Sr. Marketing Specialist - New Stores

Oak Brook, IL (On-site)

$76K/yr – $96K/yrSenior Level3+ years expFull time

Posted 5 weeks ago

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Job Summary

Own the rollout of 300 plus store onboarding campaigns a year, coordinating national and local marketing to drive awareness, trust, and big grand openings.

  • Planning and Activation: Own onboarding timelines and the 18 month marketing roadmap to launch new stores with coordinated tactics across channels.
  • Cross-functional Orchestration: Lead grand openings and activations with Merchandising, Inventory, Creative, and field teams to ensure timely program activation (BOPIS, online, promotions).
  • Enablement and Training: Run trainings, update materials, and own the New Owners Institute to scale onboarding across retailers and field staff.

Job Description

Responsibilities

  • Planning and executing new store marketing timelines, activities, events and execution of onboarding all marketing programs for 300+ new stores per year. Collaborating with vendors, cross-functional corporate teams (Merchandising, marketing, inventory, creative services, etc.) to ensure all marketing programs are properly and timely activated (BOPIS, BODFS, online, Ace Rewards, promotions, Etc.).
  • Coordinating and planning Grand Opening events for all new stores Including creative development, offer creation, securing inventory, deploying creative (Print and digital) on behalf of the retailer.
  • Execute 18-month marketing roadmap for all new stores to include National and Local Marketing strategies to help drive store awareness and build consumer confidence and loyalty for all new stores.
  • Work cross-functionally with the Retail Operations field staff including DMs and the Retail Business Coaches as well as the Consumer Marketing field staff on all new store projects for each stores onboarding, first-year marketing plan and Grand Opening event.
  • Conduct Store webinars to onboard and train multiple new stores at one time and/or individually. Training and educating all new retailers on all Consumer Marketing programs (Sign Kit, ecomm, Ace Rewards, Digital/Local Lift Max, Marketing Muscle, Local Email, SOCi, etc.)
  • Update all New Store training, education and onboarding materials throughout the year to contain the most up-to-date information. Take ownership of all New Owners Institute trainings each year, this includes conducting the training and preparing all training materials and presentations specific to each training.
  • Attend 2 conventions per year which includes travel within the United States talking to new investors, educating on all Ace marketing programs and planning Grand Openings/Events.
  • Attend at least 5 Ace Grand Openings/Grand Re-openings per year and 2-4 competitive Grand Openings per year – What’s working/Not, how to be more impactful for Ace Retailers and ensuring everything runs smooth for the new store owners.
  • Execute event plans for 100+ Elevate store projects – Special offers, creative, demo ideas, etc. for stores completing store projects.

Requirements

  • 3 years’ experience
  • BA Degree in Marketing, or a Business-Related Field
  • Project and detail driven with a sense of urgency
  • Excellent written and verbal communications skills, with ability to interact and influence all organizational levels
  • Excellent teamwork skills with proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority
  • Ability to multi-task and work in a fast-paced environment
  • Ability to develop strategically sound, well thought through programs that demonstrate the benefits to all new retailers and field staff
  • Merchandising, Marketing and/or Analytics experience
  • Strategic thinker that questions the status quo
  • Passion and energy to build relationships and programs
  • Ability to travel to Grand Openings
  • Ability to travel to 2 Ace conventions per year
  • WORK AUTHORIZATION: This position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship now or in the future.

    Benefits

    • Incentive opportunities, based on role/grade level (company growth over the past 5 years resulted in incentives being paid out at an average of 122% of your target opportunity!)
    • Generous 401(k) retirement savings plan with a fully vested matching contribution the first year in addition to quarterly contributions and annual discretionary contribution (once eligibility requirements have been met). Over the past 5 years, company contributions (matching, quarterly & discretionary) for fully eligible employees have averaged 10% of total eligible compensation
    • Comprehensive health coverage (medical, dental, vision and disability – up to 26 weeks short-term disability and long-term disability) & life insurance benefits for you and your dependents
    • 21 days of vacation immediately available (prorated in the first year) and up to 6 paid holidays depending on the month of hire
    • Company Car, phone and fuel card are provided for field-based positions
    • Ace Cares Week, 20 hours off work per year to volunteer at an organization of your choice, opportunities to help Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the Ace Helpful Fund through the Ace Foundation
    • Tuition assistance program, plus a performance management approach that goes beyond the typical annual review
    • Employee discounts on Ace merchandise (including top brands like Weber, Traeger, Yeti, Craftsman, DeWalt and more), travel, fitness, computers and thousands more
    • Birth/Adoption bonding paid time off
    • Adoption cost reimbursement
    • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – access to free visits to therapists and lawyers, guidance on financial matters, elder and childcare, and assistance with tickets to entertainment events
    • Identity theft protection
    ACE Hardware logo

    ACE Hardware

    Now in Afghanistan, Since 1924, Ace Hardware has been known as the place with the helpful hardware folks in thousands of neighborhoods across America, providing customers with a more personal kind of helpful. In 2017, Ace ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Home Improvement Retail Stores, Eleven Years in a Row," according to J.D. Power. With more than 5,100 hardware stores locally owned and operated across the globe, Ace is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., Ace and its subsidiaries operate an expansive network of distribution centers in the U.S. and also have distribution capabilities in Ningbo, China; Colon, Panama; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its retailers' stores are located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and approximately 55 countries.

    Founded in 1924
    Kabul District, Kabul Province, AFG
    5.3K employees (88 in marketing)

    Traffic Signals

    Monthly Visitors
    3.1K
    Traffic Source Mix
    Search
    50.2%
    Direct
    35.3%
    Referral
    4.9%
    Social
    8.5%
    Paid
    1%

    Headcount Trend

    Current headcount: ~5.3K

    Marketing Team

    Marketing Team Size
    69 (1% of company)
    Median Career Experience
    3 years
    Median Tenure
    2.8 years
    Marketing Roles Posted (Last 30 Days)
    2

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