Senior Manager, Loyalty Programs and Partnerships Marketing

Address:

LOB: Credit Cards

Mandate:

The Canadian Credit Card and Payments Marketing team is responsible for helping the bank achieve its ambitions through growing the retail credit cards & payments business, continuing to establish BMO as a leading Canadian credit card issuer.

Working collaboratively with partners, the team is accountable for developing & executing marketing strategies to:

Acquire & effectively onboard new customers; Deepen customer relationships in terms of card spend, share of wallet, balance growth, retention; and Effectively promote product & experience innovations, including loyalty program & digital card management capabilities

To accomplish this, the team identifies priority customer segments, reviews customer value propositions, and identifies value-creation opportunities (e.g., new programs/campaigns, partnerships, capabilities). Work plans may include both short-term tactical changes, as well as longer-term transformational changes.

The Senior Manager, Loyalty Programs & Partnerships Marketing is responsible for supporting growth of the North American Retail Payments business by leading the marketing strategy and overseeing execution for the BMO Rewards and AIR MILES loyalty programs,  BMO’s retail credit card partnerships, and BMO’s co-branded credit card portfolio, with specific accountability for growing the Canadian Credit Card portfolio.

The primary focus of this role will be on developing annual plans and overarching strategy for marketing communications that maximize the value of BMO’s credit card loyalty programs and partnerships portfolio. Within this, the successful candidate will:

Lead the marketing work to integrate the AIR MILES program into BMO’s broader financial services business, using the program as an effective lever to deliver more value to our customers and to drive business performance. This work includes acquisition campaigns to grow our portfolio of AIR MILES credit card customers, lifecycle campaigns to nurture the existing base of AIR MILES credit card customers, and communication plans to promote new AIR MILES features and capabilities. Lead BMO’s credit card partnerships marketing, including developing end-to-end marketing plans for new partnership launches as well as sustainment plans for our existing partnerships portfolio.

Across these focus areas, this role requires broad marketing experience across campaign management, performance marketing, paid media planning and execution, measurement and tracking, partnership development along with cross-functional relationship building, budget management, and strategic planning.  

Knowledge and Skills:

• Experience leading marketing teams that manage initiatives and campaigns from concept to execution, typically gained from 8-10 years of experience in a product marketing role.
• Experience completing annual strategic planning to drive portfolio performance, including budget planning, target setting, development of tactical marketing plans, and finding new opportunities to drive growth through innovation.
• Experience leading an effective marketing team, including performance management, goal setting and professional development, and fostering a strong team culture.  
• Experience working with a variety of marketing disciplines, including data-driven or direct marketing, digital marketing, customer relationship management programs, marketing analytics, advertising & creative development, market research and agency management.
• Experience effectively interpreting results and insights to inform optimization prioritization and decision making.
• Experience managing 3rd party partnership relationships, with a demonstrated ability to build effective relationships and manage the complexity of working directly with another organization.
• Strong working knowledge of marketing technologies, standards, and best practices, including but not limited to marketing automation, digital media, customer data platforms, website personalization & targeting tools.
• Minimum of undergraduate degree in marketing, business, commerce, or a related discipline.
• Experience in a larger organization or within the financial services industry would be advantageous.

Who You Are and Experience You Bring to the Role:

• You are a leader who is a human first. You understand how to build relationships and have fun while motivating a team and establishing a high-performance culture.
• You are a leader who knows how to make things happen. You can lead projects and teams of stakeholders to bring new ideas to life by overcoming barriers and solving problems.
• You can effectively manage your time, possessing the ability to simultaneously manage a large number of different stakeholders, both internal and external, and projects that range from internal customer journey mapping to multi-million dollar national advertising campaigns.
• You’re independent and confident, unafraid to ask clarifying questions to gather the information you require. You also possess the ability to leverage critical thinking to deal with ambiguity.
• You’re a master of marketing fundamentals. Marketing processes, brief writing and presentation, measurement plans and optimization, creating and presenting marketing plans, and managing campaigns end-to-end are second nature.
• You’ve got sharp analytical and problem-solving skills – you can cut through layers of noise and ask the right questions to identify relevant information, define root issues, and find solutions.
• You’ve proven your ability to collaborate effectively with stakeholders & partners across business groups, including a demonstrated ability to negotiate and influence.
• Financial calculations & performance analyses don’t faze you. You can analyze performance reports and identify trends or insights to create marketing optimization plans
• You’re a strong and persuasive communicator, in person and in writing, who can effectively leverage documentation and visuals to create narratives that effectively communicate your ideas and insights to executive stakeholders.
• You’re passionate about marketing and are a customer champion with the instinctive practice of thinking through the full customer journey coupled with a strong will to fight for the best customer experience.

Key Accountabilities:

• Build and maintain a high-performing, cross-functional marketing team.
• Develop holistic marketing strategy and plans across both acquisition and lifecycle, including launching new partnerships and related credit card products.
• Oversee the development and deployment of marketing campaigns, ensuring they align with overall organizational strategy, maximize opportunities to drive business results, and are consistent with the brand.
• Manage internal and external stakeholders to negotiate and secure necessary resourcing to support the execution of the annual marketing plan.
• Monitor best practices and competitor activities, both locally & globally as well as across industries, to understand trends, forecast developments, and identify potential solutions for growth and innovation.
• Ensure effective and robust tracking and measurement of targeted marketing initiatives, and leverage results generated to optimize for growth.
• Regular engagement with counterparts at partner brands, coordinating to establish strategies, build project plans, and track progress.
• Support development of business cases to inform decision-making.
• Equip and train your team as required to ensure flawless execution of best-in-class marketing communications.
• Conduct various pre-implementation and post-implementation analyses to estimate/measure campaign/program impact.
• Report results and outcomes of marketing initiatives to organizational leadership

Working Conditions:

The working environment will be a combination of office environment and working remotely. The job may require limited off-hours work and performance of work under challenging deadlines.

The above represents BMO Financial Group’s pay range and type.

Salaries will vary based on factors such as location, skills, experience, education, and qualifications for the role, and may include a commission structure. Salaries for part-time roles will be pro-rated based on number of hours regularly worked. For commission roles, the salary listed above represents BMO Financial Group’s expected target for the first year in this position.

BMO Financial Group’s total compensation package will vary based on the pay type of the position and may include performance-based incentives, discretionary bonuses, as well as other perks and rewards. BMO also offers health insurance, tuition reimbursement, accident and life insurance, and retirement savings plans. To view more details of our benefits, please visit: https://jobs.bmo.com/global/en/Total-Rewards

About Us

At BMO we are driven by a shared Purpose: Boldly Grow the Good in business and life. It calls on us to create lasting, positive change for our customers, our communities and our people. By working together, innovating and pushing boundaries, we transform lives and businesses, and power economic growth around the world.

As a member of the BMO team you are valued, respected and heard, and you have more ways to grow and make an impact. We strive to help you make an impact from day one – for yourself and our customers. We’ll support you with the tools and resources you need to reach new milestones, as you help our customers reach theirs. From in-depth training and coaching, to manager support and network-building opportunities, we’ll help you gain valuable experience, and broaden your skillset.

To find out more visit us at https://jobs.bmo.com/ca/en.

BMO is committed to an inclusive, equitable and accessible workplace. By learning from each other’s differences, we gain strength through our people and our perspectives. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process. To request accommodation, please contact your recruiter.

Note to Recruiters: BMO does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate. Any unsolicited resumes sent to BMO, directly or indirectly, will be considered BMO property. BMO will not pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. A recruiting agency must first have a valid, written and fully executed agency agreement contract for service to submit resumes.