Director of Marketing, Experience Development, and Partnerships, Destination St. John’s

St. John’s, NL

Destination St. John’s is searching for a Director of Marketing, Experience Development, and Partnerships to take on an exciting opportunity to become part of their legacy in building St. John’s as a top destination for tourism and business.

The Organization

Destination St. John’s (DSJ) is a private non-profit corporation operating under the direction of a Board of Directors on behalf of its partners. As a destination marketing organization (DMO), it is first and foremost a sales organization, selling tourism partners’ products, services, and experiences to the world. It currently targets major meetings, conventions and incentive travel, sport and cultural events, leisure travel and group tours.

As one of the five Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) in the province, DSJ has a seat on the province’s Tourism Industry Advisory Group and plays an active role in the development and implementation of a long-term growth strategy for the tourism industry in the province. DSJ ensures that the views and aspirations of their regional partners are reflected in that strategy.

The Role

Reporting to the CEO, the Director of Marketing, Experience Development, and Partnerships is responsible for the organization’s marketing and communication strategies as well as the destination’s overall branding and image. They work in close collaboration with the Director of Business Development and Industry Relations. The Director is tasked with overseeing the development and implementation of marketing strategies and with guiding the team that executes them. They analyse the market and destination competitors, prepare annual marketing plans, budgets, and create a vibrant calendar of campaigns and events. With extensive marketing experience and a comprehensive knowledge of branding, the Director leads a team specializing in content and digital marketing, owned media design, experience development, and partnerships. They develop and implement a fully integrated marketing strategy, tactics, campaigns, and analysis while engaging with industry partners to market and develop St. John’s as a top tourism destination.

Key areas of oversight and responsibility are:

Strategic Marketing Leadership – Provides visionary leadership and marketing strategy to DSJ, ensuring alignment with DSJ’s mission, brand, and goals, works with a marketing agency of record and represents the organization and destination to external audiences.

Experience Development – Works with tourism operators; industry organizations; natural and cultural attractions; the City of St. John’s; Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation; and other stakeholders to identify and develop unique, remarkable and immersive experiences for the visitor to the St. John’s region.

Partner Relations – Leads partner and member recruitment, retention and relations; and develops and implements a communications strategy that ensures an effective two-way dialogue with internal and external partners.

Project Management – Oversees all aspects of marketing and experience development projects including budgets, design, data strategy and assessment, and partner relations.

Human Resources and Mentorship – Oversees the marketing division and guides day-to-day operations, including management and direction, recruiting, and mentoring members of the marketing team.

The Ideal Candidate

As the ideal candidate, you are an entrepreneurial leader who thinks outside of the box, with exceptional leadership, communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills. You are confident and creative, able to convey vision and ideas to management, board members and industry partners in compelling ways. You are energized by creatively solving problems and have a canny ability to foresee and prepare for challenges and opportunities. You are a capable project manager with well-developed strategic marketing skills, with an ability to analyse multiple sources of data to monitor market trends, competition, KPIs, and performance measures that inform future decisions. You are a decisive, compassionate, and communicative leader with strong team management skills that have earned you the respect of your team and peers.

Qualifications and Experience

While the Search Committee recognizes that no one candidate is likely to meet all qualifications in equal measure, those listed below are desirable and will be used to compare candidates.

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, communications, hospitality, or a related field.
• At least 8-10 years experience, with demonstrated leadership responsibilities.
• Experience developing and executing marketing strategies.
• Experience leading the development and production of digital marketing campaigns, including managing SEO/SEM, email marketing, organic and paid social media marketing, or display advertising campaigns.
• Strong knowledge of performance metrics, website and marketing analytics tools, and how to use data to measure performance and inform future campaigns.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships, partnerships, and collaborations with multiple stakeholders to develop, package, and promote unique experiences.
• Demonstrated experience in leading professional staff, including hiring, supervising, and mentoring team members, and collaborating with other cross-functional teams.
• Proven ability to plan and manage budgets.
• Demonstrated commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion—through policy, action and education.

Skills and Attributes

• Decisiveness combined with a facilitative style and the ability to effectively communicate decisions.
• Excellent communication skills – able to seamlessly translate complex information for different audiences.
• Exceptional relational skills, able to quickly build trusting relationships.
• A curious spirit with integrity, creativity, and sound judgment.
• A detail-oriented, analytical thinker.
• A “pitch in” kind of leader who supports and empowers their team.

Destination St. John's is committed to employment equity and diversity and encourages applications from all qualified candidates, including women; people of any sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression; Indigenous peoples; visible minorities/racialized people; and people with disabilities.

We will provide support and accommodations to applicants with disabilities, upon request. If you need accommodation in order to participate as a candidate in the recruitment process, please contact accommodate@kbrs.ca or communicate your needs to the recruitment professional named in the job description.

If you are interested in this opportunity, contact Michelle Doyle at mdoyle@kbrs.ca, or Dr. Jennie Massey at jmassey@kbrs.ca or submit your full application package by following the link.