Senior Manager, Marketing Planning & Operations

How You’ll Contribute

The Communication, Marketing and Brand team uses creative and strategic tools to further the mission of the National Geographic Society (NGS), while maintaining our place as one of the world’s most trusted non‑profit organizations and global brands. The Division’s creative minds develop and execute mission‑driven, on‑brand strategies and integrated strategic communications, marketing, creative and audience growth for the National Geographic Society and unifying our efforts across our owned channels, through owned channels, outside partners and earned media. The team is composed of seven integrated departments: Creative, Integrated Brand Marketing, Partnership Marketing, MarCom Operations and Internal Communications, Strategic Communications, Executive Communications, and Crisis Communications and Public Relations.

The Senior Manager, Marketing Planning & Operations plays a key role in optimizing the Marketing & Communications (MarCom) function by ensuring structural and operational efficiency. This involves leading marketing planning cycles on an annual and quarterly basis, managing the delivery of large‑scale campaigns, and fostering operational excellence across all MarCom activity. The role is responsible for designing process workflows, establishing shared best practices, and implementing effective systems, tools, and templates to achieve MarCom goals efficiently. This manager works across the Society with marketing, communications, data/analytics teams, and core functions like Legal and Technology to ensure the seamless, integrated, and efficient execution of all MarCom initiatives.

Your Impact

Responsibilities

• Marketing Planning and Strategic Alignment (30%): Develop and manage annual and quarterly strategic planning cycles across divisional MarCom teams and with cross‑functional and external partners, aligning MarCom activities with budgets and business goals.
• Translate marketing strategy into operational plans, global campaign calendars, and resource allocation balancing evergreen activity with key strategic initiatives.
• Manage planning frameworks across demand generation, brand, and lifecycle marketing.
• Build test and learn agenda as part of planning process in partnership with cross‑divisional teams.
• Ensure marketing KPIs, dashboards and scorecards are defined for MarCom activity and ladder to enterprise goals for executive‑level reporting.
• Project Management (35%): Serve as the program manager for cross‑channel, cross‑divisional MarCom campaigns (with focus on larger programs like Enterprise level campaigns) building and maintaining campaign project plans, timelines, and milestones and running governance structures.
• Serve as MarCom product lead for marketing automation and project management platform.
• Process and Operations Management (35%): Workshop and define standardize marketing processes, tools and project management frameworks to improve speed‑to‑market and campaign visibility.
• Design, implement, and refine operational workflows and roles and responsibilities and provide training across divisions.
• Build and roll‑out templates to support identified processes.
• Ensure process supports a test and learn approach, especially in digital and lifecycle activities; including the ability to have closed‑loop reporting of learnings back to partner teams.
• Support adoption of GenAI and automation tools where process readiness exists, ensuring governance and talent readiness for hybrid human–agent workflows.
• Ensure operational procedures and guidelines used by all marketing teams to ensure adherence to the Society’s information management policies and standards.
• Partner with other internal marketing teams to improve operational maturity, by identifying operational improvements, including how to leverage automation to make operations more efficient.

What You’ll Bring

Educational Background

Bachelor’s degree in a related field (Communications, Marketing, Education, etc.).

Minimum Years And Type Of Experience

7+ years of experience in marketing operations, marketing planning or campaign management.

Necessary Knowledge and Skills

• Expertise in marketing automation and project management platforms.
• Strong oral and written communication skills; ability to work with a variety of internal constituents.
• Ability to handle sensitive information confidentially and exercise good professional judgement.
• Skilled at collaborating across multiple departments in a complex organization.
• Excellent attention to detail, organizational, problem‑solving skills, and follow through as demonstrated through effective project management experience.
• Comfort multi‑tasking multiple deadlines and projects.
• Strong analytical skills, understanding of experimentation and holdout test methodologies.
• Demonstrated project management experience with the ability to indirectly manage and build consensus across diverse teams.

Desired Qualifications

• Familiarity with Monday.com a plus.
• Effective at building operational systems – RACI, process flows, etc.
• Familiarity with core marketing and communications processes, tools and templates.

Supervision

No direct reports.

Salary Information

The National Geographic Society offers a competitive and holistic total rewards package. Our compensation structure and transparent pay philosophy are based on industry‑specific market data for similar‑sized nonprofit organizations. The salary range for this position is $95,000.00 – $100,000.00. In addition, the Society offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision insurance; wellness program; 401(k) with matching after 6 months; flexible paid time off up to 22 days of paid annual leave per calendar year (15 days for new hires in their first year, prorated on pay periods); 10 days sick leave; 12 paid holidays and a paid winter break in December; paid parental leave; adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement; fertility benefits; learning and development opportunities; Lifestyle Spending Account; pet adoption assistance; pre‑tax transportation benefits; employer‑paid life insurance; disability benefit; and a variety of National Geographic discounts and perks.

Job Designation

Hybrid – Staff work at Base Camp two days each week (Tuesday and Wednesday). Additional days are welcome. Employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States. This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.