Chief Marketing Officer-Chicago, IL

Chief Marketing Officer

Location: Skokie, IL Industry: Wealth Management

The Opportunity

A growing wealth management firm is seeking a strategic, hands-on Chief Marketing Officer to build the marketing and client experience infrastructure that will support its next stage of growth.

This is a building opportunity . The firm is not looking for someone to step into an established marketing function and simply manage what already exists. This leader will have the opportunity to assess the current environment, establish the strategy, create the processes and programs, and ultimately build the resources and team needed to support the firm's long-term vision.

The firm currently manages approximately $1.5 billion in assets with a long-term goal of doubling the AUM, including the addition and integration of new practices. Leadership recognizes that achieving this vision will require a more intentional and sophisticated approach to client experience, organic growth, referrals, and brand.

This newly created executive role will partner closely with the leadership team and advisors across the organization. The right person will bring ideas, challenge existing thinking, create structure where it does not exist today, and turn strategy into measurable execution.

Key Areas of Impact

The CMO will focus on three primary areas:

• Client Experience: Build a consistent, differentiated, high-touch client journey across advisors, teams, and locations—from onboarding through long-term engagement.
• Referral & Advocacy: Create a repeatable approach for turning exceptional client relationships into introductions, referrals, professional partnerships, and organic growth.
• Brand & Market Presence: Strengthen the firm's positioning, messaging, thought leadership, and visibility with affluent and high-net-worth families.

What You'll Do

• Develop and execute a comprehensive marketing and client experience strategy aligned with the firm's growth objectives.
• Build and continuously improve the end-to-end client journey.
• Establish scalable standards for onboarding, client communication, events, engagement, and relationship management.
• Develop programs and tools that help advisors generate introductions and deepen relationships with clients and centers of influence.
• Create greater consistency and accountability around referrals and client advocacy across the firm.
• Strengthen brand positioning, messaging, and overall market presence.
• Oversee strategies across content, social media, digital marketing, thought leadership, events, advertising, and other appropriate channels.
• Partner closely with advisors and leadership to connect marketing initiatives to business development and organic growth.
• Establish meaningful metrics and accountability around client experience, marketing activity, referrals, and results.
• Evaluate existing marketing partners, technology, processes, and resources and determine what needs to be built, changed, or expanded.
• Manage an initial marketing budget of approximately $200,000, with the opportunity to recommend additional investment based on strategy and demonstrated results.
• Determine the people and resources necessary for success and build and lead the marketing function as the organization grows.

What We're Looking For

We are not looking for a traditional marketing manager . We are seeking a strategic business leader who has the ability—and desire—to build.

Financial services experience is not required . More important is experience operating in a sophisticated, relationship-driven organization where client experience, brand, referrals, and growth are closely connected.

The ideal candidate brings:

• Senior-level leadership experience across marketing, client experience, brand, growth, or a combination of these areas.
• Demonstrated experience building or transforming a marketing, client experience, or growth function.
• A track record of taking ideas from strategy through implementation and measurable results.
• Experience creating programs, processes, and systems from the ground up.
• Experience with referral, advocacy, loyalty, partnership, or organic growth strategies.
• Strong brand strategy and positioning experience.
• Experience partnering directly with sales, business development, advisors, or other revenue-generating professionals.
• The ability to translate high-level strategy into execution, measurement, and accountability.
• Experience managing budgets, external partners, and competing priorities.
• Experience identifying talent and resource needs and building teams as an organization grows.
• Strong executive presence and the confidence to respectfully challenge existing thinking.
• Exceptional communication, project leadership, and follow-through.

The Person Who Will Thrive Here

You are a builder . You are energized by walking into an organization with significant opportunity and being given the trust and resources to create something meaningful.

You don't need a fully developed playbook handed to you. You know how to assess an organization, identify opportunities, prioritize what matters most, and build the strategy, systems, processes, and team to move it forward.

You think like a business leader , connecting client experience and marketing decisions to growth and long-term organizational goals. You are equally comfortable sitting with an executive leadership team to shape strategy and rolling up your sleeves to ensure initiatives get executed.

You bring a point of view and are willing to challenge existing thinking while remaining highly collaborative. You create structure, accountability, and measurable outcomes—not simply great ideas.

Most importantly, you understand that the goal is not marketing for marketing's sake. It is creating an exceptional experience for clients and building a scalable growth platform for the future.

Why This Opportunity?

Few executive marketing opportunities offer the ability to truly build .

Leadership recognizes that client experience and marketing must become strategic capabilities for the organization to achieve its long-term vision. Rather than prescribing exactly what that function should look like, they are looking for an experienced leader to help define it.

This individual will have meaningful access to executive leadership, the ability to influence the firm's direction, and the opportunity to build the people, processes, programs, and resources necessary to support significant future growth.

For someone who wants to look back several years from now and say, "I built that," this is that kind of opportunity.