Director of Performance Marketing

Role Summary

Empower Brands is seeking a Director of Performance Marketing to help build and lead a centralized franchisee growth capability across our portfolio of brands.

This role will oversee paid media strategy, platform and partner management, franchisee performance reporting, and the ongoing evolution of services that support local lead generation and conversion. The leader will work across brand teams, digital marketing, finance, operations, and franchisee stakeholders to create a more consistent and scalable approach to local marketing execution.

The ideal candidate brings strong performance marketing experience, an agency or multi-location background, and the ability to translate strategy into practical, measurable programs. This person should be comfortable operating in a growing environment, working cross-functionally, and remaining close to execution as the capability develops.

The role reports to the Chief Marketing Officer and partners closely with the Senior Director of Digital and Marketing Operations.

Location: Richmond, VA
What This Role Will Build

The initial portfolio of growth products and services is expected to include:

• In-house paid-media execution, including:
  • Google Search, Local Services Ads, Display, YouTube, and other Google advertising capabilities
  • Meta advertising
• Localized campaign landing pages
• Franchisee-facing dashboards and reporting
• Call-tracking integration
• Speed-to-lead tools and workflows
• AI-enabled SMS, voice, and email follow-up
• Lead-management and CRM integrations
• Standardized direct-mail capabilities
• Future franchisee demand-generation and conversion products

The initial priority will be launching and scaling the in-house performance marketing capability. The broader scope will expand as the operating model, technology, and franchisee adoption mature.

Key Responsibilities
Build and Launch the Capability

• Lead the design, implementation, and launch of Empower's in-house performance marketing capability.
• Translate the strategic vision into a practical operating model, service offering, implementation roadmap, and franchisee experience.
• Lead platform implementation, configuration, and ongoing optimization.
• Establish the workflows, standards, service levels, governance, and processes required to scale across multiple franchise brands.
• Partner with Brand Presidents, Marketing, Finance, Legal, IT, Operations, and franchisee leadership groups to prepare for launch.
• Support the onboarding of the franchise brands and franchisee accounts.
• Build the capability in parallel with broader organizational hiring and platform implementation timelines.

Lead Paid-Media Strategy and Initial Execution

• Lead the set up of campaign architecture, account setup, migration, launch, and optimization during the initial build.
• Lead execution across Google Search, Local Services Ads, Display, YouTube, Meta, and other relevant paid channels.
• Establish scalable campaign structures, naming conventions, budget-management practices, tracking standards, and quality controls.
• Evaluate performance by franchisee, territory, market, service line, and channel.
• Ensure that account transitions preserve access, historical data, tracking integrity, and continuity of lead flow wherever possible.
• Develop standards that can later be executed by campaign managers, account managers, platforms, and agency partners.

Own Product and Service Evolution

• Serve as the product owner for Empower's franchisee growth-products and services ecosystem.
• Develop and maintain a roadmap for MaaS, landing pages, dashboards, speed-to-lead, AI follow-up, and related capabilities.
• Translate franchisee, brand, and business needs into platform requirements and product enhancements.
• Determine which capabilities should be built internally, delivered by vendors, or managed through hybrid operating models.
• Identify opportunities to improve service quality, automation, scalability, and franchisee outcomes.
• Build the playbooks and operating standards that allow the capability to scale across brands.

Manage Platforms, Vendors, and Integrations

• Manage onboarding, service levels, issue resolution, and performance reviews.
• Partner with IT and internal stakeholders on CRM, data, tracking, security, and user-access requirements.
• Ensure that Empower maintains appropriate ownership and administrative access across advertising accounts, landing pages, tracking assets, and performance data.
• Lead the integration of media, CRM, call-tracking, dashboard, billing, and reporting workflows.

Create the Franchisee Service Experience

• Define how franchisees are onboarded, supported, trained, and engaged throughout the MaaS relationship.
• Establish onboarding, stabilization, monthly review, escalation, and performance-management processes.
• Partner with existing Digital Marketing Managers and brand marketing teams on franchisee communications and recurring performance reviews.

Drive Adoption and Change Management

• Develop the adoption and migration strategy for new and existing franchisees.
• Lead account and agency-transition planning in partnership with internal teams.
• Create communications, training, documentation, and escalation paths that support a successful rollout.
• Help establish the participation, exception, and transition framework in partnership with the CMO, Brand Presidents, Legal, and Operations.

Own Commercial and Operating Performance

• Monitor platform fees, internal costs, media funding, billing workflows, and account-level economics.
• Establish adoption, revenue, capacity, service-quality, and performance targets.
• Evaluate MaaS performance based on both service economics and its contribution to franchisee sales and royalty growth.
• Partner with FP&A on forecasting and financial analysis.

Build and Lead the Future Team

• Begin as an individual leader without immediate direct reports.
• Recommend the future team structure based on account volume, complexity, service expectations, and platform capabilities.
• Develop hiring triggers and role definitions for account managers, campaign managers, channel specialists, and related support.
• Hire, train, and lead the future team as the capability scales.
• Create clear accountability between product ownership, account management, campaign execution, brand teams, and external vendors.

Required Experience

• 5+ years experience leading paid-media strategy and execution across Google and Meta.
• Bachelors degree in marketing, advertising, communications, business or a related discipline
• Deep knowledge of Google Search, Local Services Ads, Display, YouTube, Meta, campaign architecture, attribution, and optimization.
• Experience implementing or operating marketing technology, advertising platforms, dashboards, or multi-location marketing systems.
• Experience integrating paid-media execution with CRM, call tracking, landing pages, lead routing, and reporting.
• Demonstrated experience building a new service, capability, operating model, or internal agency function from the ground up.
• Strong change-management experience across complex stakeholder groups.
• Experience selecting, negotiating with, and managing agencies, technology vendors, and platform partners.
• Ability to personally execute campaigns and platform work during the initial build.
• Ability to move between strategy, product design, operations, technology, campaign execution, and stakeholder management.
• Experience building business cases and contributing to pricing, packaging, budget, and service-economics decisions.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to translate data into actions and business recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in an entrepreneurial, evolving, and highly visible environment.

Preferred Experience

• Franchise marketing experience.
• Multi-location or distributed marketing experience.
• Agency leadership or agency operations experience.
• Experience supporting multiple brands through a shared platform or centralized operating model.
• Product-management or product-ownership experience.
• Experience in home services or another locally driven service category.
• Experience in a private-equity-backed organization.
• Experience scaling capabilities through periods of rapid growth and organizational change.
• Familiarity with franchise agreements, required marketing programs, local advertising requirements, and franchisee advisory structures.
• Experience with speed-to-lead, conversational AI, automated follow-up, or lead-conversion platforms.

The estimated compensation range for this position is $150,000 to $175,000 annually. Actual compensation for the position is based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to years of experience, skills, qualifications, and geographic location.

WHO WE ARE:

Empower Brands was founded in 2022 as a product of the integration of Lynx Franchising and Outdoor Living Brands. Empower encompasses ten industry-leading brands across commercial and residential services: JAN-PRO, FRSTeam, Archadeck Outdoor Living, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP), Conserva Irrigation, Koala Insulation, Wallaby Windows, Superior Fence and Rail, Bumble Roofing and Canopy Lawn Care. Empower is dedicated to providing its customers with the highest quality products and services in the commercial and home services industry while simultaneously delivering its franchise owners committed personal support, tools and empowerment to pursue their own success. Empower Brands is a portfolio company of MidOcean Partners, a leading private equity firm with an excellent track record investing in successful, growth-focused franchise businesses. For more about Empower Brands, visit the company's new website at EmpowerFranchising.com.

Note:

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an "at will" relationship.


Empower Brands is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Empower Brands makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.