Senior Director, Marketing

Johnny Was, LLC
At Johnny Was, our mission is to inspire free-spirited optimism through beauty, authenticity, comfort and artistic expression. California Dreaming – the ultimate destination for those who love California and the relaxed modern bohemian lifestyle it embodies.
The Senior Director of Marketing will be a key leader within the Marketing organization and a central partner to the SVP of Marketing.
As the SVP's right hand, this person will help manage the day-to-day rhythm of the marketing organization, translate strategic priorities into clear action plans, drive cross-functional alignment, and ensure key initiatives move forward with urgency and excellence.
The Senior Director will have broad responsibility for bringing the Johnny Was brand to life — from ensuring the brand book is implemented consistently, to overseeing store events and experiential initiatives, supporting photoshoots and creative production, developing collaborations and licensing opportunities, and leading integrated brand initiatives.
This person will be both a strategic thought partner and an executional leader, bringing structure, energy, creativity, and accountability to the organization.
Position Overview:
Strategic Partnership to the SVP of Marketing
Serve as the day-to-day right hand and trusted strategic partner to the SVP of Marketing.
Help translate the SVP's vision and broader marketing strategy into actionable priorities, plans, and initiatives.
Partner with the SVP on annual, seasonal, and long-range marketing planning.
Help manage the overall marketing calendar, ensuring major campaigns, launches, events, partnerships, and initiatives remain aligned and on track.
Serve as an extension of the SVP across cross-functional teams and help communicate marketing priorities throughout the organization.
Proactively identify opportunities, challenges, and roadblocks and bring thoughtful recommendations and solutions to the SVP.
Prepare presentations, strategic updates, briefs, and other materials for senior leadership.
Represent the Marketing organization and, when appropriate, the SVP in cross-functional meetings and initiatives.
Help prioritize resources, timelines, and organizational focus across competing marketing initiatives.
Act as a key thought partner to the SVP, bringing perspective, ideas, and strong business judgment.
Brand Strategy & Stewardship
Partner with the SVP to develop and execute the annual brand marketing strategy and calendar.
Help define how Johnny Was shows up consistently and distinctively across all consumer touchpoints.
Serve as a senior steward of the Johnny Was brand, ensuring its positioning, voice, visual identity, and values are consistently represented.
Lead the implementation and ongoing evolution of the Johnny Was brand book and guidelines.
Partner with Creative, Merchandising, Retail, E-commerce, PR, Social, and other teams to ensure brand consistency.
Identify opportunities to increase brand awareness, customer engagement, relevance, and loyalty.
Help ensure every marketing initiative balances creative excellence with business objectives.
Retail & Experiential Marketing
Provide leadership and direction to the team member responsible for store events and experiential marketing.
Develop and oversee the overall retail event and activation strategy and calendar.
Partner with Retail leadership to create compelling, elevated, and on-brand customer experiences.
Oversee events, trunk shows, community activations, clienteling initiatives, and other experiential programs.
Develop scalable event frameworks and best practices across the retail organization.
Identify opportunities for retail and experiential marketing to strengthen customer relationships and support the broader brand strategy.
Collaborations, Partnerships & Licensing
Identify and develop strategic collaborations and partnerships that align with Johnny Was' brand identity and customer.
Lead collaboration opportunities from initial concept through execution.
Develop relationships with external partners, brands, agencies, artists, and other relevant organizations.
Support and/or lead licensing initiatives, ensuring opportunities are strategically aligned and protect the integrity of the Johnny Was brand.
Partner with internal teams to ensure collaborations and licensed products are supported with thoughtful marketing plans.
Evaluate partnership opportunities and provide recommendations to the SVP and senior leadership.
Creative & Photoshoots
Partner closely with Creative leadership on campaigns, seasonal initiatives, content, and brand storytelling.
Play an active role in photoshoot planning and execution.
Participate in creative development, production planning, location and talent discussions, styling, scheduling, and asset planning.
Help ensure photoshoots and content capture the distinctive Johnny Was point of view.
Review and provide marketing input on creative work throughout the development process.
Partner with Social, E-commerce, PR, and other teams to maximize the impact of creative assets across channels.
Integrated Marketing & Campaigns
Lead or partner on the execution of integrated brand campaigns and seasonal marketing initiatives.
Translate strategic priorities into clear briefs, timelines, budgets, and executional plans.
Manage internal stakeholders, agencies, vendors, and external partners.
Ensure initiatives are delivered on time, on budget, and to the appropriate level of brand and creative quality.
Partner cross-functionally to connect brand marketing initiatives with broader commercial and business objectives.
Establish measurement and reporting practices to understand program performance and inform future decisions.
Cross-Functional Leadership
Serve as a senior connector across Marketing, Creative, Retail, Merchandising, E-commerce, PR, Social, and Operations.
Create alignment around priorities, timelines, ownership, and deliverables.
Build strong relationships across the organization and foster a collaborative, solutions-oriented cultur