Director Brand Strategy

Royal Bank of Canada • Toronto, ON

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The RBC brand is one of the organization's most valuable assets. It is built and spent daily by several lines of business, each making locally rational decisions that, in aggregate, determine whether the brand compounds or erodes. This role exists to hold the enterprise-wide view of that dynamic — and to make sure it has a seat at the table before decisions are made, not after.
The Director, Enterprise Brand Strategy is a highly strategic role responsible for the development and management of RBC’s Masterbrand and its integration through all priority initiatives across the enterprise for the purpose of generating outsized impact for the business. The role requires fluency in strategic frameworks that keep brand architecture and brand decision-making coherent across a large, complex, multi-line-of-business organization. This is not a marketing execution role. It is a role for a sharp strategist who thinks about portfolio, category, and competitive positioning grounded in the growth priorities of the enterprise, not just the aesthetics of its expression.
This person will partner directly with the Head of Global Brand Strategy to shape how the organization orchestrates the RBC brand in a period of significant structural change, including the accelerating integration of AI into how brand is built, personalized, governed, and experienced and the fundamental shift in the consumer’s relationship with financial services, globally. They will be expected to bring a point of view on what AI means for brand architecture, brand governance, and brand risk over the next several years, and to translate that point of view into frameworks the enterprise can actually use.

Requirements

• 7-9 years of experience in brand or business strategy, with a track record spanning both marketing-adjacent and business/corporate-strategy contexts — client-side experience at a large, multi-business-line enterprise strongly preferred (financial services, professional services, or another regulated, complex category).
• 4+ years operating at a senior strategy level (Director or equivalent), including direct experience building or governing brand architecture in an organization with multiple lines of business or sub-brands.
• Demonstrated fluency in brand architecture models and portfolio strategy: able to design and defend an architecture, not just execute against one someone else built.
• A genuine business-strategy orientation: comfortable in conversations about P&L impact, competitive dynamics, and category structure, not only campaign and creative strategy.
• Strong working knowledge of brand effectiveness frameworks and evidence bases (e.g., distinctive asset theory, category entry points) and the judgment to apply them practically rather than academically.
• Informed, current point of view on AI's implications for brand — governance, personalization, distinctive assets, and risk — with the ability to translate that into enterprise guidance rather than speculation.
• Exceptional research and synthesis skills: comfortable moving from raw data and disparate sources to a small number of sharp, actionable insights.
• Ability to write clear, concise briefs anchored in a single, evidence-based insight that connects a human truth to RBC's brand positioning and drives focused creative development.
• Outstanding stakeholder management and executive presence. Able to influence senior leaders and technical specialists alike, and to hold a firm point of view under pressure without becoming inflexible.
• A track record of leading through ambiguity and organizational complexity, with the judgment to know when to build consensus and when to make the call.
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or equivalent advanced degree a plus but not required in lieu of demonstrated strategic experience.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the enterprise brand architecture — the logic that governs how the Masterbrand, sub-brands, product brands, and line-of-business brands relate to one another, and the decision rules that keep that system coherent as the business changes.
• Evolve and maintain the interaction models and mechanisms (frameworks, decision rights, escalation paths) that let individual lines of business move quickly on brand decisions while protecting enterprise-wide brand equity.
• Serve as a senior advisor to business units on brand strategy questions: brand extension, naming, portfolio architecture, market entry, value propositions, evaluating each through the lens of enterprise-wide implications, not just the requesting business unit's immediate objective.
• Identify where local, well-intentioned brand decisions could create enterprise-level architecture, legal, or reputational exposure, and intervene early enough to matter.
• Lead rigorous, evidence-based research into brand effectiveness, category dynamics, competitive positioning, and emerging disruption — able to synthesize sources ranging from brand effectiveness intelligence to robust internal brand datasets.
• Analyze the intersection of brand, business, consumer and cultural context to build clear strategic direction for the business that is informed by proprietary brand data and an in-depth understanding of enterprise brand planning. This capability is analytical (research driven) and creative (narrative building).
• Mine internal and external data for insight, not just information, translating research into a small number of sharp, decision-useful conclusions that change what leadership does next.
• Build and maintain a point of view on the competitive and category landscape, including how adjacent disruptors and category redefinition are changing what "brand" needs to do for the business.
• Develop the organization's thinking on AI and brand governance — including how generative and agentic AI change brand consistency risk, personalization at scale, distinctive asset management, and the practical mechanics of enforcing brand standards when more brand-adjacent content is created outside traditional marketing workflows.
• Stay current on how AI is reshaping brand discovery, distribution, and perception, including AI-mediated search and recommendations, and translate implications into guidance for the business.
• Partner with legal, risk, technology, and marketing operations stakeholders to define what "AI-ready" brand governance looks like: what needs new guardrails, what needs new tooling, and what the strategy function needs to own versus advise on.
• Operate fluidly across a wide and senior stakeholder map: lines of business, executive leadership, legal, risk, technology, and external agency partners, and building the trust and influence required to be brought in early.
• Lead cross-functional groups toward shared outcomes, reading organizational dynamics, anticipating objections, driving to clarity and building consensus before it's needed.
• Represent enterprise brand strategy in executive and cross-functional forums, translating brand strategy into the language of business risk, growth, and commercial outcomes.
• See around corners: anticipate where a brand decision made today will create friction, opportunity, or exposure two or three moves out, and raise it early.
• Lead a team of high performing team of strategists, agencies, and creative SMEs on the day to day integration of the brand across the enterprise.

Benefits

• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including bonuses and flexible benefits, competitive compensation, commissions, and stock where applicable.
• Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities.
• Ability to make a difference and lasting impact.
• Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team.
• A world-class training program in financial services.
• Opportunities to do challenging work.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director