Position Title: Director, Digital Marketing & Product
Department: Revenue and Marketing
Direct Manager: Vice President, Marketing

COMPANY PROFILE:
The Canadian Football League is Canada’s home for professional football. With over a century of rich history and nine member teams across the nation, the CFL provides world-class entertainment and excitement to a passionate and dedicated fan base. A season-long journey of unforgettable moments and must-see-TV broadcasts culminates in Canada’s largest single-day sporting event – the Grey Cup, where the newly crowned champions earn the right to hoist the iconic emblem of Canadian football.

The CFL leads a global movement to grow and modernize the game. The league is committed to a global vision as it connects with fans around the world. It is transforming into a digital-first sports league through an innovative, first-of-its-kind partnership with Genius Sports to maximize fan engagement through data analytics, technological advances, and sports betting.

Just as important as its industry-leading operations, the CFL proudly champions the values on which Canada was built – unity, diversity, inclusion, strength, and service to the community. The league is supportive of all peoples, cultures, and backgrounds, offering a respectful and inclusive working and playing environment, centered on acceptance and understanding. The CFL’s successes are measured not only on the field and within its ranks, but also in its unparalleled impact in affecting positive change and bettering Canadian communities and lives.

POSITION SUMMARY:
Reporting directly to the Vice President, Marketing, the Canadian Football League is looking for an experienced forward-thinking digital marketer to join its marketing team. The candidate will possess the business acumen to understand overarching league objectives and strategy relating to revenue driving initiatives and marketable fan acquisition and retention, and have responsibility for supporting the development of an executional pathway to achieve those outcomes. The candidate will have autonomy to drive the digital marketing and product agenda, utilizing a deep understanding of data analytics and software to innovate and deliver results. They will manage a Senior Manager, Marketing Automation & Acquisition, and Manager, Digital Marketing working closely with CFL content and marketing, business intelligence and technology departments to deliver a more personalized, enhanced fan experience across CFL digital channels.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

  • Lead the execution of an omni-channel digital marketing automation and paid media strategy, including 1st party and 3rd party channels (ex: CFL Digital Network, Meta, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube & Google).
  • Build and execute automated fan journeys to customize engagement at scale across fan touchpoints.
  • Develop and implement a lead scoring model to help inform digital marketing spend across audiences.
  • Partner and consult with Business Intelligence team to measure and report on key performance indicators (ex: CPA & CLV) and leverage findings to lead and shape the direction of data-driven marketing strategies.
  • Act as lead alongside Business Intelligence team, working with marketing technology providers (ex: customer data platform, customer engagement platform).
  • Lead UX development and maintenance of digital products, including but not limited to free-to-play games, partner microsites, interactive and dynamic partner marketing programs, fan engagement widgets, and live event streaming, in order to optimize marketable fan acquisition, engagement and monetization.
  • Lead newsletter and email marketing strategy with executional support from Sr. Manager, Marketing Automation & Acquisition.
  • Co-develop and manage the digital marketing media and technology budget.
  • Support nine (9) member clubs by working collaboratively to ensure operational alignment and progression towards league-wide marketable fan objectives.

QUALIFICATIONS (KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES, EXPERIENCE):

  • Proven expertise in integrating data analytics, software solutions, and marketing strategies to drive digital transformation and advance modern marketing practices.Demonstrated success in developing and executing user segmentation and personalized, 1:1 marketing strategies to drive engagement, conversion and reduce churn.
  • Ability to develop and manage a digital marketing technology stack, ensuring all tools and software serve marketing goals.
  • Experience in tag management, including a strong understanding of how to implement and manage tags in order to enable desired digital marketing deployments informed by 1st and 3rd party data.
  • Strong understanding of content marketing and digital marketing principles, including audience segmentation, user experience mapping, customer lifecycles, lead scoring and user logic.
  • Adept at pre-planning and executing long-term digital marketing campaigns, with an ability to pivot as required by insights and market trends.
  • Ability to develop compelling data-driven business cases to demonstrate drive marketing technology investments and successfully influence cross-functional teams.
  • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; ability to work collaboratively and communicate effectively with technical and non-technical individuals, managing direct reports and key senior stakeholders.
  • Knowledge of CASL and Canadian privacy laws.
  • Highly organized and collaborative with an ability to juggle competing priorities in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.
  • Working literacy of JSON/Javascript and SQL considered an asset.
  • Tenacious with a track record for finding solutions where others would have given up.
  • A strong understanding of sports and Canadian football is a definite asset.
  • Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline; or equivalent work experience.
  • Minimum of eight years experience working as a digital marketer is required.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS/CONTACTS

  • VP, Marketing
  • Director, Content & Marketing
  • Sr. Manager, Brand & Design
  • Sr. Director, Business Intelligence
  • AVP, Digital Transformation
  • AVP, Technology & Software
  • AVP, Global Partnerships
  • AVP, Sports Betting, Gaming and Innovation
  • AVP, Licensing and Retail
  • Nine (9) Member Club Marketing Leads

DIRECT REPORTS

  • Sr. Manager, Marketing Automation & Acquisition
  • Manager, Digital Marketing

LOCATION:
This role is based in Ontario, at the CFL League Office in Toronto (50 Wellington St. East). The successful candidate must be located in Ontario and able to attend the office at least two days per week. In addition, all employees will be required to attend meetings or other business events at the league office or other venues as business needs dictate.

CONTACT:
To be considered for this opportunity, please submit a cover letter and resume to careers@cfl.ca. We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted

We are working to create a more diverse and inclusive work environment and welcome applications from traditionally underrepresented groups such as women, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, people living with disabilities and people identifying as LGBTQ2S+.