Sr. Director / VP, Brand & Strategy Marketing

Ascent•San Diego, CA

27d•$140,000 - $190,000

About The Position

Ascent is a leading provider of innovative financial products and student support services that enable more students to access education and achieve academic and economic success. Everything Ascent offers is designed with the best-in-class teams and technology to increase every student's ability to plan, pay, and succeed in their education and career. Ascent's planning tools and financing resources are co-created by students for those in college, graduate school, and career training programs. Ascent offers financial wellness education, student success services, and one-on-one and digital career coaching that put students' academic and professional goals within reach. Ascent has been widely recognized for its strong culture – named “Best Places to Work” by the San Diego Business Journal for the past 5 years – and as an industry leader – named “Best Student Loan” by NerdWallet for the past 3 years. Ascent is looking for a Senior Director / VP of Brand & Marketing Strategy with a proven track record of owning brand strategy and pulling together complex marketing strategies across multiple audiences, business lines, and stages of the funnel at growth-oriented companies. The ideal candidate will bring 10–15+ years of experience in brand and marketing strategy, with the ability to orchestrate a cohesive full-funnel marketing approach across our College, Graduate, and Career business lines. This role serves as the brand steward for Ascent, ensuring that everything we put into the world is aligned, intentional, and reinforces trust. This role will build strategy, and work cross functionally and with a team of marketing professionals to ensure that all marketing strategies work together as one system and reflect a consistent brand promise.

Requirements

10–15+ years of experience in brand and marketing strategy
Experience owning brand strategy across multiple business lines and customer segments
A strong background in creating and overseeing integrated marketing strategy, including: PR, SEO, email, event activations, reviews/awards.
Experience building personas and doing customer research.
Experience hiring and managing agencies
Comfort influencing without direct execution or channel ownership
Strong written and verbal communication skills with excellent strategic judgment
Experience working in fast-paced, evolving organizations with strong seasonality

Nice To Haves

Deeply passionate about brand stewardship, narrative, and trust-building
Proven ability to integrate multiple marketing strategies across the full funnel into a cohesive whole to drive sales volume
Strong strategic judgment with the ability to see connections across audiences, channels, and business lines
Experience working with multiple stakeholders and senior leaders
Able to transfer between operating at a systems and orchestration level and as a channel owner
Experience in highly regulated or trust-based industries (education, fintech, healthcare)
Ability to think creatively and strategically to challenge fragmentation and drive clarity
Calm, confident leadership presence with the ability to influence, lead and manage

Responsibilities

Own and steward Ascent’s brand strategy across all channels, ensuring consistency in positioning, messaging, voice, and narrative
Pull together full-funnel marketing strategies (awareness, consideration, conversion, lifecycle, post-loan experience) into a single, coherent system
Oversee marketing strategy by business pillar — College, Graduate, and Career — ensuring each has a clear narrative that ladders to the overarching brand
Ensure that Growth, /partner, Conversion, Lifecycle, Campus, Servicing and L&D efforts reinforce rather than contradict one another
Own the brand and messaging architecture that guides execution across teams
Oversee campus engagement and student-facing brand experiences, ensuring they reinforce trust and long-term value
Partner closely with Growth leadership to ensure demand efforts align with brand and funnel strategy
Identify gaps, overlaps, or inconsistencies across marketing efforts and recommend strategic adjustments
Analyze qualitative and quantitative inputs to evolve brand and marketing strategy over time

Benefits

Competitive pay with bonus, and comprehensive benefits package that includes, but not limited to:
Compensation includes base salary of $140,000 - $190,000 commensurate with experience, plus bonus and options.
Company Stock Options
401(k) + Company Match
Medical, dental, and vision coverage
Annual HSA contribution of $1,650
Life insurance, disability, and critical illness
14 Paid Holidays! Eleven (11) + Two (2) Community Days + Your Birthday!
Snacks and drinks in the office
Tuition reimbursement program
Generous paid leave policies
$2,000 Vacation Incentive Plan after 3 years + $1,000 Sabbatical Day
Wellness, Work from Home funds, and more!