Director, Marketing Planning & Operations

National Geographic Society • Washington, DC

10h • Hybrid

About The Position

The Communication, Marketing and Brand team uses creative and strategic tools to further the mission of the National Geographic Society (NGS), while maintaining our place as one of the world’s most trusted non-profit organizations and global brands. The Division’s creative minds develop and execute mission-driven, on-brand strategies and integrated strategic communications, marketing, creative and audience growth for the National Geographic Society and unifying our efforts across our owned channels, through owned channels, outside partners and earned media. The team is composed of seven integrated departments: Creative, Integrated Brand Marketing, Partnership Marketing, MarCom Operations and Internal Communications, Strategic Communications, Executive Communications, and Crisis Communications and Public Relations. The Director, Marketing Planning and Operations is a strategic leader who oversees the execution, technical enablement, and structural optimization of the Marketing & Communications (MarCom) function. Reporting to the Vice President, MarCom Operations & Internal Communications, this role supervises two key operational pillars: Marketing Planning & Operations and Marketing Technology (MarTech). The Director bridges the gap between marketing strategy and execution by designing end-to-end operational workflows, governing a multi-year marketing technology roadmap, and instilling a culture of operational excellence across all seven integrated departments. This leader works cross-functionally across the Society, partnering with key stakeholders (Legal, Technology, etc.), and business units to scale organizational capabilities, improve speed-to-market, and maximize the return on MarCom investments.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field (e.g., Marketing, Business, Communications, or Information Systems).
• 10+ years of progressive experience in marketing operations, marketing technology (MarTech), strategic planning, or program management, with at least 3 years of experience leading teams or supervising direct reports.
• Experience in a complex, multi-stakeholder corporate or matrixed non-profit environment is highly preferred.
• Deep understanding of customer data ecosystems, including Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), CRM systems, marketing automation platforms (e.g., Salesforce Marketing Cloud), and project management applications (e.g., Monday.com).
• Proven track record of designing, scaling, and training teams on operational workflows, RACI matrices, and agile methodologies.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills with the ability to build alignment and translate technical concepts to non-technical business partners across IT, Legal, Finance, and Creative departments.
• Strong understanding of marketing experimentation, test-and-learn methodologies, and translating analytical dashboards into business insights.
• Operational knowledge of global data privacy regulations.
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States.
• This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

• An advanced degree (MBA or equivalent) is a plus.
• Familiarity with Monday.com a plus.
• Effective at building operational systems - RACI, process flows, Roadmaps, etc.
• Familiarity with core marketing and communications processes, tools and templates.

Responsibilities

• Develop and enforce project management frameworks, operational workflows, and RACI matrices across divisions to increase throughput and team-wide agility.
• Oversee the delivery of large-scale, cross-channel, and enterprise-level campaigns, establishing clear operational milestones and governance structures.
• Champion the safe adoption of emerging technologies (including GenAI and machine learning), designing governance frameworks for hybrid human-agent workflows while maintaining creative and editorial integrity.
• Partner with the Archives team and content creators to establish robust workflows across digital asset management (DAM/MAM) systems, ensuring strict adherence to rights management.
• Oversee marketing resource planning, including forecasting, capacity modeling, talent deployment, vendor utilization, and scenario-based resourcing.
• Standardize metrics and dashboards to track, analyze, and optimize audience growth, retention, and engagement across all owned, earned, and paid channels.
• Partner with the Manager, Analytics and Insights to deliver actionable pre- and post-campaign analyses, turning raw data into strategic recommendations that improve speed-to-market and effectiveness.
• Lead annual and quarterly strategic planning cycles across decentralized MarCom teams, ensuring marketing activities directly map to budgets, business goals, and technological capabilities.
• Optimize marketing operations, including intake, workflow, prioritization, and resource management to support NGS marketing initiatives.
• Have an ownership role in the marketing technology stack ensuring effective utilization and integration.
• Architect and implement a scalable multi-year marketing technology roadmap in close collaboration with the Technology division, ensuring the stack effectively supports customer lifecycle marketing, personalization, lead routing, and revenue/fundraising outcomes.
• Set organizational standards for marketing KPIs, dashboards, and scorecards to ensure technical tool adoption metrics and campaign execution data are leveraged for leadership decision-making.
• Serve as the division's primary accountable business lead for the quality, security, and compliance of audience data sets, establishing policy guardrails in partnership with IT and Legal.
• Define and implement a comprehensive, organization-wide measurement framework to transform marketing and communications (MarCom) efforts into clearly quantifiable, ROI-driven initiatives.
• Develop and scale the infrastructure required to measure audience growth, cross-channel engagement, and the long-term impact of mission-driven marketing campaigns.
• Partner with the Analytics and Insights function to establish clear, measurable KPIs for all MarCom efforts, shifting the division toward a highly accountable, data-informed culture.
• Manage, mentor, and develop high-performing team, specifically supervising the Senior Manager, Marketing Planning & Operations, Manager, Analytics and Insights and the Senior Manager, MarTech.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning by establishing training frameworks, user communities, and standardized templates to maximize MarTech utilization and process adoption across all marketing cohorts.
• Drive a division-wide experimentation agenda (including holdout testing and digital lifecycle optimization), ensuring insights are systematically fed back to partner teams to continuously improve campaign performance.

Benefits

• medical, dental, and vision insurance
• engaging and comprehensive wellness program
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with matching contributions after 6 months of employment
• flexible paid time off benefits with up to 22 days of paid annual leave per calendar year (15 days for new hires in their first year, prorated based on the number of pay periods remaining in the year)
• 10 days of sick leave
• 12 paid holidays and a paid winter break between December 25 and 31
• paid parental leave
• adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement
• fertility benefits
• learning and development opportunities
• Lifestyle Spending Account
• pet adoption assistance and insurance
• pre-tax transportation benefits with a generous employer subsidy
• employer-paid life insurance and disability benefit
• a variety of National Geographic discounts and perks

What This Job Offers

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