Director of Growth

Director Of Growth

Vera Bradley is seeking an innovative, analytical, and entrepreneurial Director of Growth to help accelerate the next phase of our digital and brand growth transformation as part of Project Sunshine. Reporting to the Head of Digital Commerce, this role will lead performance marketing strategy and execution across key digital acquisition channels with primary ownership of Paid Search, Paid Social, and Affiliate Marketing. This leader will play a critical role in driving customer acquisition, profitable revenue growth, and marketing efficiency while helping rewire Vera Bradley's digital ecosystem for long-term success.

The ideal candidate is both strategic and hands-on — equally comfortable building forecasts and incrementality models, auditing campaigns in-platform, testing new tools and channels, managing agencies and partners, and collaborating cross-functionally across Brand Marketing, E-Commerce, Analytics, Creative, Merchandising, Finance, and Marketplaces.

This role will also serve as a digital growth marketing expert across the organization, helping evaluate and guide opportunities across emerging channels, AI-enabled marketing capabilities, SEO/Generative AI optimization, retail media, social commerce, marketplaces, and evolving customer acquisition strategies.

This position is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana or New York, New York with up to 20% travel to Fort Wayne.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Own and lead customer acquisition and performance marketing strategy across Paid Search, Paid Social, and Affiliate Marketing channels.
• Drive profitable growth through disciplined optimization of CAC, ROAS, CPO, LTV, contribution margin, and incrementality.
• Develop channel-level forecasting models, scenario planning, and performance reporting to support business planning and investment decisions.
• Continuously optimize campaign structure, targeting, bidding, creative testing, landing pages, and audience segmentation to improve efficiency and scale.
• Partner closely across teams to align campaigns with product launches, storytelling moments, seasonal campaigns, and commercial priorities.

Growth Strategy & Innovation

• Help shape the future of Vera Bradley's digital growth strategy as part of broader Project Sunshine transformation initiatives.
• Identify and evaluate emerging acquisition opportunities across:
• SEO and Generative AI optimization
• Retail Media Networks
• Marketplace advertising
• Social commerce
• Influencer and creator-led performance marketing
• AI-enabled marketing tools and automation
• New and emerging digital channels
• Bring a test-and-learn mindset to channel expansion, experimentation, creative optimization, and media investment strategy.
• Stay current on changes across major digital platforms, privacy regulations, attribution methodologies, and consumer behavior trends.

Analytics, Measurement & Financial Acumen

• Utilize and maintain robust measurement frameworks to evaluate channel effectiveness and marketing incrementality.
• Partner with Analytics and Finance teams to improve visibility into channel performance, attribution, forecasting, and customer economics.
• Utilize data to inform investment decisions and optimize customer acquisition and retention strategies.
• Drive clarity around performance metrics including: CAC, LTV, ROAS, MER, CPO, Incrementality, Customer acquisition, retention, and reactivation
• Support and inform the evolution of dashboards, reporting infrastructure, and marketing analytics capabilities.

Agency & Partner Management

• Lead and manage external agencies, technology vendors, and strategic marketing partners.
• Evaluate and implement tools and partners that improve speed, performance, automation, scalability, and operational efficiency.
• Establish clear KPIs, accountability, testing frameworks, and performance expectations across partners.
• Continuously audit and improve agency performance, workflows, and commercial outcomes.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Serve as a trusted growth marketing partner across Digital Commerce, Brand Marketing, CRM, Marketplaces, Finance, and Analytics teams.
• Help evolve and scale growth marketing capabilities, processes, operating rhythms, and organizational structure over time.
• Contribute to integrated planning efforts including promotional strategy, customer growth planning, marketplace expansion, and digital ecosystem optimization.
• Operate with urgency, curiosity, accountability, and a bias toward action.

Education And/Or Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Analytics, or related field preferred.
• 7+ years of experience in performance marketing, growth marketing, digital commerce, or customer acquisition roles.
• Strong hands-on experience managing Paid Search, Paid Social, and Affiliate programs at meaningful scale.
• Experience managing multi-million dollar digital media budgets with accountability for profitability and growth outcomes.
• Deep understanding of attribution, incrementality, forecasting, and customer economics.
• Experience working with or managing external agencies and marketing technology partners.
• Experience in ecommerce, DTC, consumer products, fashion, accessories, or omnichannel environments preferred.
• Familiarity with marketplaces, retail media, social commerce, and emerging digital growth channels preferred.
• Experience leveraging AI tools, automation, and modern marketing technology platforms strongly preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Entrepreneurial mindset with strong ownership mentality.
• Highly analytical with strong commercial instincts.
• Hands-on operator willing to dive into execution while also thinking strategically.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and helping build scalable processes and capabilities.
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills with ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Curious, adaptable, and energized by transformation and continuous improvement.

Environment & Physical Demands

• Office environment. Utilizing an office desk – sitting, reading, listening, or speaking with the ability to move intermittently throughout the day
• Strong sensory skills, such as good eyesight, good hearing, and dexterity
• Ability to operate office equipment, including computers, copiers, fax machines, and phones
• Up to 20% travel to Fort Wayne and other business locations as needed.