Director of Brand

Darn Tough Vermont / Cabot Hosiery Mills•Waterbury, VT

15d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Brand is a strategic architect responsible for stewarding and evolving the brand’s positioning, differentiation, and long-term growth strategy. This role owns the brand’s strategic foundation – grounded in consumer insights, category understanding, and cultural relevance – and plays a critical role in informing commercial and go-to-market strategy. Working closely with senior leaders across Marketing, Product, and Sales, the Director of Brand facilitates the development of integrated brand, product, and go-to-market strategies by providing the insight, positioning, and strategic context that guide cross-functional decision-making. As a commercially minded brand leader, the Director of Brand ensures the brand remains deeply connected to its audience while aligned with company priorities. Through rigorous insights and category expertise, this role informs product development, shapes go-to-market planning and serves as the brand’s strategic voice in cross-functional decisions.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Business, or similar.
10+ years in brand management, brand strategy, or consumer insights roles.
Demonstrated success in long-term brand building and insights-driven strategy.
Strong analytical and quantitative skill set, with experience managing insights or analytics teams.
Experience communicating strategic direction and helping marketing and creative teams translate strategy to application and execution.
Exceptional communication, influence, collaboration, and cross-functional leadership skills.

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred.
Consumer goods, wellness, or lifestyle experience preferred.
Prior experience in retail or B2B marketing is a plus.

Responsibilities

Define and evolve the long-term, strategic brand vision, competitive positioning, and brand architecture, honoring 20+ years of brand identity while intentionally guiding brand evolution.
Provide strategic brand direction through regular delivery of brand strategy guidelines, campaign briefs, and category briefs, founded on consumer insights and integrating marketing and sales insights.
Ensure Product, Marketing, and Sales efforts are on brand across customer and consumer touchpoints, including digital marketing channels, retail marketing efforts, and packaging.
Provide leadership and strategic recommendations on brand and category architecture, including how the brand and its products are structured, the naming system for products or lines, and how sub-brands or future innovations ladder up to the master brand.
Lead the strategic development of brand-building initiatives that expand brand awareness, improve brand perception, and strengthen long-term brand equity.
Partner with Growth Marketing, eCommerce, and Sales teams to align upper-funnel initiatives with performance and business KPIs.
Establish brand health metrics and continually monitor performance to refine strategy.
Build and support the team and tools that enable the delivery of high-quality consumer insights that inform brand strategy, product innovation, and go-to-market strategies.
In partnership with Data & Analytics Team and Growth Marketing, provide brand leadership in building a robust insights ecosystem to guide commercial decision-making.
Oversee brand and category PR strategy, agency management, and earned media efforts.
Drive PR initiatives that amplify brand milestones, product innovation, founder/executive narratives, and cultural moments.
Collaborate with Content + Creative, Growth Marketing, and eComm teams to ensure brand frameworks are consistently translated into on-brand storytelling across paid, earned and marketing channels.
Serve as brand point person to for compliance and trademarks for product names, brand marks, and brand messages.
Lead the strategic direction of retail marketing programs to grow key accounts, support sell-in, and drive sell-through, defining and setting priorities for retail marketing assets, merchandising programs, and retailer education tools.
Partner with Sales to integrate brand strategy into key account plans, provide recommendations for new target accounts, and increase brand consistency across retailer touchpoints.
Partner with Sales to develop an impactful, measurable tradeshow strategy that aligns with brand strategy.
Define partnership strategy, including nonprofit partners, brand alliances, ambassadors, influencers, and affiliates with input from marketing channel experts.
Partner with Corporate Comms Manager and Executive team to evaluate brand opportunities based on business and strategic alignment, audience reach, cultural relevance, and commercial impact.
With Marketing leadership (Content + Creative, Growth / Integrated Marketing, Corporate Comms, and Project Management), establish, maintain, and enforce brand guidelines across all brand partnerships and relationships.
Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team that is collaborative, insights-informed, and solutions-minded.
Create a culture of curiosity, analytical rigor, thoughtful risk-taking, and cross-functional collaboration.
Influence product innovation by grounding development in data, insights, and consumer demand.
Serve as a key commercial and strategic partner within Marketing (with Content + Creative and Growth / Integrated Marketing leaders) and cross-functionally with Product, Sales (B2B and D2C), serving as a valued brand resource and champion across stakeholder groups.
Collaborate closely with the Content + Creative Director to translate strategic direction into compelling creative and storytelling and ensure brand strategy and brand expression work in lockstep.