Vice President, Marketing & Communications

Smithbucklin , a 650-person, employee-owned professional services company with more than 70 years of success serving the association market, with primary offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C., is looking for a Vice President, Marketing & Communications to join our Marketing & Communications team in our Chicago office.

The Vice President, Marketing & Communications is a senior executive leader responsible for the strategic vision, operational excellence, and client success of our Marketing & Communications practice. Reporting directly to the Co-President, Association Management, this role leads a team of more than 70 professionals spanning marketing strategy, communications, branding, digital marketing, content development, graphic design, and client marketing services.

This executive brings deep expertise in building and leading high-performing teams that develop and execute integrated marketing and communication strategies for association clients. The Vice President will help clients strengthen member engagement, increase retention and growth, elevate brand visibility, and advance organizational missions through innovative and data-informed approaches.

The role directly manages nine leaders and has P&L responsibility; in addition to staffing, resourcing and operational performance for three marketing functions (marketing & communications, content and creative) including responsibility for staffing, resourcing, and operational performance supporting more than 65 association clients. The Vice President will partner closely with executive leadership and cross-functional teams to ensure exceptional client service, scalable growth, and continued evolution of Smithbucklin's marketing and communications capabilities. This position requires a balance of strategic leadership, client relationship management, operational oversight and team development within a professional services environment.

At Smithbucklin, we embody a culture driven by optimism, ambition, expertise, and thoughtfulness , where every team member is empowered to exceed expectations and deliver exceptional results for our clients. Join us in shaping the future of association management, where our values serve as the cornerstone of our success.

What You Will Do:

• Develop and lead the overall vision, strategy, and operational direction for the marketing and communication practice. Including, leading the development and evolution of a standardized marketing strategy and campaign planning framework that can be adapted across industries and professions
• Align departmental priorities and services with firm-wide strategic goals and client needs
• Identify emerging trends in association marketing, member engagement, digital communications, and nonprofit branding
• Lead &/or contribute to evaluating and adopting marketing technology tools that support planning, automation, measurement, and performance tracking
• Evaluate current platforms and practices to establish strategies to ensure campaigns are measurable, data-informed, and optimized over time
• Document and share best practices, frameworks, and learnings to build a repeatable, scalable approach to marketing excellence

What You Bring:

• Bachelor's degree in marketing or MBA preferred
• 15+ years of experience in marketing strategy, brand planning, or integrated campaign development in a professional services field, ideally within an agency or client-facing consulting environment
• 10+ years of senior-level marketing leadership experience
• Proven track record of developing and executing successful growth and brand strategies
• Excellent leadership, communication, and relationship-building skills with executive-level stakeholders.
• Proven experience creating, leading, and scaling marketing planning frameworks that improve consistency and results across teams or clients
• Strong background in integrated marketing (digital, content, email, paid media, social)
• Experience advising on or working with marketing technology platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo, Google Analytics, or similar)
• Exceptional facilitation, presentation, and client advisory skills, you're comfortable leading senior-level discussions and workshops
• A strong balance of strategic vision and practical execution, you can think conceptually while guiding real-world planning decisions and execution
• Strong financial and business acumen with budget management experience
• Proven ability to lead enterprise-level change initiatives and actively shape, strengthen, and scale firm-wide culture and employee experience

Success in This Role Looks Like:

• Constituents value you as a trusted strategic advisor
• Marketing technology is better aligned to strategy and planning workflows
• Our team delivers marketing strategy and practices that are repeatable, scalable, and effective
• Fluent use of data to optimize marketing and drive the best results
• Client satisfaction and retention
• Growth of services and revenue

Where Do You Fit?
Whether you are just beginning your career or are a mid- or senior-level professional, working at Smithbucklin will offer you countless opportunities to develop transferable skills, acquire meaningful knowledge and gain rich experiences at an accelerated pace. By working collaboratively with smart, ambitious, multi-talented, genuine and hardworking colleagues, you will build meaningful, deep and enduring relationships that will serve you well throughout your career, regardless of your chosen path. In addition, as a 100 percent employee-owned company, Smithbucklin offers all of our people - regardless of position or compensation - an equal chance to experience the fulfillment and reap the benefits of ownership. As owners, our employees control the destiny of Smithbucklin and are unified in the goal of building a great, enduring company.


Smithbucklin is a hybrid work environment with in-office days established as Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Employees will work a standard 40-hour week, with the possibility of additional hours based on project deadlines.


Smithbucklin considers several factors when determining compensation, including a candidate's recent coursework, training, experience, and certifications, among other considerations. The expected pay for this role is $175,000-$250,000, plus performance bonus.


Equal Employment Opportunity
At Smithbucklin, Equal Employment Opportunity is our commitment and goal. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, marital status or any other protected status designated by federal, state or local law. Applicants are encouraged to confidentially self-identify when applying. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a reference and background investigation based on position.

Smithbucklin will not sponsor applicants for work visas and as a precondition of employment. You must be authorized to work in the United States permanently.

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