Customer Advocacy Strategy & Planning Manager

Strategic Communications Leader

Supports Subaru of America's Customer Advocacy Department (CAD) in setting strategy, shaping communications, and driving organizational excellence. Reports directly to the Vice President – Customer Advocacy and serves as a key member of the CAD leadership team. Leads strategic planning, oversees the Strategy and Communications functions, and ensures alignment across major enterprise initiatives while driving both near-term performance and long-term transformation.

Acts as the primary liaison between CAD and enterprise partners, including Information Technology and key cross-functional committees, ensuring alignment, visibility, and execution of strategic priorities.

Core Requirements of the Ideal Candidate

• Must be able "to get big things done"
• Be a strategic thinker
• Have impeccable attention to detail and quality
• Have strong project management skills
• Understand data and how to use it to tell a compelling story
• Enjoy working in a fast-paced environment

Primary Responsibilities

Leadership and Influence:

• Defines and leads strategic, cross-functional projects from ideation through delivery.
• Translates high-level strategic objectives into a clear plan for execution.
• Aligns stakeholders on shared outcomes, defines the work to be done, organizes the teams and timelines for delivery, and identifies catalysts and roadblocks to ensure success.
• Develops and maintains responsibility for Customer Advocacy Department's (CAD's) 3-year strategic plan.
• Presents strategic initiatives/projects to executive leaders to ensure alignment with global corporate initiatives.
• Leads the Strategy and Communications functions within CAD, ensuring alignment of priorities, messaging, and execution across the department.
• Manages and develops direct reports, including the Customer Advocacy Project Manager and Customer Advocacy Communications Manager.
• Serves as the CAD representative on enterprise-wide initiatives and committees, including (but not limited to) G1, Customer Data Strategy, OPS Committee, and SOAR Committee.
• Acts as the primary IT liaison for CAD, partnering with Technology teams to prioritize, scope, and deliver system enhancements and capabilities.

Operational Excellence Guidance:

• In partnership with CAD Directors and Managers, facilitates the weekly and monthly strategy sessions.
• Collaborates with Accounting on the annual CAD budget, providing guidance on changes as the needs of the business change.
• Plans innovative customer service strategies to enhance the low effort customer experience, improve service level and efficiency, and increase loyalty and ultimately Net Promoter Score (NPS).
• Monitors medium- to long-term business trends/outlooks, gathering competitive intelligence to contribute to strategic business planning discussions with the CAD leadership team.
• Ensures consistent and effective communication strategies across CAD, aligning internal and external messaging with organizational priorities and customer experience objectives.

Strategic Problem Solving:

• Utilizes data-driven frameworks and problem-solving creativity to navigate competing priorities, address potential roadblocks, and ensure the right balance between speed and precision when delivering results.

Change Management:

• Enables clear communication strategies to support change adoption across CAD and key stakeholders.
• Leads and drives change management processes and executes proficiently in a transformational environment.
• Partners with Human Resources to ensure that effective change management techniques are being leveraged when implementing new initiatives.
• Uses the Voice of Our Stars data to identify action plans to address opportunities to increase associate satisfaction and engagement.

Required Skills & Personal Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership and ability to manage competing priorities in a complex and dynamic environment.
• Strategic thinker with proven ability to operationalize strategy.
• Concise communicator with ability to clearly articulate direction with defined goals and present solutions in a professional and easily digestible manner.
• Excellent organizational and project management skills, including familiarity with best practices, project management tools, and planning frameworks.
• Experience with large-scale transformations and challenging assumptions and current practices with a data-driven approach.
• Engagement expertise, storytelling skills, and passion for delighting customers, advocating on their behalf, creating great customer experiences, and understanding the linkage between these experiences and business success.
• Strong business acumen, with the ability to understand the parts of the business and their interrelationships. This includes skill in understanding the industry, competition, and expected future developments and challenges, the business's competitive strengths and weaknesses, opportunities to grow the business, and awareness of the environment for opportunities.
• Demonstrated ability to articulate vision and influence decisions, balancing empathy for different voices while driving value-based decision-making.
• Strong attention to detail and highly organized, with ability to operate with ease at all levels from strategy to execution.
• High curiosity to learn more and brainstorm creative solutions.

Education/Experience Requirements: Bachelor's Degree required. Master's Degree (MBA) or other advanced degree preferred with 8-10 years of relevant experience required.

Work Environment

• Office Location: Camden, NJ; apart of the Greater Philadelphia Area (Philly)
• Hybrid Role: Remote work 2 days per week (After 90 Days Onboarding

Compensation: The Recruiting base salary range for this full-time position is $120,000 -$130,000 /year. Within the range, individual pay is determined by factors such as job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Additionally, this role is bonus-eligible, with a target bonus percentage that provides an opportunity to earn even more based on your performance. (Internal Job Grade: M2).

WHY JOIN US? In addition to competitive salary, Subaru offers an amazing benefits package that includes:

Total Rewards & Benefits

- Medical, Dental, Vision Plans

- Pension, Profit Sharing, and 401K Match Offerings

- 15 Vacation days, 5 Floating Holidays, 5 Sick days, and 9 Company Holidays

- Tuition Reimbursement Program: $15,000 yearly benefit

- Vehicle Discount Programs

Learning & Development:

- Professional growth and development opportunities

- Direct partnership with senior leadership

- Formal Mentorship Program

- LinkedIn Learning License

Visit our careers landing page for additional information about our compensation and benefit programs!

About Subaru

Love. It's what makes Subaru, Subaru®. As a leading auto brand in the US, we strive to be More Than a Car Company®. Subaru believes in being a positive force in the communities in which we live and work, not just with donations but with actions that set an example for others to follow. That's what we call our Subaru Love Promise®.

Subaru is a globally renowned automobile manufacturer known for its commitment to innovation, safety, and sustainability. With a rich history dating back to 1953, Subaru has consistently pushed the boundaries of automotive engineering to deliver vehicles that offer not only exceptional performance but also a unique blend of utility and adventure.

Subaru's company culture is built on collaboration, diversity, and a shared passion for our product. We foster an inclusive environment that encourages employees to bring their unique perspectives and talents to the table. Our team members are driven by a common goal: to create exceptional vehicles that inspire and delight our customers.