JOB SUMMARY
Cornerstone Advisors is seeking a Director, Marketing & Growth Consulting, to serve as a client-facing consulting leader advising banks and credit unions on marketing strategy, growth, brand, customer/member acquisition and retention, product strategy, marketing technology, and performance. This role focuses on helping financial institution clients assess current capabilities, define growth priorities, and execute practical strategies to improve marketing effectiveness and measurable business outcomes; it is not an internal corporate marketing leadership position at Cornerstone.
The Director will work directly with CMOs, CEOs, and marketing leaders to lead strategic engagements, facilitate executive decisions, develop actionable roadmaps, and translate marketing data into clear recommendations. The ideal candidate is an experienced marketing practitioner and advisor who brings strong financial services or consumer marketing expertise, executive presence, analytical rigor, and the ability to connect brand, product, channel, technology, and investment decisions to growth.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
Key Responsibilities
- Lead strategic consulting engagements with banks and credit unions focused on growth strategy, brand strategy, marketing organization design, product and go-to-market strategy, campaign effectiveness, and MarTech strategy.
- Diagnose client marketing challenges through current-state assessments of brand positioning, digital marketing, content strategy, product offerings, customer/member acquisition and retention, analytics, technology, team structure, and operating practices.
- Develop executive-ready recommendations, implementation roadmaps, and marketing plans that align brand, product, channel, technology, budget, and measurement strategies to client growth objectives.
- Apply data and analytics to benchmark marketing performance, identify gaps, prioritize opportunities, and connect metrics such as acquisition cost, campaign ROI, lifetime value, attribution, product adoption, retention, and brand awareness to business outcomes.
- Guide RFP and vendor-selection processes for CRM, marketing automation, website/CMS, digital advertising, personalization/CDP, analytics, and emerging AI-enabled marketing capabilities, from requirements definition through vendor evaluation and selection.
- Facilitate executive workshops, roundtables, and working sessions with CMOs, CEOs, and marketing teams to build alignment, clarify strategic choices, and accelerate decision-making.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to client executives and marketing leaders, helping translate strategy into practical execution plans and measurable priorities.
- Lead assigned engagement workstreams, coordinate with Cornerstone subject-matter experts, and help ensure client deliverables are practical, high-quality, and aligned with project objectives.
- Contribute subject-matter expertise to business development by supporting opportunity discovery, scoping, proposal development, sales presentations, and identification of appropriate client opportunities.
- Contribute to Cornerstone methodologies, frameworks, research, thought leadership, conference content, and other capability-building initiatives.
- Collaborate across Cornerstone practice areas to deliver integrated solutions for banks, credit unions, and fintech clients.
Knowledge and Skills
- Deep working knowledge of brand strategy, growth strategy, product marketing, multi-channel campaign management, digital/social/paid media, content strategy, customer/member acquisition and retention, marketing analytics, and marketing operations. Familiarity with CRM, marketing automation, personalization, analytics, website/CMS platforms, and emerging AI-enabled marketing tools. Strong understanding of how marketing strategy connects to product adoption, revenue, or balance-sheet growth, customer/member experience, and measurable ROI. Demonstrated executive presence, facilitation, presentation, relationship-building, and written communication skills. Working knowledge of financial services marketing and applicable regulatory considerations is strongly preferred.
Problem Solving/Analysis
- Analyzes client growth objectives, marketing performance, organizational capabilities, technology, processes, and data to identify root causes and priority opportunities. Synthesizes quantitative and qualitative findings, benchmarks performance against peers, evaluates strategic and technology alternatives, and converts complex issues into clear options, executive recommendations, implementation roadmaps, and measurable success criteria.
Communication and Collaboration
- Works closely with bank and credit union executives, marketing leaders, client teams, vendors, and Cornerstone colleagues across multiple practice areas. Communicates complex marketing, growth, technology, and performance concepts clearly to executive and practitioner audiences. Facilitates workshops and working sessions, manages stakeholder expectations, and collaborates across disciplines to produce cohesive recommendations and client outcomes.
Influence Responsibility/Level of Interaction
- Operates as a trusted advisor to client executives and marketing leaders. Builds credibility through practical marketing experience, financial services understanding, data-driven insights, and clear recommendations. Influences stakeholder alignment, strategic priorities, investment decisions, vendor choices, and implementation direction without relying on formal authority.
Supervisory Responsibility and Autonomy
- Supervisory Responsibility: No direct reports are assumed for this role; may serve as an engagement lead and provide coaching, direction, and mentorship to consultants and other team members assigned to client work.
- Autonomy: Operates with a high degree of independence in structuring and leading assigned client work, developing recommendations, facilitating executive discussions, managing day-to-day engagement decisions, and contributing to business-development activities within Cornerstone methodologies, client commitments, and firm policies.
