and highly driven professional with a proven track record as an effective marketer and successful brand builder. The Senior Director – Brand Marketing will oversee, develop, and deploy marketing initiatives and branding efforts across the conference. This role combines high-level strategy with hands-on execution, ensuring that campaigns, partnerships, licensing, merchandise, and tentpole events work together to elevate the Big 12 brand, captivate new and diverse audiences, and drive maximum revenue

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ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Responsible for collaborative development and execution of marketing and brand strategy for the Big 12 to further marketing goals, drive organizational priorities, and maximize revenue.

• Manage internal processes associated with the development of briefs, workflow oversight, innovation, and measuring ROI to drive success.

• Strategically plan and execute cross-organizational initiatives and marketing campaigns that drive revenue across ticketing, retail, events, corporate partnerships, merchandising, and licensing.

• Lead the development and presentation of marquee events across internal departments to communicate key milestones, storylines, and activation plans.

• Develop executive-level reporting and lead post-event recaps, including performance insights on brand campaigns, partnerships, merchandising, and licensing initiatives.

• Cultivate deep relationships within all event markets to drive visibility, awareness, profitability, and partner value.

• Collaborate with the content team on branding and visual communication to deliver a cohesive look and feel for all brand initiatives across channels.

• Develop campaigns in support of the Big 12's ticket sales and promotional strategy for Championships and other tentpole events, integrating merchandising and licensing strategies where relevant.

• Create influencer strategies and collaboration opportunities for content, music, merchandise, hospitality, and appearances.

• Assist with the execution of department-specific strategy pillars that tie back to the overarching brand narrative.

• Coordinate the year-round brand initiative calendar within the brand strategy group, working closely with CSR, Corporate Partnerships, Revenue, Sales, licensing, and merchandise teams.

• Collaborate closely with the Sales and Partnership teams to align brand initiatives with partner objectives, creating activations that maximize sponsor value and ROI.

• Oversee all merchandise and licensing initiatives, ensuring alignment with brand campaigns, tentpole events, and revenue-driving activities, while managing cross-functional collaboration with ticketing, premium experiences, retail, and sales teams.

• Assist with planning and execution of all major brand initiatives to roll out to the entire organization, including monthly initiatives, theme nights, and special collaborations.

• Provide holistic support for all brand initiatives from start to finish, including creative orders, landing page creation, and monthly recap summaries.

• Participate in team meetings, creative brainstorming, and research around internal processes, client trends, or deliverables to identify opportunities for brand growth and development.

• Complete additional tasks as assigned.

Skills & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited university; advanced degree preferred.

• 6+ years of Brand & Marketing experience (sports marketing experience preferred).

• Minimum 4 years managing teams with the ability to coach and develop direct reports.

• Proven experience with lifestyle brands, partnerships, licensing, merchandising, and fan engagement.

• Strong project management skills and the ability to lead multiple campaigns at various stages of development.

• Exceptional communication, prioritization, and time management skills.

• Breakthrough thinker with a strong pulse on culture, trends, and emerging opportunities.

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, hands-on environment while balancing multiple projects, including travel, evenings, weekends, and gamedays.

• Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships with key partners and influence at all levels.

EDUCATION:

• Industry Expertise: Proven experience with lifestyle brands, partnerships, licensing, merchandising, and fan engagement.

• Project Management: Strong ability to lead multiple high-stakes campaigns simultaneously from start to finish.

• Communication: Exceptional communication, prioritization, and time-management skills.

• Strategic Mindset: Breakthrough thinker with a strong pulse on culture, trends, and emerging opportunities.

• Interpersonal Skills: Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships and influence stakeholders at all levels.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

Office environment. Frequent sitting, standing, walking bending, listening, speaking, and use of office equipment. Some requirements for lifting, pushing, or pulling items less than 30 pounds. Ability to work long non-standard hours, including holidays, nights, weekends, game days or other event dates.

ABOUT THE BIG 12 CONFERENCE:

The Big 12 enters its 30th year as one of the nation's premier conferences in college athletics under the leadership of Commissioner Brett Yormark. Since joining the Conference in August 2022, Yormark has elevated the Big 12 to new heights, emphasizing marketing, brand building and instilling an innovative strategy that has resonated across the college athletics landscape. Starting Aug. 2, 2024, the Conference is composed of 16 universities spanning 10 states and four time zones. The Big 12 members include Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah and West Virginia. The Big 12 began play in 1996 and is the home of 87 team NCAA national championships, and 764 individual national champions. The Big 12 Conference office is located in Irving, Texas.

The Big 12 Conference, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All employees are hired, compensated, promoted, disciplined and evaluated without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, sex, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, genetic information, status as a qualified individual with a disability, military status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or any other protected characteristic as established by law. The Big 12 Conference, Inc. strictly prohibits any and all discrimination and harassment based upon an individual's race, color, religion, creed, gender, sex, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, genetic information, status as a qualified individual with a disability, military status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or any other protected characteristic as established by law.