Senior Director, Brand Planning

Description
Are you mission-driven and passionate about helping others succeed?
Do you strive to lead, follow, and act with integrity?
Are you the one who honors your commitments?
Is building trusting relationships an integral part of why you do what you do?
Do you push limits and challenge the status quo?
If you answered YES, keep reading to discover how you can significantly contribute to Team USA's success!
Here's a Summary Of Responsibilities
For more than a century, the athletes who wear the letters USA have set the standard on the world’s biggest stage. Now the United States will host two Games in six years: the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Utah 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to grow what the greatest team in the world means to the people who love it, and the value it creates for them.
Reporting to the VP, Brand Strategy, the Senior Director, Brand Planning is the orchestrator of how Team USA plans. This leader builds and leads a new team that works with brand and cross-functional partners to find the gaps and brand opportunities that will grow Team USA, and makes sure every one of them can be measured. What this team uncovers becomes the starting point for the organization’s annual planning cycle. From there, this leader turns strategy into action through one integrated plan and calendar and the briefs every team delivers against, so fans, athletes, National Governing Bodies, donors and partners all get more from Team USA and give more back.
We are looking for a proven planning leader who has run an annual planning cycle in a fast-moving, highly cross-functional organization, and who combines the craft of a top agency planner with the operating discipline of a client-side strategist. A self-starter who acts with urgency, is comfortable in ambiguity, builds strong relationships and can bring many teams together in one direction.
Here’s How You’ll Have An Impact
Find & Measure the Opportunity
Work with brand and cross-functional partners to understand how people discover, follow, join and support Team USA, and where we lose them.
Turn those gaps into clear brand opportunities, each with a defined audience, purpose and measurable outcome.
Own the brand measurement framework with cross-functional partners: the baseline for every gap, the metrics that show it closing, and the link between brand health and business results.
Build commercial and fundraising value into every opportunity from the start.
Orchestrate the Annual Planning Cycle
Lead Team USA’s annual planning cycle, making what the team finds and measures the starting point for priorities, investment and the annual operating plan.
Partner with Brand Strategy on strategic objectives, and with Commercial Development to connect the plan to the operating plan and budget.
Build and own Team USA’s integrated plan and calendar: one plan that brings every team, moment and investment together, from the Road to LA28 through Utah 2034 and beyond.
Decide what each moment must achieve and how it carries people into the next, so the energy of a Games builds year-round instead of fading.
Turn Strategy into Action
Own the strategy and phase briefs every team delivers against: the opportunity, the audience, the story and a measurable outcome.
Apply one consistent logic across the organization, from insight to opportunity to outcome to measured impact, so every brief traces back to the plan.
Run the annual, quarterly and monthly planning rhythm with leaders across Content, Experiences, Commercial, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation, External Affairs, Sport & Athlete Services and Communications.
Make trade-offs visible early, bring clear recommendations and escalate cleanly when a decision needs senior leadership.
Measure & Learn
Track and report brand performance against the plan, showing leadership which gaps are closing, which are not, and why.
Feed every finding into the next planning cycle, so each year’s plan starts from evidence and is stronger than the last.
Build the Team
Hire, lead and grow the Brand Planning team, setting a high bar and coaching planners to meet it.
Raise the standard of planning across the organization with shared tools and ways of working.
Perform other duties as assigned.
Here are the skills and experience you'll need to be effective:
Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or related field, or equivalent work experience
12+ years in brand planning, strategic planning or brand strategy, including both agency planning (brand, account or communications) and client-side brand strategy or planning
Has led an annual or multi-year planning cycle for a brand or organization, from insight and opportunity identification through to operating plan, budget and briefs
Has built and used a brand measurement framework (brand health tracking, KPI setting, baselines and reporting) to set priorities and prove impact
Track record of orchestrating an integrated plan and calendar that many teams delivered without direct reporting lines.
5+ years leading planners or strategists, with direct reports and cross-functional leadership
Track record of turning brand opportunities into programs or platforms that drove measurable brand and business results
Experience in a large, fast-moving, cross-functional organization such as a leading technology platform, media company or consumer brand strongly preferred
Sports, entertainment, media or purpose-driven experience a plus; Games, tentpole or live-event planning a plus; knowledge of the Olympic and Paralympic ecosystem a plus
Orchestrator: brings many teams, leaders and timelines together into one plan, and keeps it moving
Measurement-minded: will not call something a gap or a win without a way to measure it
Self-starter: builds something new without a playbook and sees what needs doing before being asked
Comfortable in ambiguity: makes good decisions with incomplete information and brings structure along the way
Acts with urgency: moves fast and brings the organization along, in one direction
Long-term thinker: plans in years, not campaigns, and keeps short-term pressure from crowding out lasting impact
Relationship builder and influencer: earns trust quickly with senior leaders and aligns teams that do not report to you through clarity, evidence and conviction
Direct and respectful: has hard conversations early, invites challenge and changes course when the evidence says so
Coach and talent builder: hires well, sets a high bar and grows people
Commercial instinct: sees how a brand idea creates value for fans, donors and partners
Passion for Team USA and the Olympic and Paralympic Movement
Here Are The Tools, Equipment, & Conditions
Office environment in a multi-story building site
Standard office equipment
Microsoft Applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
Moderate travel, including Games, Trials and partner events
Non-traditional hours, including nights, weekends, and holidays around key moments
Regular attendance at work is an essential job function
Here's Where You'll Work
Remote (United States) or Colorado Springs Downtown Headquarters (hybrid).
Here's Some More Information You Need To Know
Hiring pay range $170,000 - $180,000 per year.
This Full-Time, Exempt position is intended to work 40 hours per week.
Bonus: This position will be eligible for the Annual Incentive Award Program, which has a 20% target. The USOPC may change or eliminate this program at any time at its sole discretion.
Benefits: This position will be eligible for USOPC benefits. You can view a summaryhere.
This job posting will close 12:00pm MT on 11/17/2026
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

Skills
Artificial Intelligence, Excel

Experience
5+ yrs

Work arrangement
Yes