Director, Marketing Planning

AARP • Washington, DC

8d • $131,850 - $146,500 • Hybrid

About The Position

AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to the more than 100 million Americans 50-plus and their families: health and financial security, and personal fulfillment. AARP also works for individuals in the marketplace by sparking new solutions and allowing carefully chosen, high-quality products and services to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the nation's largest-circulation publications, AARP The Magazine and the AARP Bulletin.
The Director, Marketing Planning owns the planning frameworks, operating models, and processes that bring clarity and accountability to a complex, multi-channel marketing organization. Evaluates and improves operational tools and systems to enhance efficiency and visibility across the business. Builds connections across the unit and enterprise, establishing shared visibility, shared language and planning rhythms that drive cohesion and reduce duplicative work.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, or a related field required.
• Minimum of 8 years of progressive experience in marketing operations, marketing strategy, planning, business operations, or a related discipline, including experience supporting large-scale, complex organizations.
• Demonstrated experience developing and optimizing marketing planning frameworks, operating models, governance processes, and cross-functional planning rhythms that drive accountability and execution.
• Proven ability to evaluate, implement, and optimize marketing technologies, workflow tools, and operational systems to improve efficiency, visibility, standardization, and scalability.
• Strong strategic planning skills with experience translating enterprise objectives into actionable marketing strategies, priorities, roadmaps, and measurable business outcomes.
• Experience leading teams through organizational change, marketing transformation initiatives, and adoption strategies that support evolving business priorities and operating models.
• Excellent business acumen with experience partnering closely with finance, executive leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders to align investments, resources, and priorities with organizational goals and financial constraints.
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, and executive presentation skills, with demonstrated success developing internal communications, executive reports, thought leadership programs, and enterprise-wide engagement strategies.
• AARP will not sponsor an employment visa for this position at this time.
• Regular and reliable job attendance
• Effective verbal and written communication skills
• Exhibit respect and understanding of others to maintain professional relationships
• Independent judgement in evaluation options to make sound decisions

Responsibilities

• Advances marketing planning capabilities through disciplined process improvement and thoughtful adoption of enabling technologies to support scale, agility, and enterprise alignment.
• Identifies and evaluates enabling technologies to support the centralization, standardization, and redesign of fragmented marketing processes, improving efficiency, governance, and scalability.
• Manages current and future enterprise strategies, translating enterprise direction into marketing plans, and prioritized, actionable tactics at the business unit level.
• Determines and drives appropriate adoption approaches to support evolving priorities through on-going marketing transformations.
• Maintains a regular planning pulse with financial operations to assess shifting priorities, ensuring marketing plans and investments reflect current financial realities and constraints.
• Executes internal communications programs, including business unit updates, newsletters, board reports and offsites.
• Drives rigorous prioritization of marketing initiatives, establishing clear criteria for investment decisions, managing trade-offs and ensuring resources are allocated to the highest-impact work.
• Leads coordination with enterprise stakeholders and partners to identify, prioritize, and execute speaking engagements and thought leadership aligned to enterprise strategy, ensuring integrated planning and consistent publication cadence.

Benefits

• 401(k)
• 100% company-funded pension plan
• health, dental, and vision plans
• life insurance
• paid time off to include company and individual holidays, vacation, sick, caregiving, and parental leave
• performance-based and peer-based recognition
• tuition reimbursement

What This Job Offers

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