Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Marketing Specialists (2) through clear expectations, coaching, performance feedback, accountability, and professional development.
• Translate marketing strategy into coordinated priorities, workplans, timelines, and measurable deliverables; ensure effective communication with senior leadership and other departments.
• Provide strategic and creative oversight to ensure work is high-quality, effective, consistent, and aligned with the VAAAC brand.
• Strengthen team capacity, culture, workflows, tools, and resources; manage personnel matters in accordance with VAAAC policies and in partnership with organizational leadership.
• Develop and implement the annual consumer marketing strategy and tactical plan in alignment with VAAAC’s organizational and destination priorities.
• Steward a compelling and differentiated destination brand that reflects the character, experiences, communities, and tourism assets of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.
• Use audience insights, traveler motivations, market opportunities, barriers to visitation, and emerging trends to inform strategy and investment.
• Integrate paid, owned, earned, shared, partner, and experiential channels to increase awareness, consideration, visitation, and overnight stays.
• Lead integrated campaigns from audience definition and creative briefing through implementation, optimization, and evaluation, with clear objectives, timelines, budgets, and KPIs.
• Direct paid media strategy and investment across relevant digital and traditional channels, determining priority audiences, markets, timing, channel mix, and spending levels.

Requirements

• Minimum of four years of progressive experience in marketing, advertising, media, or communications; tourism, destination marketing, hospitality, travel, lifestyle, or sports experience preferred.
• Demonstrated success developing integrated strategies and campaigns and planning, managing, or optimizing multichannel paid media.
• Strong knowledge of brand strategy, audience segmentation, creative development, digital platforms, analytics, and the evolving media landscape.
• Experience supervising staff and managing agencies, vendors, media partners, budgets, projects, and multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to combine creative judgment with strategic discipline, work independently, take ownership, and collaborate effectively.
• Proficiency with relevant marketing, analytics, digital media, and project management tools; experience with emerging technologies and AI preferred.
• Demonstrated commitment to inclusive marketing and to VAAAC’s core values of inclusivity, stewardship, and audacity.

Preferred

• tourism, destination marketing, hospitality, travel, lifestyle, or sports experience preferred.
• experience with emerging technologies and AI preferred.

Benefits

• 20 PTO days
• 13 floating holidays
• health, vision, and dental insurance with employer and employee contributions
• a 401(k) retirement plan with 3% match (after 90 days)
• basic short-term disability and life insurance benefits (after 90 days)
• Employee Assistance Program
• parking benefits
• professional development