Senior Director, Brand

National Geographic • Washington, DC

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Communications, Marketing and Brand team at the National Geographic Society (NGS) leverages creative and strategic tools to advance the organization's mission and uphold its reputation as a trusted non-profit and global brand. This division comprises 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 Senior Director, Brand is tasked with developing brand strategies and identity guidelines to optimize the National Geographic brand, enhance the mission and appeal of NGS, and reach global audiences effectively. This role also involves stewarding brand leadership and management across the Society and its partners, fostering a unified brand narrative, implementing a "One Voice, One Brand, One National Geographic" approach, and ensuring authentic brand expression across all marketing, communications, and brand activations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree is required.
• Credentials in communications, branding, marketing, business or related field.
• 10+ years of experience.
• At least 5+ years working in a complex organization with global brand recognition.
• 3+ years of management experience in a complex, matrixed-driven team environment.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to work with a variety of internal constituents.
• Ability to handle sensitive information confidentially and exercise good professional judgment.
• Strong leadership and interpersonal skills with the ability to navigate complex business environments.
• Strong people and prioritization skills.
• Excellent organizational skills and meticulous attention to detail.

Nice To Haves

• MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Experience building a global brand, developing brand positioning and repositioning, assessing brand risk and maintaining brand standards, including with partners.
• Understanding of the creative process and experience in managing agencies and working with in-house creative teams to develop high quality and effective creative.
• Proven success acting as a brand guardian while strategically assessing and adding partners and advancing growth opportunities.
• Experience assessing brand risk and knowing when to pursue new opportunities and when to decline them.
• Proven ability to collaborate in a highly matrixed and complex environment, serving as a tactical and strategic advisor, coach, and partner.

Responsibilities

• Lead and evolve brand strategy across the Society and serve as a thought leader and key brand liaison to partners that are licensed to amplify the brand.
• Work closely with partner groups, such as the National Geographic magazine, books, travel, events, and consumer products teams on brand expression and activations.
• Provide strategic direction for brand, creative, marketing, and other teams across partner marketing and communications divisions and the entire Society to produce innovative, compelling work of the highest standard.
• Translate audience insight and market data into actionable brand positioning and compelling reasons to believe that drive differentiation and brand performance.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive brand guidelines (logos, voice, tone, and visual style) to ensure consistency across digital, social, and physical channels.
• Lead creative development process on the creation of branded assets and brand guideline documents.
• Partner and collaborate cross-functionally with partner marketing team, editorial and content, and NGS divisions to gain alignment on brand identity guidelines and translation into various customer experiences (live events,museum exhibits) and marketing campaigns. creative strategy.
• Lead global brand training and develop materials that inspire stewardship of the National Geographic brand.
• Serve as the “brand guardian” and resident expert on brand guidelines, maintain brand integrity across all initiatives, products, partnerships, activations, and all opportunities, ensuring consistent adherence to brand guidelines and standards.
• Partner on vetting of new opportunities and partnerships and assess how they align with NGS’ brand standards and mission, lead deep dive analysis and facilitate approval committee on new partner opportunities.
• Develop measurement approach and ensure consistent tracking of brand-specific metrics to measure overall brand health and f equity-building initiatives with key audiences.
• Assess potential ways to measure brand or reputational risk versus reward and recommend opportunities to leadership.
• Develop executive-level reports on brand impact, brand awareness among audience targets and support of the NGS strategic plan.
• Leverage data to inform brand and creative strategy.

Benefits

• Competitive and holistic total rewards package
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• 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
• 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
• Pet insurance
• Pre-tax transportation benefits with a generous employer subsidy
• Employer-paid life insurance
• Disability benefit
• Variety of National Geographic discounts and perks
• Flexible work options
• Career development

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees