Vice President of Strategic Marketing

Are you a proven marketing expert with Salesforce experience? Our team is building a marketing area that will truly innovate our go to market strategy and support a team of business development professionals. We are seeking a dynamic leader who will develop and execute comprehensive marketing strategies aligned with our mission and goals.

Organizational Information

At Farm Credit of Southern Colorado, we believe in creating a culture where teammates enjoy coming to work and feel included. We live this every day by enacting our FIRST principles, Fun, Integrity, Respect, Service, and Trust. Our commitment to our employees has earned Farm Credit of Southern Colorado recognition by the Colorado Springs Gazette a Best Place to Work for the past 3 years. Come join us in Colorado Springs, ranked No. 3 in US News & World Report’s 2023-2024 Best Place to Live survey

As one of the Farm Credit System’s associations, Farm Credit of Southern Colorado is a robust organization serving its member/owners in 31 counties throughout Southern Colorado. With over $1.6 billion in assets, Farm Credit of Southern Colorado’s approximately 100 staff members bring strength to its shareholders and communities. Farm Credit of Southern Colorado is a member-owned cooperative that provides a wide range of financial products and risk management services for agricultural producers, agribusinesses, land owners and rural homeowners.

Today, the Farm Credit System is one of the strongest, most financially sound lending institutions in the U.S. Its 59 institutions serve our country’s farmers and ranchers, rural America, and agribusiness. 

Responsibilities:

Marketing Strategy 

• Works with the Executive team to develop and maintain cohesive brand strategy across distribution channels.  
• Conducts market research to identify trends, opportunities, and challenges within the agriculture sector.  
• Stays abreast of industry best practices to market new products and expand distribution channels in an efficient, streamlined process.  
• Leads development of marketing strategies and programs while managing the approach to new product marketing and launch planning.   
• Utilizes data to develop and execute optimized annual and long-range marketing plans based on in-depth understanding of market segmentation, market trends, member needs, and competitive position.  
• Continually evaluates and adjusts marketing strategy and plans to meet changing market and competitive conditions, including digital marketing. 
• Analyzes data to identify and prioritize highest value prospects and existing members, allocating marketing resources and budget where necessary to meet goals. 
• Oversees the creation of focused go-to-market campaigns that drive future business growth.  
• Works closely with other departments to ensure proper execution of strategic marketing campaigns. 
• Establishes, monitors, and improves processes across all brands, market segments, marketing campaigns, and channels.  

Staff Supervision & Management 

• Recruits, selects, develops, motivates, empowers, and evaluates the Marketing team.  
• Assesses talent and determines the division of responsibilities, providing work guidance and direction.  
• Establishes performance standards and measures performance against standards.  
• Provides performance feedback, coaching and counseling employees as needed to improve performance, and recognizes employees in a timely manner.  
• Communicates business expectations and goals to and is responsible for teams’ results.  
• Assists team members in creating ongoing career development plans in order to fulfill opportunities throughout the association and plan for succession.  

Collaboration & Relationship Management 

• Collaborates with Marketing team and outside vendors to provide ongoing high-impact, strategic creativity.  
• Builds relationships throughout the association to align priorities to business objectives and FCSC’s strategic plan in order to drive a digital marketing mindset. 
• Defines and nurtures a collaborative and member-oriented marketing community.  
• Ensures strong partnerships throughout the Association and alignment with overall communications strategy and execution.  
• Provides clear, consistent, and frequent messaging to internal department leaders regarding key initiatives, changes, processes, and capability to help all teams achieve their goals.  
• Collaborates with internal departments to define, measure, and report ROI and KPIs of marketing initiatives and campaigns.  
• Reports findings, progress updates, and recommended improvements to Senior Management and Board implementing feedback where necessary.  

Marketing & Communications Implementation and Strategic Leadership 

• Serves as a role model for the association’s vision, mission, core values, and foundational and leadership competencies.  
• Works closely with Senior Management in defining the marketing team’s strategic direction and goal.  
• Ensures collaboration between Marketing, lenders, and field sales leaders in the development of marketing campaigns
• Identifies and executes efficient and effective practices and data driven growth strategies that enhance the team’s value.  
• Develops, implements, and monitors the annual marketing plan and budget.  
• Oversees allocation of marketing budget to meet financial and strategic goals; ensures spending is prioritized against company objectives and relevant growth drivers.   

SEO, SEM, and Digital Marketing

• Implement and drive SEO strategies to improve online visibility  
• Execute and optimize SEM/paid advertising campaigns to drive targeted traffic  
• Keyword research and implementation for content optimization  
• Generate reports on the performance of digital marketing initiatives, ensuring alignment with SEO and SEM goals.

Legislative and Government Affairs 

• Develops strategies and implements plans to create and sustain positive relationships with state and federal governmental officials as well as agricultural commodity and trade groups.
• Leads efforts to shape legislative policy and regulations that impact the Associations' operations and marketplace success through monitoring legislative activity and activating outreach and advocacy by the Association’s Board of Directors, customers, internal teammates and key stakeholders.
• Ensures execution of effective legislative and government affairs communications on behalf of our shareholders, executive team, Board of Directors and overall Association.

Minimum Qualifying Characteristics:

• 10 years of experience in marketing, communications, industry relations and/or sales, including 5 years of supervisory experience
• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, organizational leadership or agriculture; or an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to perform the
• essential functions of the job
• Must be willing and able to travel around 40% of time 
• Salesforce and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Experience Required 
• Expert knowledge of marketing and communications best practices 
• Expert oral and written communication skills, sufficient to exchange information effectively with peers, supervisor and customers and communicate organizational information to employees and member-owners 
• Working knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook sufficient to create, update and save a variety of documents 
• Working knowledge of financial services industry 
• General knowledge of credit administration and portfolio management procedures
• Skill in identifying key issues and relationships relevant to achieving long range goals or vision
• Skill in planning and coordinating large/complex projects involving multiple stakeholders
• Skill in selecting, managing, coaching, motivating and developing diverse teams
• Skill in thinking creatively
• Skill in utilizing emotional intelligence skills
• Skill in negotiating complex agreements to achieve the best outcome for the organization
• Skill in establishing and maintaining relationships with a variety of internal and external organizations and individuals to advance the organization's interests and increase personal efficacy
• Skill in analyzing data and information to formulate logical and objective conclusions
• Skill in media relations
• Working knowledge of agricultural industry preferred 
• Photo, video production, and editing experience preferred

Farm Credit of Southern Colorado is an Equal Opportunity Employer dedicated to diversity in the workplace and offers a great work environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.

The following information is disclosed in compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. Similar positions applied for outside of Colorado will not necessarily receive the same compensation.

Salary Range: $125,000 to $165,000.

This range is a good-faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of this posting. Actual salaries could vary and may be above or below the range as permitted by Colorado Equal Pay Transparency Rule 4.1.2. Variation is based on various factors including but not limited to location, qualifications, experience, operational needs and other considerations permitted by law. In compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a potential new employee’s salary history will not be used in compensation decisions. In addition, benefits for this position include medical, dental, vision and life insurance, 401k, tax advantage accounts, paid vacation, sick leave and parental leave. 

FINAL DATE FOR APPLICATION: Until the position is filled.