Senior Vice President, Brand Experience, Ruder Finn

Ruder Finn•Chicago, IL

1d•$160,000 - $240,000•Hybrid

About The Position

At Ruder Finn, Brand Experience (BX) is where bold ideas meet business impact. We create integrated campaigns that connect brands with people through culture, creativity, earned influence, and unforgettable experiences. We believe the best work comes from curious minds, collaborative teams, and people who are not afraid to challenge convention - or have some fun while doing it. We are looking for a Senior Vice President to provide senior leadership across client partnerships, integrated marketing communications programs, and business growth for consumer brands across food, wellness, lifestyle, CPG, retail, parenting, and adjacent categories. This is a senior level leadership role for someone who thrives at the intersection of strategy, creativity, culture, and operational excellence. The SVP will serve as senior counselor to clients, lead a sizable portfolio of business, guide multidisciplinary teams, and drive programs that bring together storytelling, earned media, influencer marketing, experiential activations, social, partnerships, content, and brand moments that spark conversation and deliver measurable results. The ideal candidate is a sharp strategic thinker, a trusted client advisor, an entrepreneurial business leader, and a strong people manager. They can translate their clients’ business priorities into ownable brand experience strategies, strengthen the team’s impact on our clients business, grow business organically, develop talent, source new opportunities, lead new business pitch strategy and execution, and champion creative ideas that push beyond the expected while remaining achievable for clients and teams. Just as importantly, the SVP will help shape the culture and future of the Brand Experience practice. We value leaders who ask great questions, embrace new perspectives, encourage experimentation, build trust, and create the conditions for teams to do their best work. We work hard, celebrate wins, learn from every challenge, and genuinely enjoy creating great work together. If you are energized by fast-moving brands, love turning insights into experiences, and want to help define what is next for modern brand communications, we would love to meet you.

Requirements

A bachelor's degree in communications, journalism, marketing, or a related field preferred.
12+ years of experience leading integrated consumer communications programs for categories such as CPG, food, wellness, lifestyle, parenting, retail, consumer tech, or other fast-moving consumer brands.
A strong track record of serving as a senior client counselor, managing complex client relationships, building trust with executive stakeholders, and navigating challenging situations with sound judgment.
Demonstrated ability to translate client business priorities into smart communications strategies, integrated workstreams, compelling creative platforms, and clear action plans for teams.
A deep understanding of how earned media, influencer, social, experiential, partnerships, content, and digital channels work together to build modern brand relevance and drive measurable outcomes.
A sharp eye for culture, trends, communities, and conversation shifts, with the ability to turn emerging stories into timely, ownable client opportunities.
Experience developing or overseeing standout campaigns, pitches, brand moments, activations, or creative concepts, with the ability to point to results that made the work successful.
Demonstrated success growing existing business, contributing to or leading new business pitches, and bringing strategic thinking, category knowledge, creative ideas, and senior presence to the process.
Strong financial and operational discipline, including experience with scopes, budgets, staffing plans, forecasts, utilization, profitability, and resource management.
Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and executive communication skills, with the ability to adapt style, pace, and message for different audiences.
A proven people leader who can attract, motivate, develop, retain, and coach talent while creating clarity, momentum, and accountability across teams.
Comfort managing ambiguity and complexity in fast-moving environments, with the ability to pivot quickly while keeping clients, teams, and senior leaders aligned.
A curious, entrepreneurial, and solutions-oriented mindset, with the confidence to challenge convention, encourage fresh thinking, and turn friction into opportunity.
Comfort and curiosity around integrating AI tools into communications planning, creative development, workflows, reporting, and team processes.

Responsibilities

Serve as a senior strategic lead and primary client counselor across a sizable portfolio of Brand Experience accounts with multiple workstreams, bringing clear thinking, proactive recommendations, and trusted counsel that moves client business forward.
Develop and oversee integrated brand experience strategies that connect client priorities to broader brand narratives, cultural moments, consumer behaviors, business goals, and measurable outcomes.
Lead senior-level client relationships, including executive stakeholders, by providing a strong point of view, thoughtful recommendations, steady guidance, and the ability to influence decisions in real time.
Drive top-tier integrated programs across earned media, influencer marketing, experiential activations, partnerships, social, content, thought leadership, events, and brand moments that generate attention and results.
Guide teams in developing creative story angles, strategic pivots, and earned-first ideas that are culturally relevant, media-worthy, shareable, and aligned to client objectives.
Provide senior-level guidance on media strategy and outreach across journalists, producers, editors, podcasters, Substack authors, bloggers, creators, and relevant tastemakers, while coaching teams to pitch with confidence and purpose.
Contribute meaningfully to both organic and net new business by identifying opportunities, shaping strategy, developing insights, guiding deck development, crafting compelling proposals, and leading senior-level pitch presentations.
Build and maintain strong relationships across key media and cultural verticals, including consumer lifestyle, parenting, food, wellness, retail, broadcast, and emerging creator communities.
Own account health across staffing, workflow, budgets, forecasts, profitability, projections, timelines, deliverables, and client priorities, ensuring work is well-run, well-resourced, and aligned to expectations.
Anticipate client needs, identify opportunities, solve challenges quickly, and bring answers - not just updates - to every interaction.
Introduce relevant agency capabilities, partners, offerings, products, and specialties to existing clients to strengthen programs, deepen relationships, and grow revenue.
Collaborate closely with internal creative, strategy, media, digital, social, influencer, analytics, and account teams to ensure all work ladders up to the larger client strategy and delivers against shared goals.
Foster relationships with internal business partners across Ruder Finn and related specialty groups to bring the best of the agency to clients.
Provide leadership, mentorship, and coaching to account teams, helping team members strengthen client judgment, account management skills, strategic thinking, media instincts, creative problem-solving, and executive presence.
Pursue organic growth by consistently identifying smart ways to expand existing scopes, improve client work, and increase agency revenue while protecting team health and account profitability.
Champion innovation, including the thoughtful integration of AI tools and emerging technologies into communications planning, creative development, workflows, reporting, and team processes.
Represent the Brand Experience practice with confidence, curiosity, and entrepreneurial energy, helping grow the agency's visibility, reputation, capabilities, and culture.