Director, CRM Operations

C3 Industries•Chicago, IL

41d

About The Position

The Director of CRM Operations will lead the strategic development and execution of customer relationship management initiatives across all markets. This role is responsible for optimizing CRM systems, driving customer engagement, and enhancing loyalty through data-driven insights and personalized marketing strategies. The ideal candidate will have deep experience in CRM platforms, marketing automation, and customer lifecycle management to create measurable business impact.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related field; MBA preferred.
7+ years of CRM experience, including leadership roles in multi-location or multi-state retail environments.
Proven success in building and scaling CRM programs that drive measurable business impact.
Expertise in CRM platforms (e.g., Alpine IQ, Klaviyo, HubSpot) and marketing automation tools.
Strong analytical skills and experience with customer segmentation, A/B testing, and lifecycle marketing.
Experience with loyalty programs and customer retention strategies.
Excellent communication, leadership, critical thinking, and project management skills.
Familiarity with cannabis compliance and customer privacy regulations preferred.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving industry.

Nice To Haves

Experience in cannabis, retail, or CPG industries is highly desirable.
Familiarity with cannabis compliance and customer privacy regulations preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement CRM strategies aligned with business goals to drive customer, retention, loyalty, and lifetime value.
Partner with Marketing team, Retail Ops, Product, Buying & Planning, and Compliance teams to align CRM initiatives with broader marketing goals and business strategies.
Establish goals and KPIs for CRM activities and team members that support broader marketing and business goals. Collaborate with analytics and BI teams to build dashboards for CRM performance.
Own CRM budget allocation.
Oversee all email, SMS, app, and loyalty programs from campaign planning, creative briefing, performance analysis, and everyday automation strategies.
Manage the customer loyalty program and structure, driving enrollment, engagement, and reward redemption while ensuring it adds customer value and drives incremental revenue without eroding margins.
Own the CRM tech stack and vendor relationships, including platform selection, integration, and optimization (e.g., Alpine IQ, HubSpot, Klaviyo).
Ensure all CRM activities comply with state cannabis regulations, customer privacy requirements. Ensure data integrity and seamless integration with POS and ecommerce systems.
Use data insights from the CRM platform, POS system and other sources to develop segmentation, personalization, and trigger-based automation strategies across email, SMS, and loyalty platforms.
Analyze customer data and optimize customer journeys to measure incremental impact on key KPIs (repeat purchase rate, AOV, customer annual value, purchase frequency).
Lead and develop a team of CRM specialists and analysts cultivating their growth as leaders, trusted cross-functional partners, and subject matter experts known for a bias for action, critical thinking and solution-oriented problem solving.
Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement, continuously testing across all CRM channels.
Establish clear performance expectations and conduct regular one-on-one meetings to support team growth.