Marketing Manager

Marketing Manager

Kansas City, MO

At MERGE, we are Built Different. We are a marketing and technology agency purpose-built for the intersection of health and wellness—where human impact matters most. By weaving storytelling through technology, we move beyond traditional engagement to Whole Human Marketing. This approach recognizes that humans are multidimensional and complex, and uses AI to ensure every brand interaction feels natural, contextual, and relevant.

This commitment to human-first innovation is what brings us together and propels us forward. We are united by our North Star: to unite people and brands to empower healthier, happier lives.

Emerge to the Top of Your Career

At MERGE, we strive to create a superior work experience where talented and ambitious people grow. An experience that encourages people to think higher and feel deeper. An experience where people engage their minds and hearts to do the best work of their careers.

About the Role

MERGE is looking for a strategic, highly organized Marketing Manager to own the execution of our priority initiatives from strategy through launch. You take direction and run with it — bringing structure, momentum, and flawless execution to complex, cross-functional work.

This role does two things at once: you run programs and you project-manage them at the execution level. You take a strategic priority — a brand launch, a major campaign, a company moment — and you wrap your arms around it end to end: the plan, the timeline, the milestones, the owners, the dependencies, and the dozens of details that have to land for it to feel seamless. You don't wait for every step to be defined; you understand how marketing gets made inside an agency, anticipate what's coming, and drive the work forward.

You bring a growth mindset, a bias toward action, and a native fluency with AI and the modern tools that make a team faster, sharper, and more creative. Over time, you'll also make the whole marketing function easier to operate — building the processes, review cycles, and ways of working that let great work move from strategy to launch.

What You'll Do

Own Execution, End to End

• Own the initiative: Take a priority marketing program and own its execution from strategy through launch — accountable for the outcome, not just the tasks, and the person who makes sure it lands seamlessly
• Build the roadmap: Translate strategic priorities into clear project plans, workback timelines, milestones, owners, and dependencies — and hold every piece together from kickoff to launch
• Drive the work: Lead complex, cross-functional initiatives from planning through review, approval, and launch, coordinating across brand, creative, communications, digital, sales, and beyond
• See around corners: Anticipate risks, identify missing inputs before they become problems, and bring forward recommended solutions rather than just flagging issues

Keep Everyone Aligned

• Facilitate and follow through: Run meetings and working sessions that drive decisions, capture feedback, translate it into action, and ensure nothing falls through the cracks
• Manage executive reviews: Own the review and approval cycles, engaging leaders at the right moments with the right context so decisions happen cleanly and on time

Make Us Better at How We Work

• Improve the machine: Strengthen how marketing operates — intake, briefing, stakeholder alignment, review, and approval — creating operating rhythms that make recurring work easier
• Build the tools: Create practical templates, trackers, and workflows — and use AI and LLM tools to plan, draft, summarize, and accelerate the work — raising the team's speed and quality at once.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years in marketing, program or project management, integrated production, creative or agency operations, or a related field — with real ownership of execution, not just coordination
• A track record running programs and project-managing them at the execution level: complex, cross-functional marketing or creative initiatives taken from planning through launch, with a reputation for flawless execution
• Strong understanding of how marketing moves from strategy through development, review, approval, and execution
• Strategic fluency — enough to understand the intent behind the work, ask thoughtful questions, and execute intelligently
• Sharp project instincts: you anticipate dependencies, risks, and next steps, and you bring structure to ambiguous or evolving work
• Native fluency with AI and LLM tools, and genuine curiosity about how they make a team more efficient, smart, and creative
• Sound judgment about what you can handle independently and what needs to be escalated — with the executive presence to work alongside senior stakeholders
• Excellent written and verbal communication, strong meeting facilitation, and relentless follow-through
• A proactive, solutions-oriented approach, a growth mindset, and the cultural instinct to make our work feel modern and cool

Nice to Have

• Agency or professional services experience.
• Background in marketing production, studio management, or creative operations
• Experience improving workflows, governance, or executive review processes
• Exposure to acquisitions, analyst relations, pitch consultants, partner marketing, or events

What Success Looks Like

Marketing leadership can set direction without personally managing every task, dependency, meeting, and follow-up. Priority initiatives have clear plans and owners. Cross-functional teams stay aligned. Risks and decisions surface early. Executive reviews happen with the right context at the right moments. Feedback becomes action, and the important details never fall through the cracks. Over time, you make the entire marketing organization easier to operate — with stronger processes, clearer ways of working, and greater consistency in how complex initiatives move from strategy to execution.

At MERGE, we're committed to fostering an environment where our team members can thrive in both their careers and personal lives, ensuring they feel supported and empowered to succeed.

MERGE is proud to invest in benefits that include meaningful Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, 401K, Lifestyle Spending Account, Employer Paid Life & Disability Insurance, Flexible Time off & Holidays plus many other benefits and rewards.

Applicants for employment in the US must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the United States.

And here's how we live our values at MERGE

• Ability: Mastering our craft
• Agility: Delivering with a growth mindset
• Humility: Collaborating for shared success

MERGE is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer

MERGE welcomes and celebrates diversity regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status or people with abilities. We believe that the more diverse we are, the more creative our work will be!