Head of Brand Strategy

Position Summary

Reporting to the SVP, Growth, we are seeking a Head of Brand Strategy to lead the design and execution of our brand strategy as it relates to our key stakeholder groups (both prospective and current) - customers, partners, employees and service providers. This position, working with peers within marketing and other business stakeholders, will be responsible for evolving and effectively communicating our customer-facing and B2B value propositions, defining our go-to-market approach to activating these value propositions, competitive positioning and managing our brand reputation in the marketplace. This position will be responsible for ensuring our brand-building strategies and efforts are aligned with achieving our core business goals and are in line with our Oncourse values. This position will be the steward of our brand across all touch-points - offline and online - and through all stages of the customer journey - from enrollment to account management to the claims experience. This position will also directly manage our creative studio (in-house creative team including design and copywriting) which is responsible for producing our marketing collateral which is a critical component of brand strategy go-to-market. The role will also be responsible for managing external agencies including brand marketing, PR, customer research and reputation.

This role is based in Naperville, IL office. A regular in-office hybrid model (generally T-Th in office, M&F remote) is required, as our office environment is a key driver of our company culture and employee experience.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Brand Strategy

• Define the Oncourse brand and what that means to partners, customers, employees and service providers. Working with other areas of the business (the contact center, claims function, HR), ensure that the brand promise is brought to life at key touchpoints.
• Define and own partner and customer value propositions.
• Define our go-to-market approach and the brand guidelines for our portfolio of brands (American Water Resources, Oncourse Home Solutions).
  • Activate the brand at key touchpoints within the customer journey. This includes enrollment, directly post-enrollment, on-going and at renewal. For example, driving a content strategy that optimizes how Oncourse is represented in AI tools/searches given this is a fast-growing area customer will conduct research during the enrollment step.
  • Determine if we want to continue with two core brands - American Water Resources and Oncourse and what would need to happen to convert from American Water Resources to Oncourse.
• Ensure brand consistency across internal and external marketing materials, aligning with messaging and positioning strategies.
• Responsible for managing a brand marketing budget including PR, Crisis Management, and other top of funnel marketing activities.
• Partner with digital marketing to assess how brand spend can support digital marketing efforts

Brand Reputation Management

• Improve our brand reputation with a particular focus on improving our ratings on critical review platforms like Google, Trustpilot, BBB, etc (for American Water Resources or Oncourse Home Solutions).
• Develop and oversee a strategy for managing online reputation, social listening, and proactive engagement with customers and partners.
• Identify opportunities to leverage positive customer and partner stories for PR and brand-building efforts.
• Manage our crisis management agency (crafting comms for partners, employees, and the media) and act as key leader within Oncourse Crisis Management Team (OCRT).
• Manage our PR agency to drive proactive media outreach and thought leadership, securing positive media coverage in key markets and industry publications.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Partner Marketing

• Working with the strategy/growth function and the strategic partner group, support partner marketing activities (B2B2C).
• Working with New Business Development, build out B2B partner marketing collateral, including partner and customer testimonials, etc.
• Ensuring alignment between brand marketing efforts and customer segmentation/persona insights to improve targeting and messaging.

We're Excited If This Is You

Experience and Qualifications of the Role

• 8+ years in marketing strategy and/or brand strategy leadership roles.
• 5+ years of experience leading, mentoring, and building high-performing teams, allocating and managing resources and setting/managing performance goals. This includes direct people management experience with a track record of consistently recognizing and rewarding excellent performance and addressing performance issues head-on, without delay.
• Track record of developing and activating brand marketing strategies via B2C performance channels resulting in meaningful growth in a business.
• Ability to be both strategic and execution oriented with a demonstrated success identifying new initiatives and seeing them through to completion/launch
• Practical approach to brand management with the ability to identify the aspects of brand that will most directly affect our business results.
• Experience managing and leveraging PR agencies, creative agencies, etc. to execute brand strategies.
• Experience leading reputation management efforts and crisis communications.
• Membership, insurance, or subscription (recurring-revenue) marketing experience with a focus on brand marketing in these areas is ideal.
• Experience in B2B2C businesses and ideally have built marketing campaigns in collaboration with partners
• Knows how to establish followership with direct and indirect reports.

Computer Skills Needed to Perform the Job

• Proficiency in Microsoft and Google Suites, marketing analytics tools, and creative platforms including Figma.

Education
Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience required.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations
N/A

We offer a compelling total rewards package that includes a competitive base salary and comprehensive benefits to support your total wellbeing. The base pay range for this position is $206,380 - $273,750 USD Annual. The specific pay offered will depend on qualifications, experience, education and skill set. The compensation offered may also include an annual performance-based bonus, sales incentive plan or commission target.

Our benefits include, but are not limited to, healthcare, life insurance, paid time off, retirement, commuter benefits, and education reimbursement. Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and location.

Join our SUPER Team and Enjoy Amazing Benefits!

• Competitive Compensation: We value your hard work and are proud of our competitive pay for performance philosophy.
• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision insurance options, plus paid short-term and long-term disability coverage.
• 401(k) Plan with 4% Company Match: Secure your future with our robust retirement plan.
• Generous Paid Time Off: Take the time you need to recharge and relax.
• Education Assistance Program: Invest in your growth and development with our support.
• FSA/HSA Options: Flexible spending and health savings accounts to manage your transportation and dependent care expenses.
• Employee Wellness: Access to EAP, health, legal, and financial resources to support your overall well-being.
• Vibrant Company Culture: Monthly Townhalls, employee recognition programs, and Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs) to keep you engaged and connected.

Competencies

Directing Others - Is good at establishing clear directions; sets stretching objectives; distributes the workload appropriately; lays out work in a well-planned and organized manner; maintains two-way dialogue with others on work and results; brings out the best in people; is a clear communicator.

Problem Solving - Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn't stop at the first answers.

Strategic Agility - Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.

Action Oriented - Enjoys working hard; is action oriented and full of energy for the things that he/she sees as challenging; not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning; seizes more opportunities than others.

Organizational Agility - Knowledgeable about how organizations work; knows how to get things done both through formal channels and the informal network; understands the origin and reasoning behind key policies, practices, and procedures; understands the cultures of organizations.

Building Effective Teams - Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in his/her team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team

Developing Direct Reports - Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each direct report's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes direct reports to accept developmental moves; will take direct reports who need work; is a people builder.