Associate Director, Digital & Performance Marketing

Job Title: Associate Director, Digital & Performance Marketing

Department: Marketing

Reports to: Senior Director, Marketing

Manages: Coordinator, Digital Marketing and Manager, Performance Marketing

Team Overview: Marketing builds seamless and connected pathways to fans to drive engagement, promote business campaigns, and convert revenue. Considering the full marketing mix with a spotlight on digital, social and performance marketing, the Marketing team is responsible for developing marketing strategies and executing detailed marketing plans, overseeing and implementing the campaign process end-to-end. As fan and channel experts, Marketing understands and implements the best ways to connect with fans to achieve business objectives and drive conversion.

Position Summary: The Associate Director, Digital and Performance Marketing is a highly organized leader and operator responsible for the strategy, day-to-day management, execution and optimization of key performance marketing and digital marketing channels and platforms, including paid social, email, web, mobile app, forms, data collection and related digital experiences. This leadership role will provide both strategic long-view expertise and real-time execution, serving as a central point of management across performance and digital platforms, internal stakeholders, external vendors and league partners, ensuring performance marketing and digital initiatives are executed accurately, efficiently, and in alignment with organizational objectives. The Associate Director combines hands-on technical expertise with expert strategy, quality assurance, and people management skills. The ideal candidate will operate seamlessly in a high-volume and dynamic environment, with the ability to progress programs and drive work forward amid ambiguity, continually evaluating execution and proactively refining work to ensure best-in-class implementation. This role directs and executes a wide-range of digital promotions and executions, and identifies opportunities to improve digital processes, platform performance, and fan experience.

Essential Functions (Duties & Responsibilities**):

Digital Platform Strategies

• Lead UX design for all digital platforms following business direction to drive revenue and profitability, coordinating with creative teams to align strategy with visual experience
• Lead digital vendor evaluations, RFP processes and freelancer engagement to ensure platform capabilities are evaluated against technical, marketing, operational, and business requirements and effective and efficient resources are used to produce best-in-class digital experiences
• Oversee, direct and manage the digital marketing calendar, including campaign assignments, deployment schedules, builds, testing, approvals, and sends across digital platforms
• Ensure digital content remains accurate, current, functional, and aligned with brand and business priorities
• Lead strategic alignment across performance marketing and digital marketing tactics for game promotions

Game Promotions and Performance Marketing Strategies

• Direct the implementation of a rinse and repeat, layered system for ticketing promotions across performance and digital channels across 40+ home game seasons with finite resources
• Supervise the creation of a multi-paid social strategy including launches, budget management, data tracking, analysis, optimization, and reporting
• Oversee briefing process for creative assets needed across paid campaigns, with attention to high-performing engagement, integrated storytelling, global partnerships inclusion and production requirements
• Partner with Business Analytics team to ensure proper tracking implementation and reporting to execute learnings for future campaigns

Email Marketing and CRM

• Develop and implement brand-right, audience-right email marketing strategies to support business needs and drive revenue including ticket promotions, product promotions and other marketing conversions
• Oversee the end-to-end execution and quality assurance of email campaigns across Eloqua and TM1, ensuring accuracy, functionality, brand consistency, and adherence to best practices
• Maintain and optimize email templates, including updates to styling, HTML/code, and technical configurations as needed
• Code and build emails using platforms and tools including Litmus and Eloqua
• Create, maintain and refresh subscriber audiences within email platforms, including primary subscription lists, geotargeted audiences, and gameday attendee lists
• Own and manage the ingestion of data from multiple sources and workflows, including sweepstakes, lead-generation initiatives, forms, ticketing systems, and gameday attendance
• Ensure email database processes support accurate segmentation, deployment, and subscriber management

Website and Content Management

• Oversee and maintain daily content updates across Lakers.com, including publishing and editing articles, press releases, videos, injury reports, roster information, promotional activations, and other timely content
• Build and maintain Lakers.com pages using WordPress and associated module-building tools
• Conduct periodic CMS and website audits to identify styling, functionality, or display issues. Troubleshoot and update affected pages as needed
• Manage roster updates across Lakers.com and league-managed platforms, including preparing player assets, submitting JIRA requests, and updating on platform

Mobile App Management

• Serve as a lead point of contact between mobile app vendor and internal stakeholders, facilitating clear communication, issue resolution and project execution
• Oversee daily content updates and programming within the Lakers mobile app, including stories, imagery, thumbnails, promotions, and content sequencing
• Adjust app content and merchandising based on current organizational, marketing, and fan engagement priorities
• Lead technical and strategic thinking around Lakers fan club development, planning and execution to drive interest and acquisition that translates to revenue growth and supports an omnichannel experience for consumers
• Manage the implementation of in-app advertising, including placement, creative assets, ad units, weighting, specifications, and campaign flight dates
• QA test builds and releases from the mobile app vendor and communicates required changes and issues to vendor partners

Corporate Sponsor Programming

• Serve as the primary digital marketing point of contact for sponsor-related programming, overseeing ideation, development and execution of sponsor marketing assets

• Drive value to sponsors by ensuring marketing best practices are implemented across contracted digital tactics that balances optimized performance and sponsor needs
• Ensure pitched and final sponsor digital deliverables and content align with the Lakers brand
• Develop and maintain elements of digital property rate card

Data Management, Privacy & Compliance

• Manage organizational data privacy and compliance requirements, including CCPA-related requests

• Partner cross-functionally with Legal and IT on data compliance
• Maintain careful processes for managing fan and customer data across digital platforms
• Create and manage data intake forms for business initiatives, including sweepstakes, app promotions, event registrations, VIP events, and other organizational programs

Analytics & Reporting

• Pull, analyze, and report digital performance metrics in response to requests from internal departments, partners, and external stakeholders

• Help translate platform and campaign data into clear reporting that supports business and marketing objectives
• Maintain accuracy and consistency across digital reporting requests and identify relevant performance trends when appropriate

Digital and Performance Media Expertise and Leadership

• Drive expectations for the highest quality work, delivered against organization goals, continually evaluating and progressing work to ensure premium execution and implementation
• Support team development to continually improve quality and increase efficiency
• Establish priorities, timelines, and workflows to ensure digital projects and recurring responsibilities are completed accurately and on schedule
• Provide quality control and final review of digital work produced by the team

**Responsibilities subject to change based on organizational needs and direction from management.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, advertising or related field; advanced and continuing education preferred

Previous Experience:

• Minimum 8-10 years in marketing, minimum 5 years in digital, product or e-commerce marketing
• Minimum 4-5 years people management experience
• Proven success launching and implementing digital marketing initiatives for high-profile global brands
• Proven success managing reporting of paid performance campaigns and finding efficiencies
• Agency experience or agency management experience a plus
• Experience in A/B and multivariate testing

Technology Capabilities:

• CMS Platforms (Wordpress)
• Figma
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Project Management Software (Jira, Trello, Wrike)
• Microsoft Office (including Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, SharePoint)
• HTML/CSS with additional understanding of HTML coding for emails
• Website/App/Email UX design principles
• Social Media Platform Proficiency (Meta, X, YouTube, TikTok etc.)
• Understanding of asset design and production requirements across digital and social platforms

Knowledge, skills, abilities:

• An organized, proactive and decisive leader who works seamlessly between strategic development and real-time implementation
• A digital native who will champion a range of platforms – email, web, app, social – recognizing the unique opportunities every channel brings
• A systems thinker who has extensive experience developing and implementing best-in-class websites, apps, emerging technology, and everything digital
• Strong understanding of design, copy, app, and website best practices and guidelines
• Knowledge of most current web, app and digital design trends
• Demonstrated leadership skills in marketing with a deep understanding of marketing principles, analytics, service management, stakeholder alignment and fan engagement
• Strong understanding of social media platforms and how to run ad campaigns
• Strong understanding and ability to analyze paid media performance data and insights
• Ability to develop, guide and adhere to a strategic brief, translating business objectives and brand strategy into tactical fan engagement and marketing promotions
• Works at both a strategic level as well as operating day-to-day activities
• Ability to simultaneously manage multiple programs at varying scales with mixed deadlines
• Ability to work in a high-energy, fast-paced, dynamic environment and make quality decisions
• Comfortable managing effectively and staying nimble with changing information
• Detail-oriented and a proactive, logical approach to problem solving amid dynamic environments
• Ability to bring innovative and creative activations to bear while working within mandatory parameters including league rules and short timelines
• Understanding of sponsor program nuances
• A passion for basketball and sports business

Physical Demands: N/A

Location: El Segundo (offices M-F), downtown Los Angeles (Crypto.com arena for Laker home games), other occasional off-site events

Travel: Up to 10% of the time

Hours: This position requires continual attention due to the perpetual nature of the NBA season; after-hours time is mandatory; must be available to work evenings, weekends and holidays

The pay range for this role is $130,000 - $145,000 annually. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience and certifications. In addition to those factors, we consider the relative pay of our current employees in similar positions when making a final offer.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital or veteran status, or any other protected class.