Senior Director, Paid Media & Sponsorship Marketing - Hybrid at Cigna in Bloomfield, Connecticut

Job Description:

Overview:

The Cigna Group's Paid Media team is a centralized team of brand and performance media SMEs that support global media strategy, full-funnel media campaign planning, buying, optimization, campaign analytics, agency management, and global SEM/SEO. Our Sponsorships Marketing team is a diversified team of relationship-obsessed marketers with expertise across omni-channel marketing, sponsorship strategy, experiential marketing, grassroots/community marketing, thought leadership, and partnership analytics. The Sponsorships Marketing team is focused on integrating enterprise, line of business, and local partnerships/sponsorships into our brand, performance, and sales enablement initiatives to fuel demand and growth.

The Senior Director, Paid Media & Sponsorship Marketing will be responsible for (1) leveraging paid media and sponsorship channels to accelerate growth of the Cigna Group's US Commercial, Evernorth, and Government Businesses (2) leading strategy and implementation of cross-channel media and sponsorships to drive brand awareness and market conditioning, (3) Providing thought leadership on media campaign strategies, audience segmentation, and data-driven media plans in order to deliver optimal program performance

Seeking an individual with anentrepreneurialmindsetwho willcreate strong relationships and partnerships with key business and COE leaders and is willing to explore go-to-market strategies that are not traditionally seen in the health services vertical. Key stakeholders include campaign and content strategy, global data and analytics, brand strategy, martech, digital marketing, and our internal/external creative, media, and sponsorship agencies. It's crucial that this leader embraces and drives change management and can inspire Cigna team members with energy, passion, coaching, creativity, and innovation.

Overall, this individual will be instrumental in running a world class sponsorship marketing and media function through management and leadership of two teams (enterprise paid media & sponsorship marketing).

Responsibilities:

• Build a best-in-class media and sponsorship marketing COE that is regarded as a key business driver in achieving growth targets and advancing Cigna's marketing capabilities


• Lead The Cigna Group's enterprise paid media portfolio planning, strategy, investment, activation, and measurement - with a focus on outcomes-based success KPIs across our B2C, B2B, B2B2C, and DTC audiences


• Lead planning, execution, and optimization of performance media - paid social, programmatic, integrated media partnerships/sponsorships, paid search/SEO, lead aggregators, and affiliate marketing tactics


• Identify, negotiate, activate, and optimize marketing sponsorships that drive brand differentiation, build stakeholder engagement through borrowed equity, and fuel business growth and retention


• Transform the organization's sponsorship portfolio strategy from transactional to purpose-driven, with a focus on expanding the portfolio across new lines of business, integrating sponsorships into the buyer journey, and establishing clear measures of impact on the business and the brand


• Deliver a refreshed experiential/activation strategy for the Cigna Group's mobile community clinic tour - identify new paths forward to bring underserved communities the health services resources and education that they need


• Own the strategy, execution, and measurement for the Cigna Group's client hospitality programming across partners such as the NFL, The Masters, the US Open, F1, and other top-tier experiences


• Expand and own direct relationships with digital, data, and social partners in order to enable bigger ideas, contextual partner alignment, and more innovation


• Build a strategic framework and playbook for experiential marketing activation


• Successfully roll out pilot season of Commercial Sponsorship Packages


• Audience and Measurement Optimization: Leverage new data streams to build models for who attends tier 1 vs. 3 programming, forecasted return, etc.


• Deepen partnership with buyer group leadership and UW to curate programs based on growth objectives and earnings


• Formalize a post-event ROI process with shared data from field/UW

Requirements:

• A minimum of 10 years of work experience in marketing, events or sponsorships; Bachelor's degree required. Master's preferred


• Experience leading teams across sports/partnership marketing, performance media, direct-to-consumer, lead generation, and account-based marketing


• Demonstrated success in managing, optimizing, and reconciling multi-million dollar sponsorship marketing and media budgets


• Proven leadership in crafting a strategic media vision and influencing decision-making in a highly matrixed environment


• Proven track record of negotiating highly complex sponsorship/partnership contracts across sports, talent, media, and events


• Experience leading, managing, and optimizing relationships with multiple agency partners (media and sponsorship marketing)


• Thrives in ambiguity and a fast-paced marketing environment


• Well-versed in audience development/activation, adtech platforms, and analytics solutions (DSPs/DMPs, ad servers, SEM bid management platforms, etc.)


• Embeds data, analytics, and insights into every decision


• International and multicultural marketing experience a plus


• Proven track record of effectively and independently managing multiple stakeholders and collaborating across functions to bring teams together in a fast-paced, matrixed environment


• Team player that is self-motivated, entrepreneurial, effective under pressure and flexible (able to adapt to changing priorities)


• Outstanding judgement; ability to know when to escalate issues in a timely and appropriate manner; strong desire to creatively problem solve; operates with a sense of personal accountability; demonstrates a strong work ethic and high level of professionalism, and integrity


• Requires travel (25-30% of time) including occasional weekend travel and off hours projects

If you will be working at home occasionally or permanently, the internet connection must be obtained through a cable broadband or fiber optic internet service provider with speeds of at least 10Mbps download/5Mbps upload.

For this position, we anticipate offering an annual salary of 177,000 - 295,000 USD / yearly, depending on relevant factors, including experience and geographic location.

This role is also anticipated to be eligible to participate in an annual bonus and long term incentive plan.

We want you to be healthy, balanced, and feel secure. That's why you'll enjoy a comprehensive range of benefits, with a focus on supporting your whole health. Starting on day one of your employment, you'll be offered several health-related benefits including medical, vision, dental, and well-being and behavioral health programs. We also offer 401(k) with company match, company paid life insurance, tuition reimbursement, a minimum of 18 days of paid time off per year and paid holidays. For more details on our employee benefits programs, visit Life at Cigna Group .

About The Cigna Group

Doing something meaningful starts with a simple decision, a commitment to changing lives. At The Cigna Group, we're dedicated to improving the health and vitality of those we serve. Through our divisions Cigna Healthcare and Evernorth Health Services, we are committed to enhancing the lives of our clients, customers and patients. Join us in driving growth and improving lives.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, age, disability, sex, childbirth (including pregnancy) or related medical conditions including but not limited to lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital or familial status, genetic information, status with regard to public assistance, citizenship status or any other characteristic protected by applicable equal employment opportunity laws.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing the online application process, please email: SeeYourself@cigna.com for support. Do not email SeeYourself@cigna.com for an update on your application or to provide your resume as you will not receive a response.

The Cigna Group has a tobacco-free policy and reserves the right not to hire tobacco/nicotine users in states where that is legally permissible. Candidates in such states who use tobacco/nicotine will not be considered for employment unless they enter a qualifying smoking cessation program prior to the start of their employment. These states include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Washington State.