Senior Director Marketing/VP Marketing

Overview

This is a senior role within the World Surf League (WSL) (VP/Senior Director title, as commensurate with experience and qualifications), responsible for building and executing the marketing strategy that grows WSL's audience, deepens fan engagement and positions the WSL as the home of surfing in the USA and beyond.

Successful candidate will own fan growth, digital marketing, paid media, CRM, brand tracking, and campaign execution with the range to stretch into creative and PR when the business requires it. Successful candidate will lead a team of direct reports and serve as a key partner to regional marketing leads, social media, commercial, content and events functions.

The role reports directly into the Global CMO and President of North America. Based on business and team priorities, the successful candidate should be based in Los Angeles, California, in a hybrid working environment (in office Tuesday-Thursday).

Responsibilities include:

 

Fan Acquisition & Audience Growth

• Lead the Global and North America fan acquisition strategy with center-out model, fan segmentation and audience growth.
• Drive viewership growth across YouTube, owned and operated platforms and broadcast, owning watch hour and unique viewer targets against OKRs.
• Build and execute athlete-led marketing campaigns that grow the profiles of US and Hawaiian surfers ahead of LA28.
• Partner with the social media and content team on creator program briefing and partnerships, driving paid amplification and performance measurement.
• Drive broadcast viewership growth, owning strategies that move audiences from social and digital onto live broadcast and O&O platforms, building habitual viewing behavior.

Athlete Marketing & Storytelling

• Own the athlete marketing strategy developing year-round profiles, narratives and content plans.
• Work with athlete management, content and social teams to build always-on athlete presence between events, ensuring surfers are known by name, story and personality, not just competition results.
• Use athlete channels as a primary distribution engine - co-creating content, briefing amplification strategies and measuring athlete-driven audience growth against OKRs.
• Build athlete marketing plans that ladder directly into LA28 positioning US and Hawaiian surfers as the faces of professional surfing before the Games arrive.

Digital Strategy, Martech & Membership

• Own the digital marketing strategy including paid media, SEO/GEO, app and web growth, performance analytics and channel mix.
• Lead Martech and CDP strategy and execution, including fan data strategy, segmentation, personalization and lifecycle marketing.
• Drive WSL membership and loyalty via acquisition funnels, retention campaigns and monetization of the owned audience base.
• Build and optimise CRM and email marketing developing fan journeys, automated lifecycle communications and engagement reporting.

Campaign Planning, Event Marketing & Market Awareness

• Lead integrated campaign strategy for all Championship Tour events and NA majors of US Open of Surfing, Trestles Pro, Pipe Masters, El Salvador Pro and Big Wave - owning always-on, in-season and tentpole execution.
• Partner with Tours & Events together with Revenue and Partnerships on onsite fan experience, local area marketing and partner activation delivery.
• Maintain active awareness of the competitive landscape, monitoring industry developments, emerging platforms and market threats.
• Bring market intelligence into campaign planning, ensuring strategy reflects the latest shifts in fan behavior, media consumption and cultural trends

Partner & Promotional Alliances

• Work closely with the Partnerships team to develop promotional alliances with WSL sponsors and partners - activating their off-channel assets (social audiences, email databases, OOH, retail and owned media) to extend WSL's marketing reach and drive event awareness
• Brief and manage partners on co-branded campaign execution, ensuring partner activations are aligned to WSL brand standards and NA marketing objectives.
• Identify and develop new promotional alliance opportunities that expand WSL's reach into non-endemic audiences and drive measurable fan acquisition.

Team Leadership, Cross-Functional Collaboration & Creative Range

• Lead, develop and inspire the North America marketing team.
• Partner closely with Social, Communications, Content, Partnerships, Tours & Events teams to align NA plans with the broader WSL strategy and OKRs, ensuring earned media, campaign creative and storytelling are aligned and mutually reinforcing.
• Be a supportive stakeholder in event creative management, key art, onsite marketing collateral and campaign assets across all NA events, ensuring delivery is on-brand and aligned to HQ brand guidelines.

P&L, Revenue Growth & Commercial Accountability

• Own and actively contribute to the Global and North America marketing budget with full responsibility for planning, monthly tracking and performance reporting against OKRs.
• Connect marketing investment directly to revenue growth, demonstrating measurable contribution to sponsorship value, partner ROI, ticket and merchandise revenue, membership growth and fan acquisition.
• Execute brand health and campaign measurement frameworks, including brand tracking studies and fan growth surveys, that track awareness, NPS, watch hours, earned media and audience growth, translating those metrics into commercial impact for the business.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 8 – 10 years of experience in marketing, with at least three years in a senior leadership role owning a marketing function and team.
• Proven track record in fan, audience or customer acquisition - sport, entertainment, media or lifestyle brand experience strongly preferred.
• Strong digital marketing background - paid media, CRM, email marketing, SEO/GEO, app growth, web analytics and performance optimization.
• Hands-on experience with Martech and CDP platforms including vendor evaluation, implementation and day-to-day operational use.
• Experience leading and developing a team, managing external agencies and working cross-functionally in a fast-paced, live-event environment.
• Demonstrated experience in creator and influencer marketing - strategy, briefing, contract management and measurement
• Experience developing and activating partner and promotional alliances, leveraging off-channel partner assets to extend marketing reach
• Strong understanding of communications and PR - not a specialist, but able to partner with and stretch across the communications function when needed
• Understanding of brand and creative - able to brief, review and direct creative work at a senior level
• Commercially minded - able to connect marketing activity to P&L outcomes, revenue growth and business value
• Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in Marketing, Communications, Business or a related field
• Must be fluent in English; additional language skills preferred
• Experience with Google Suite, project management and campaign reporting tools
• A flexible schedule is preferred - live events, evenings and weekends may be required
• Experience in live sports, action sports or surf is highly desirable, as is a genuine passion for surfing and surf culture

Personal Attributes:

• Above all, integrity and honesty.
• An exceptional work ethic and attention to detail.
• Optimism and energy for surfing and its future.
• An open and collaborative nature.
• Incredibly organized and capable of juggling multiple projects simultaneously.
• A high degree of self-awareness of one's own personal style, strengths and weaknesses, and sources of motivation.
• Intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm for learning.
• Enjoys working in a fast-paced, corporate environment.
• Action-oriented - enjoys working hard and looks for challenges; able to act and react as necessary, even if limited information is available; willing to take unpopular stands when necessary.
• Culturally connected - understands youth culture, action sports, coastal lifestyle and the world that surfing lives in.
• LA28 mindset - sees the Olympic window as a once-in-a-generation audience growth opportunity and builds toward it with urgency.

 

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: equal opportunity employer M/F/D/V.

Title: Senior Director Marketing/VP Marketing*

Annual Salary Range: $150,000 – $180,000*

*Title and compensation scaled to experience