Associate Director, Brand Marketing

About the California Academy of Sciences

The California Academy of Sciences is a globally renowned scientific and cultural institution located in the heart of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Home to a world-class planetarium, aquarium, research center, and natural history museum—all under one living roof—our mission is to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration.

Our extensive collections span plants, animals, fossils, and cultural artifacts from across the globe and throughout history. We are a diverse team of leading biodiversity scientists, educators, storytellers, designers, and communicators who work collaboratively to advance knowledge and inspire action through science and storytelling.

When you join the California Academy of Sciences, you become part of a mission-driven community that values curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. Whether you're working behind the scenes in research or engaging the public on the museum floor, your work will help connect people to the natural world and empower them to protect it.

About the Opportunity

The Associate Director of Brand Marketing serves as a leader within the Marketing Division, responsible for shaping, unifying, and advancing the Academy's brand across all audience touchpoints. This role oversees the strategic management of the Academy's marketing investments, aligning consumer advertising, membership marketing, sales-driven campaigns, and special events into one cohesive brand experience. Reporting to Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, the Associate Director drives measurable growth in awareness, visitation, membership, and revenue while advancing the Academy's mission to regenerate the natural world. This position supervises a growing team and plays a pivotal role in integrating marketing strategy across departments, ensuring that diversity, equity, inclusion, and access remain central to the Academy's communications and audience engagement efforts.

Organizational Culture

Join a team dedicated to the Academy's mission, vision and valuesCurrently, the Academy has a new strategic plan including three initiatives – Hope for Reefs, Thriving California, and Islands 2030 – that leverage biodiversity science, environmental learning, and collaborative engagement to regenerate fragile ecosystems around the world. Learn more at

We hope you are inspired by what we do and are excited to contribute to our mission. The mission of the California Academy of Sciences is to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration. The Academy is looking for candidates who do great work, and we know they may come from a number of different backgrounds and experiences. We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every qualification for the position.

This position is based in San Francisco, California.

Essential Duties and Functions

Strategic Leadership & Brand Stewardship

• Provide vision and leadership for the Academy's brand, ensuring all campaigns, products, and events ladder up to a unified brand positioning and voice.
• Champions an integrated marketing framework that aligns consumer advertising, membership, sales products (NightLife, birthday parties, tours, rentals), and institutional events into a cohesive brand strategy.
• Represents Marketing in cross-departmental strategy conversations, influencing institutional decisions related to brand, revenue generation, and mission delivery.
• Communicates with senior management and executive levels to influence policy on matters concerning department and function.
• Establishes priorities, sets goals, and tracks outcomes that advance institutional objectives.

Marketing Investment & Spend Management

• Lead the planning and stewardship of the Academy's $5–8M annual marketing investment alongside product managers (consolidating marketing budgets across the Academy: NightLife/Sales and Membership)
• Allocate resources across paid media, membership growth, promotions, and event-driven initiatives, making data-driven decisions to maximize ROI.
• Represent Marketing in annual and monthly admissions and revenue planning meetings, partnering with Finance and Experience leaders to set and manage revenue and expense targets. Provide insights from brand and campaign performance to inform institutional decision-making
• Provides input into process and policy improvement, timelines, and performance requirements related to institutional marketing investments.

Campaign Development & Execution

• Direct institution-wide advertising campaigns (4–6+ annually), ensuring alignment across brand, exhibits, membership, and purpose-driven initiatives.
• Oversee paid, owned, and added value strategies, working with agencies and internal partners to ensure integration and performance optimization.
• Lead creative development for flagship campaigns, balancing audience insight, creative risk, and brand alignment.

Team Leadership & Agency Partnerships

• Supervise and mentor a team of specialists, managers and coordinators, ensuring professional growth and high performance.
• Hire and manage new agency relationships at the senior level, including onboarding, contract negotiations, scope definition, and annual performance reviews.
• Establish best practices for workflow, measurement, and integration across internal teams and external partners.

Analytics, Measurement & DEIA Integration

• Develop reporting frameworks to evaluate campaign ROI, membership performance, and marketing contribution to revenue and mission delivery.
• Ensure marketing strategies and creative authentically represent and resonate with the Academy's diverse audiences, embedding DEIA principles throughout.
• Serve as a thought leader on exhibit and audience research, testing new approaches to expand reach and deepen impact.
• Serve as Marketing lead on the Affordable Access Steering Committee, shaping targeted campaigns and grassroots strategies with community partners. Ensure affordable access programs are promoted effectively and implemented in ways that authentically engage and expand our diverse audiences.
• Applies high-level analytical thought and conceptual judgment in resolving complex issues where problems may not be clearly defined and require in-depth knowledge of organizational objectives.
• Oversees the implementation of departmental strategic initiatives and drives quality considerations and standards cross-functionally.

Qualifications: A successful candidate will have the following:

• 10+ years of progressive experience in marketing, brand strategy, with proven success at the management level.
• Demonstrated expertise managing complex marketing investments ($5M+ annually) with strong ROI accountability.
• Experience developing integrated brand campaigns that unify advertising, membership, and sales products.
• Strong leadership skills with a track record of managing managers, teams, and cross-functional collaborators.
• Advanced analytical and financial acumen, with experience in ROI modeling and data-driven decision-making.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills; ability to inspire, persuade, and influence across stakeholder groups.
• Recognized as a functional expert with the ability to solve complex, cross-functional challenges.
• Passion for science, community engagement, and the Academy's mission.

Compensation and Benefits:

The salary range for this position is $140,000 - $155,000. Actual compensation will be commensurate with the final candidate's qualifications and experience, including skills, knowledge, relevant education, certifications and aligned with the internal peer group. We believe in fair and equitable compensation practices and are committed to providing competitive salaries within the industry and market standards. The Academy offers a total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and comprehensive benefits based on the hours per week worked. Further details regarding compensation and benefits will be discussed during the interview process.

Schedule: Full-time, 40 hours per week.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should submit a resume and application through our Careers Page portal.

The California Academy of Sciences will give full consideration for employment to all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of theSan Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance (SF Police Code, Article 49).