Vice President Marketing Strategy

About Black Bear

Black Bear, established in 2011 with offices in Santa Monica and London, is a premier independent film studio producing diverse, high-quality movies spanning multiple genres. Known for critically acclaimed films like Train Dreams, The Imitation Game, and I Care a Lot, as well as current releases including Shelter, Black Bear distributes films directly in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, and Canada.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Vice President of Marketing Strategy & Operations to architect and oversee the strategic and operational framework for our marketing division. Reporting directly to the Head of Marketing, this role acts as the central coordinator across all campaign elements, collaborating with Creative, Media, Digital, Publicity, Distribution, Research, and Finance to ensure well-aligned, effective, and optimized marketing efforts.

This position demands a balance of strategic insight, operational excellence, and leadership to create systems, planning structures, campaign architectures, and procedural discipline that empower a nimble team to operate at peak performance. The ideal candidate thrives on simplifying complex challenges, excels in fast-moving settings, and has a passion for elevating marketing impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the Head of Marketing to establish positioning, audience engagement strategies, brand storytelling, and market entry plans for Black Bear's theatrical releases.
• Shape creative direction from initial audience acquisition through release, ensuring each campaign has a distinct position and consistent creative vision.
• Leverage insights from audiences, market research, competitor analysis, and cultural trends to inform marketing strategies and creative decisions.
• Author comprehensive campaign briefs that align internal stakeholders, filmmakers, agencies, and creatives around cohesive campaign goals.
• Lead campaign scheduling and conduct post-campaign reviews to uncover insights and improve future initiatives.
• Manage production timelines and ensure cross-departmental coordination for all theatrical releases.
• Develop scalable workflow processes, planning instruments, and operational procedures to boost efficiency, communication, and execution fidelity.
• Guide prioritization of marketing budgets and resource allocation including internal teams and external partners.
• Collaborate with Finance for budgeting, forecasting, staffing, and vendor management related to campaigns.
• Create executive-level presentations, campaign status reports, dashboards, and strategic advisories for leadership.
• Translate campaign performance data into actionable business intelligence and reporting standards.

Qualifications

• Over 8 years of experience in entertainment marketing, strategic planning, operations management, or studio campaign leadership.
• In-depth knowledge of theatrical film marketing and release strategies.
• Demonstrated history of guiding complex, multi-disciplinary campaigns from conceptualization through implementation.
• Strong capabilities in strategic thinking, analysis, organization, and project management.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with experience engaging senior executives and filmmakers.
• Proven ability to juggle multiple priorities in high-energy environments with acute attention to detail.
• Experience designing scalable marketing operations and workflow systems.
• Familiarity with consumer research methodologies, audience segmentation, and campaign performance analytics.
• Proficiency in project management software such as Asana, Monday.com, or Airtable and productivity suites like Google Workspace, PowerPoint, Keynote, and Excel.

Additional Information

This role reports directly to the Head of Marketing. Compensation packages will depend on applicant qualifications, experience, skill set, education, and relevant certifications. We encourage applicants of all backgrounds to apply. Black Bear is committed to Equal Opportunity Employment.