Marketing Director- Grocery in Bowling Green, Kentucky at Houchens Food Group, Inc.

This is an inoffice position in Bowling Green, KY. NON REMOTE.

The Director of Grocery Marketing is responsible for leading the strategic direction, development, and execution of all marketing initiatives supporting our grocery banners. This role drives traffic, sales growth, margin performance, and brand strength through integrated marketing, advertising, digital growth strategy, and cross-functional collaboration.

The Director will oversee multi-channel marketing efforts including advertising, promotions, digital marketing, ecommerce collaboration, social media, CRM, and in-store activation while ensuring alignment with merchandising, operations, and executive leadership.

This position plays a critical role in shaping the long-term brand and growth strategy for the grocery division.

Essential Duties:

Strategic Leadership

· Develop and execute 3–5 year marketing roadmap aligned with business growth objectives.

· Own integrated marketing strategy across print, digital, social, email, paid media, and in-store channels.

· Drive omnichannel customer engagement and brand positioning initiatives.

· Identify growth opportunities through market analysis, consumer insights, and competitive research.

· Oversee weekly and seasonal promotional planning in partnership with merchandising and pricing teams.

· Ensure strong value proposition and competitive positioning.

· Optimize promotional strategy to drive traffic and margin performance.

· Lead digital growth strategy including paid media, email, social, and SEO initiatives.

· Collaborate with technology and ecommerce partners to enhance website and app engagement.

· Drive customer acquisition, retention, and loyalty strategy.

· Ensure data-driven marketing decisions through performance analytics and reporting.

· Own grocery division marketing budget and ensure ROI accountability.

· Analyze marketing contribution to sales and customer lifetime value.

· Provide performance reporting to executive leadership.

· Drive efficiency and optimization across marketing investments.

· Lead, develop, and mentor marketing managers, specialists, and coordinators.

· Foster high-performance culture focused on accountability and innovation.

· Partner closely with merchandising, operations, finance, and IT teams.

· Serve as marketing representative in executive planning discussions.

QUALIFICATIONS

· Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field required.

· 10+ years progressive marketing experience, preferably in grocery, retail, or multi-unit environments.

· 5+ years of people leadership experience.

· Demonstrated success leading integrated marketing strategies with measurable business impact.

· Experience managing significant marketing budgets and driving ROI

KNOWLEDGE / ADDITIONAL SKILLS / APTITUDE

· Strong strategic planning and enterprise thinking capability.

· Deep understanding of retail promotional strategy and margin management.

· Omnichannel marketing expertise (print, digital, social, CRM, paid media).

· Advanced analytics and data-driven decision-making ability.

· Budget forecasting and financial acumen.

· Executive-level communication and presentation skills.

· Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence stakeholders.

· High level of organization, adaptability, and problem-solving ability.