Director of Marketing Operations

Job description

Inspired by Hard Work At Carhartt, the values of hard work—dependability, honesty, and trust—are rooted in the legacy of our founder, Hamilton Carhartt. His commitment to serving hardworking people continues to inspire everything we do. Guided by his legacy and our mission—We serve and protect all hardworking people by building durable products—we remain dedicated to upholding these principles in every decision we make and every product we create. Position Details: Title: Director of Marketing Operations Department: Marketing Reports to: VP, Marketing & Brand Creative Location: Dearborn, MI Job Classification: Hybrid Job Summary The Director of Marketing Operations is an experienced leader responsible for building and leading the operational engine behind a high-performing, integrated marketing organization. This role connects strategy to execution—designing and driving end-to-end, connected operations across all marketing functions, ensuring that long-range brand planning seamlessly translates into effective execution. Operating at the intersection of marketing and enterprise planning, this leader brings clarity, structure, and accountability to how work gets done. This leader not only drives operational excellence but also plays a critical role in shaping and evolving the marketing organization—ensuring the right structure, capabilities, and ways of working are in place to meet the demands of a rapidly changing landscape. By driving cross-functional alignment, operational excellence, and disciplined execution, the Director creates the conditions for marketing strategy and creativity to perform at their highest level and deliver meaningful business impact. Inspired by Hard Work At Carhartt, the values of hard work—dependability, honesty, and trust—are rooted in the legacy of our founder, Hamilton Carhartt. His commitment to serving hardworking people continues to inspire everything we do. Guided by his legacy and our mission—We serve and protect all hardworking people by building durable products—we remain dedicated to upholding these principles in every decision we make and every product we create. Associate Responsibilities Build Connected Marketing Operations • Evaluate and improve end-to-end marketing processes that connect upstream brand marketing planning (18–24 months) with downstream go-to-market execution (0–12 months). • Define and implement ways of working to ensure alignment and successful activation. Build and lead structured, repeatable processes that include structured handoffs, governance and calendar discipline to bring clarity and accountability to complex workflows. • Improve prioritization, streamline execution and strengthen process and project management to enable one integrated system. Clarify Ownership and Strengthen Integration & Collaboration • Clarify organizational ownership - define decision maker, process owner, execution owner throughout a marketing campaign lifecycle. • Integrate Marketing into the enterprise-wide GTM process ensuring that Marketing remains fully integrated into corporate planning discussions and decision making. • Partner with Merchandising, D2C and NAWS/CCG to develop one planning approach that syncs upstream planning and downstream prioritization. Translate Strategy into Plans • Translate multi-year strategic initiatives into actionable planning cycles and milestones ensuring coordination of internal and external stakeholder/agencies. • Build and lead structured, repeatable processes to bring clarity and accountability to complex workflows. • Oversee project intake, prioritization, resourcing, and cross-team workflows to ensure initiatives are effectively scoped to deliver on time, on strategy and on budget. • Assess and operationalize ad hoc marketing and enterprise initiatives. Build and Lead a High-Performing Marketing Operations Team • Lead, coach, and develop a team of operations professionals, responsible not only for how marketing work gets done, but also for scaling new ways of working. • Establish clear roles, responsibilities, and development pathways to build a best-in-class Marketing Operations function. • Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Shape the Marketing Operating Model & Capabilities • Provide a holistic view across the organization to identify where structural shifts, capability builds, or process improvements will unlock greater efficiency and effectiveness. • Create visibility into workload, capacity, and resourcing across marketing teams—proactively identifying gaps and opportunities. • Anticipate future needs—ensuring the organization is not only optimized for today but designed to scale and adapt for what’s next. Lead Planning and Optimization • Own annual goal setting and quarterly progress updates as part of the company 3-year and annual strategic planning process. • Oversee marketing budget planning and governance, ensuring readiness for quarterly review and annual planning. • Define and implement a unified marketing measurement/optimization framework directly tied to brand and business priorities and outcomes. Enable Scale Through Technology and Tools • Identify, implement, and drive adoption of workflow management, content creation and asset delivery systems to improve connectivity and efficiency. • Evaluate team readiness for new technologies and prioritize based on business and resource needs. • Partner with IT and cross-functional teams to integrate platforms and ensure successful operational change management. Required Education • Bachelor’s degree in marketing or related field or equivalent experience in lieu of a degree. Required Skills & Experience • 10+ years in marketing, operations, strategy, or general management within a fast-paced, consumer-driven organization (apparel/retail preferred) • Proven success in building scalable operating models, processes and workflows across complex organizations • Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale, cross-functional initiatives from strategy through execution • Ability to succeed in a matrix organization through influence, partnership and respect for shared and differing perspectives • Exceptional communication and executive presence, with the ability to engage all levels of the organization • Experience leading change and driving adoption of new ways of working, tools, and technologies • Strong connector and problem-solver, able to create clarity and structure from ambiguity • Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple complex initiatives simultaneously • High competency in budget planning and management • Skilled in marketing technology platforms, workflow tools, and analytics/reporting systems • Highly motivated player-coach with a passion for marketing, teamwork, and results • Exhibits a high level of personal integrity, empathy and respect for others Physical Requirements and Working Conditions • Sedentary; involves sitting most of the time but may involve walking or standing for brief periods of time. • Office environment • Travel required (up to 25%) • Ability to lift 40 lbs • This position has a Hybrid location: Associate will work on-site regularly as needed for work activities. • Carhartt is a tobacco free workplace. #LI-HYBRID We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, disability, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, sexual orientation, age, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. All associates are required to understand and act in accordance with the Carhartt Core Values. Carhartt reserves the right to change, modify, suspend, interpret or cancel in whole or in any part, the job duties outlined above at any time and without advance notice to the employee.