Associate Vice President, Marketing

American College of Surgeons•Chicago, IL

24d•$170,000 - $210,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Vice President (AVP), Marketing is a senior leader within the Division of Strategic Marketing and Communications responsible for building and scaling ACS's marketing engine. The AVP, Marketing will drive measurable growth in member acquisition, engagement, and retention, as well as awareness and adoption of ACS's Quality Programs and educational products. This role owns the strategy, execution, and continuous optimization of ACS's multichannel marketing portfolio, including email/CRM marketing, paid digital and search, organic and paid social optimization, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), answer engine optimization (AEO), generative engine optimization (GEO), and campaign analytics. The AVP brings a rigorous, test-and-learn, metrics-first approach to marketing, setting clear KPIs, building attribution and reporting infrastructure, and holding channels and campaigns accountable to conversion, engagement, and ROI targets. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who will build a modern marketing function within a mission-driven organization, as well as create an infrastructure for operating continuous optimization. This position partners closely with the AVP, Strategic Communications, and manages a high-performing team of five direct reports: two Marketing Managers, Senior Manager, Marketing Intelligence, Senior Social Media Strategist and Social Media Coordinator. This exempt position will report to the VP, Strategic Marketing and Communications in the Division of Strategic Marketing and Communications. It is based in our Chicago office and is a hybrid role: 3 days per week in the office/2 days per week remote. The anticipated salary range for this position is $170,000 - $210,000 (commensurate with related experience).

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university is required; advanced degree preferred.
10–12 years of progressive marketing experience with a demonstrated track record of driving measurable growth in acquisition, engagement, or revenue through data-driven, multichannel campaigns; healthcare experience a plus.
Proven success building and scaling testing programs (A/B, multivariate) and translating results into strategy.
Experience owning marketing automation and CRM/AMS platforms. Marketo experience at a strategic and technical level preferred.
Demonstrated ability to market to various personas and stakeholders across the healthcare and hospital systems environments.
Deep, hands-on experience with paid digital/search advertising, conversion rate optimization, and marketing analytics with a demonstrated track record of managing and improving ROAS across paid channels.
Knowledge of PropFuel preferred; proficiency with Stripo or equivalent email design tool required.
Demonstrated experience in performance marketing and paid digital advertising (Google Ads, LinkedIn, Meta or similar platforms).
Strong analytical skills with experience interpreting and presenting campaign performance data; Power BI experience preferred.
Experience with CRM/AMS systems and using data to drive segmentation and targeting decisions.
Fluency with AI tools for marketing applications (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, or similar).
Experience with personalization, behavioral segmentation, and lifecycle marketing.
Strong attention to detail, QA discipline, and ability to manage multiple campaigns and deadlines independently.
Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint); Power BI and analytics tools preferred.
Experience managing marketing budgets with clear ROI accountability.
People leadership experience, including managing high-performing, metrics-driven teams.
Comfortable being held accountable to numbers, including conversion rates, cost per acquisition, engagement, retention.
Ability to translate data into clear narratives and recommendations for non-technical stakeholders and executives.
Partners effectively across a complex, mission-driven organization with many stakeholders.
Has a high degree of integrity, discretion, and professional maturity, as well as strong executive presence and credibility.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree preferred.
Healthcare experience a plus.
Marketo experience at a strategic and technical level preferred.
Knowledge of PropFuel preferred.
Power BI experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Design and lead an integrated marketing strategy that drives measurable growth in membership acquisition, engagement, and renewal, as well as adoption of Quality Programs, educational offerings and other resources and services.
Build a modern marketing function, driving the full funnel end-to-end, from awareness through conversion and retention, with the systems and discipline to test, measure, and scale what works.
Establish KPIs, attribution models, and dashboards (e.g., Power BI/AI) that make marketing ROI visible and actionable.
Build a culture of continuous testing, including A/B and multivariate testing on creative, offers, audiences, and channels, to systematically improve conversion and cost efficiency over time.
Direct paid digital and search investment (Google Ads, LinkedIn, Meta, display) alongside owned channels (email, web, organic social) to maximize acquisition and engagement at the lowest sustainable cost.
Own return on ad spend (ROAS) and cost-per-acquisition targets across paid channels, in close partnership with the social media and web teams.
Serve as the marketing owner of ACS's automation and CRM/AMS ecosystem (e.g., Marketo), ensuring the platform, segmentation, and data architecture support increasingly sophisticated targeting, personalization, and lifecycle marketing at scale.
Partner with the IT team to optimize data sources for marketing opportunities.
Build, mentor, and manage a team of marketing professionals, instilling a rigorous, data-informed, and growth-oriented culture.
Partner with Membership, Quality Programs, Education, and Business Development to translate organizational priorities into marketing campaigns with clear, trackable business outcomes.
Champion the responsible use of AI tools to accelerate content creation, segmentation, personalization, and campaign optimization, keeping ACS at the leading edge of marketing practice.
Partner with the VP, Strategic Marketing and Communications on the marketing budget, allocating spend across channels based on demonstrated performance and return, and reporting results transparently to senior leadership.