Senior Vice President, Marketing

Company Introduction

WorldStrides is the global leader in educational travel and experiential learning. The company was founded in 1967 to provide middle school travel programs to Washington, D.C. and has grown to provide a wide range of programs for more than half a million students annually to over 100 countries around the world. WorldStrides offers experiential learning programs in educational travel, performing arts, language immersion, career exploration, service-learning, study abroad, and sports. Each of these experiences helps students to see beyond the classroom and to see the world – and themselves – in new ways.

Job Description:

WorldStrides is seeking a strategic and dynamic leader for the role of SVP, Marketing for our K12 Group Travel division. Reporting directly to the EVP, Group, this individual will oversee marketing strategy and execution for all Group teams, including Domestic, International, Sports, Performing, WorldClass Vacations, and Specialty. Their focus will be on driving tangible business results for the Group business (increased revenue and EBITDA) through a consumer-centric approach to using cross-channel, full-funnel marketing strategies that rely heavily on digital technology and digital marketing implementations to achieve business goals.

The SVP, Marketing – K12 Group will be responsible for the development and execution of a consideration and direct response lead generation strategy across digital channels. This leader will also be responsible for creating and managing the Group and Centralized Marketing budgets, generating, and accelerating qualified pipelines through effective planning and execution of campaigns, and leading marketing initiatives that support new logo sales activities and customer expansion.

The ideal candidate will have solid expertise across the range of current digital marketing platforms and website design, combined with strong analytical and communications skills. They will demonstrate strong change leadership capabilities and the ability to evolve structures, processes, and team capabilities in a dynamic environment. Specifically, this individual will be responsible for developing a digitally focused lead generation program that encompasses strategy, performance optimization, and post-campaign analysis, as well as evolving and optimizing the front-end customer experience of the WorldStrides website properties for Group.

In Addition, This Leader Will:

• Develop new strategic growth initiatives, including launching new category awareness marketing campaigns and partner marketing efforts to create consideration and leads.
• Lead the development and implementation of the sales support and enablement strategy targeted at B2B (teachers and program leaders) and B2C (students and parents) audiences.
• Expand marketing reach through a combination of new products and tactics, including new digital channel/platform testing.
• Maximize conversion through end-to-end customer journey planning, identifying opportunities to improve ROI of existing campaign strategies.
• Serve as a strategic partner to sales, product delivery, and centralized marketing leadership, ensuring alignment and collaboration across the organization.

The ideal candidate will combine strong marketing acumen with a passion for our mission of enabling students to grow, learn, and thrive through transformative travel experiences.

Roles And Responsibilities:

Strategic Marketing Planning & Execution

• Create a comprehensive annual marketing strategy and plan for Group travel programs that support business growth goals, overseeing the coordination of internal and external resources. Plans include:
• Create and manage an annual marketing budget aligned with business priorities and goals.
• Conduct competitive intelligence scans/benchmarking and develop strategies to adapt to a changing environment.
• Owner of the WorldStrides Group brand, as well as developing and implementing a strategic migration plan for the sunsetting of legacy brands.
• Develop strategy and creative brief for all campaigns and collateral, working closely to establish goals and metrics with division leadership.
• Development of social media strategy and execution for product lines, with careful attention to growth of brand awareness and relevance.
• Champion innovation in marketing, leveraging emerging tools, AI, and data tools to enhance performance and customer insight.
• Development of a full-funnel lead generation program that heavily leverages digital touchpoints across web, search, social, display, retargeting, and native sponsored ads in a variety of platforms and audience segments to drive consideration, inbound website traffic, and generate qualified sales leads.
• Development of CAC and LTV metrics to inform and optimize marketing expenditures.
• Development of marketing KPIs to measure the performance of marketing efforts.
• Development and execution of marketing strategies and campaigns to empower the WorldStrides sales teams with the buyer, solution, and competitive tools they need to achieve and exceed their targets.

Lead Generation Strategy & Management

• Develop strategies, manage budgets, and oversee digital campaigns across various platforms from beginning to end, aligning strategy with business priorities, and optimizing to meet performance benchmarks and delivering actionable insights.
• Manage the day-to-day relationship and communication with agencies, including media briefs, development of media plans, and Business Reviews to ensure flawless execution and best-in-class service.
• Develop strategy and oversee lead flow process via marketing automation platforms, i.e., Salesforce, Google Analytics, Looker Studio.
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve campaign performance, including channel strategy, ad type, targeting, copy, creative, and CTR on landing pages and lead forms, and drive continuous improvement through innovative ideas and robust test plans.
• Ensure lead quality and quantity align with sales needs, creating a shared accountability model with sales leadership.

Sales Enablement Strategy & Management

• Provide strategic direction and alignment across creative services, analytics, and digital marketing teams to ensure marketing initiatives meet business needs and deliver measurable results.
• Establish clear expectations and success criteria for campaigns and marketing assets, holding teams accountable for effectiveness and ROI.
• Oversee the development of sales enablement strategies, ensuring tools and resources (messaging frameworks, pitch materials, data insights) are aligned with customer needs and sales priorities.
• Build compelling and customer-centric narratives for our sales teams to use when engaging with customers of diverse sizes, including industry and vertical-specific narratives.
• Set priorities for sales enablement initiatives and ensure the marketing team partners effectively with Sales Leadership to drive adoption and impact.
• You will play a crucial role in aligning sales and marketing efforts, partnering with Revenue Enablement to enhance sales productivity, and driving revenue growth.

Digital Strategy and Management

• Provide vision, strategy, and support for the development of a K12 Group website infrastructure that supports the WorldStrides K12 Group product portfolio, provides an engaging and personalized experience for the customer, and integrates the current disparate sites across multiple subdomains and a variety of CMS platforms. This includes translating customer interaction and engagement opportunities into executable business requirements that ensure a high-quality and intuitive user experience while working closely with IT and external resources to develop and implement.
• Maintain website content and enhance user experiences, including developing testing plans and implementing new website features and enhancements designed to increase customer engagement, conversion rates, and revenue, as well as improve page performance, enhance search engines’ abilities to understand page content and context, improve crawlability, and expand eligibility for rich results.
• Collaborate with centralized Digital teams and IT to design, develop, and manage the digital product strategic roadmap for K12 Group that supports the teacher and student/parent experience across the lifelong learning journey from the enrollment process to during and after programs. Work closely with the IT team to develop and implement.
• Bring a clear vision for the digital customer experience that is measurable, personalized, and impactful.

Analytics, Measurement & Reporting

• Evaluate media buying opportunities, overseeing all media negotiations and contractual agreements with agencies, as well as the budget and invoicing process for digital media and tools.
• Develop campaign tracking parameters and reporting requirements for each campaign and work with agencies to deliver daily dashboards, weekly/monthly reporting, ad hoc analysis, deep performance and insights, and recommendations.
• Provide detailed campaign analysis and evaluate end-to-end customer experiences across multiple channels and touchpoints to make recommendations for ongoing improvement and conversion rate optimization (CRO).
• Track performance of SEO keywords and landing pages to demonstrate ROI of projects, identify areas of opportunity, and respond to changes in performance.
• Create a culture of data-driven decision making across the marketing team to ensure analytics drive strategy, not just reporting.

Skills:

• Multifaceted understanding of the evolving digital marketing landscape, including advances in relevant tools such as multichannel marketing, ad tech, and customer data platforms, and the ways that machine learning and AI are making customer insights more accessible and actionable.
• Strong ability to build and manage high-performing marketing teams and outside agencies.
• Excellent analytical, strategic, and conceptual thinking and consulting skills.
• Familiarity with media and performance measurement, as well as attribution and media mix modeling.
• Strong influence and negotiation skills.
• Demonstrated history in evaluating, selecting, and managing budgets for relevant marketing technologies and service providers.
• Proven ability to effectively drive people, process, and technology change in a dynamic and complex operating environment.
• Skilled at building and developing relationships across organizations, including Sales, Delivery, Centralized Marketing, and Customer Service.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills, including a proven ability to explain complex digital concepts and technologies to senior business leaders as well as business concepts to technologists.
• Working in a demanding environment, with a strong ability to manage multiple deadlines and multitask across campaigns & complex projects.
• Communicating cross-functionally and influencing key stakeholders across complex organizations
• Big picture thinker who does not hesitate to dive into details with strong quantitative skills and ability to translate data into insights and measurable results.
• Nimble operator who seeks out feedback, iterates on strategy, and drives optimization efforts to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement across the team.
• Coaching and mentoring a team with the ability to build strong internal and external relationships.
• Well-rounded marketer with both creative and analytical abilities that can provide input on design and copy, but also an understanding of marketing analytics and reporting.

Experience:

• 15+ years of marketing experience with 7+ years in management or leadership
• Strong record of driving revenue for a product or service brand; K12 or travel marketing experience preferred.
• Successful record planning, executing, and managing digital lead gen programs across social and display channels with hands-on PPC, SEM, and SEO experience. Agency experience is a plus.
• Extensive experience with BI, reporting, and analytics for digital marketing.
• Experience with attribution modeling is a plus, and a strong command of modern and advanced paid media practices, digital operations, and technology.
• Extensive experience in website development and landing page design, including UX design, A/B, Multivariate testing, and site optimization, and using a data management platform to drive targeting and personalization. Sitecore experience is a plus.
• Marketing program management experience, from setting marketing strategy to evaluating results, in a multichannel marketing environment, with a strong focus on digital marketing.

Education:

• Bachelor's or master’s degree in business or related field, or equivalent marketing work experience. Additional education in marketing is desirable.

Work Perks:

• Fun & driven environment.
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage, life, accidental death and dismemberment, accident, critical illness, and disability insurance, FSA healthcare, FSA dependent care, HAS with employer contribution, and generous 401k match.
• 10 paid floating corporate holidays, 1 paid volunteer day & 25 PTO days to start – accrue up to 28 over 3 years, 4 mental health days, and 5 bereavement days.
• Tuition reimbursement up to five thousand, two hundred fifty dollars annually or one thousand dollars towards professional certification annually.
• Opportunities for paid and discounted travel.
• Flexible work schedule providing on-site, remote, and virtual office opportunities.
• Encouraged participation in our Employee Resource Groups and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion council.
• Fitness Center and café onsite at select locations.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Paid Parental, Caregiver, and Disability leave.
• Team Member Discount Program

WorldStrides, a global organization, is committed to educate and serve communities worldwide. Our commitment is fueled by the passion of our team members and partners to make experiential learning accessible, while also being socially, environmentally, and ethically responsible. Together, we accomplish this by investing in initiatives to promote inclusion, diversity, and sustainability.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, WorldStrides is committed to building a diverse workforce, supported by an environment that promotes inclusion and belonging. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

WorldStrides will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States. This is not a position for which sponsorship will be provided. Individuals with temporary visas such as E, F-1, J-1, H-1, H-2, L, B, J or TN, or who need sponsorship for work authorization now or in the future, are not eligible for hire. Select seasonal roles may consider students on J-1 or F-1 visas.