Senior Associate, Marketing Strategy & Operations, Liberty Street, New York, NY

Banco Santander•Boston, MA

About The Position

Santander is seeking a strategic and operational leader to join our Marketing Operations & Enablement team. In this high-visibility role, you will partner closely with senior leadership to act as a portfolio manager for the marketing organization—driving the planning cadence, managing initiative intake, and ensuring alignment to OKRs and quarterly business reviews (QBRs). You will bring structure and confidence to how priorities are set, tracked, and executed, while enabling operational excellence across the organization. This role is ideal for professionals with backgrounds in top-tier consulting, strategy, or business operations who thrive on solving complex problems, aligning stakeholders, and enabling transformation. You will have the opportunity to influence executive decision-making, simplify complexity into clear priorities, and deliver measurable impact across high-profile initiatives. This role provides significant visibility with senior leadership and serves as a platform for broader leadership opportunities within Santander. By combining portfolio and program management discipline with strategic problem-solving, you will play a critical role in ensuring the marketing organization has the focus, frameworks, and tools to deliver against our strategic agenda.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Business, Economics or equivalent field. Required.
9+ Years Strategy, Operations, Marketing, or Business Management - Required.
3+ Years Financial Services Industry/Banking experience. Required.
Proven ability to bring structure and confidence to complex portfolios of initiatives and transformation agendas.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to synthesize diverse perspectives into actionable strategies and recommendations.
Executive presence and excellent communication skills—able to engage senior stakeholders, influence decisions, and present portfolio insights with clarity and confidence.
Demonstrated success leading cross-functional, high-visibility initiatives in fast-paced, dynamic environments.
Strong financial and analytical acumen; ability to connect budgets, resource allocation, and performance measurement to portfolio priorities.

Nice To Haves

Master's Degree in Marketing, Business, Economics or equivalent field. Preferred.
Consulting experience from top-tier firms. - Preferred.
Established work history or equivalent demonstrated through a combination of work experience, training, military service, or education.

Responsibilities

Serve as the portfolio manager for marketing, overseeing the planning cadence, initiative intake, and prioritization against enterprise goals.
Lead the annual and quarterly planning process to ensure initiatives are aligned with OKRs and QBR deliverables.
Maintain visibility into the full portfolio of marketing programs, providing transparency into capacity, dependencies, and progress.
Drive the operating rhythm of the leadership team by preparing portfolio-level updates, progress reviews, and decision-ready materials.
Manage cross-functional, high-priority initiatives, ensuring alignment, accountability, and delivery against outcomes.
Develop and maintain dashboards and portfolio reporting frameworks that provide visibility into initiative status, risks, and resource allocation.
Act as a connector across teams and functions, aligning stakeholders, anticipating risks, and enabling execution at scale.
Build playbooks and best practices that strengthen portfolio and program management discipline across the organization.
Lead the annual and long-range budget process, ensuring investments align with the strategic portfolio and enterprise priorities.
Drive budget governance and transparency, providing variance analysis and actionable insights at the portfolio level.
Deliver data-driven recommendations on trade-offs and resource allocation to optimize portfolio performance and ROI.
Establish KPIs and operating metrics that track outcomes across the portfolio and enable accountability at the initiative level.