At Designer Brands, we are the proud parent company of DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, The Shoe Company, and Rubino, operating nearly 675 stores across North America and a billion-dollar digital commerce business. We lead the footwear industry with a diverse portfolio of iconic brands, including Topo Athletic, Keds, Vince Camuto, Kelly & Katie, Jessica Simpson, Lucky Brand, Mix No. 6, Crown Vintage, and others. With expertise in design, production, and sourcing, we create on-trend footwear and accessories, delivered through a robust omni-channel infrastructure and national wholesale distribution. At Designer Brands, we are committed to fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity, where each employee’s unique perspective contributes to our success. Anchored by our core values of “We Love What We Do,” “We Own What We Do,” “We Do What’s Right,” and “We Belong,” we continuously drive forward together, building a future where everyone can put their best foot forward.
At Designer Brands, marketing strategy is about more than planning campaigns. It’s about understanding our customers, identifying what matters most to them, and bringing compelling brand stories to life across every touchpoint. As a Marketing Strategy Specialist, you'll help shape how customers experience our brands by connecting business priorities, consumer insights, and creative thinking into meaningful marketing initiatives.
In this role, you'll collaborate across teams to develop seasonal marketing strategies, build integrated campaigns, and translate insights into action. You'll have the opportunity to influence how we show up in the marketplace, partner with talented cross-functional teams, and help drive both brand growth and business results through innovative, customer-focused marketing programs.
What You'll Be DoingStrategic Planning & Insight Development- Collect and synthesize information from multiple stakeholders throughout the planning process, identifying key insights that help shape future marketing strategies.
- Partner closely with the Product Marketing team to understand seasonal priorities and consumer trends, ensuring marketing strategies support broader business objectives.
- Align strategic initiatives, CRM activities, and channel considerations into cohesive marketing plans.
- Monitor, analyze, and evaluate campaign performance, market activity, and competitive trends to inform future recommendations.
- Document seasonal performance insights and hindsight findings, translating learnings into actionable recommendations for future campaigns.
- Develop, build, and execute integrated seasonal marketing campaigns, messaging strategies, and activations grounded in customer insights and business priorities.
- Create and launch strategic campaign and seasonal activity briefs that guide execution across teams.
- Help develop key business initiatives and special projects that support broader organizational goals.
- Identify emerging trends, uncover compelling customer insights, and bring fresh, innovative ideas to the marketing team.
- Partner closely with Creative teams to develop campaign concepts, including positioning, voice, visual identity, and overall customer experience.
- Collaborate with channel owners and marketing partners to ensure strategies are consistently and effectively executed across all customer touchpoints.
- Communicate seasonal strategies to marketing teams and key stakeholders through engaging presentations and clear storytelling, helping bring campaigns to life and align teams around shared goals.
Required
- 3+ years of experience in a marketing function with a focus on strategy.
- Bachelor's degree in Marketing or another business-related field.
- Ability to think strategically, balancing the big-picture business challenge while remaining connected to executional details.
- Strong analytical skills with experience gathering, interpreting, manipulating, and communicating complex data sets.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
- Customer-first mindset with the ability to leverage customer insights to guide recommendations and decision-making.
- Strong critical thinking skills and curiosity, particularly when managing multiple projects and priorities.
- Strong collaboration and relationship-building skills with the ability to work effectively across teams and organizational levels.
- Excellent verbal, written, and visual communication skills.
- Significant experience creating presentations and communicating strategic recommendations through compelling visual storytelling.
- Highly organized with strong attention to detail.
- Ability to work independently, take initiative, and manage responsibilities with minimal direction when needed.
- Ability to manage multiple assignments with competing priorities while maintaining quality and meeting deadlines.
- Comfort working in a fast-paced, collaborative environment and adapting to changing priorities.
- Familiarity with marketing strategies and tactics, as well as the retail landscape, competitive environment, and emerging marketing trends.
- Project management experience and a strong understanding of project management principles.
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders.
Skills Required
- 3+ years of experience in a marketing function with a focus on strategy
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or another business-related field
- Strong analytical skills, including gathering, interpreting, manipulating, and communicating complex data sets
- Proficiency in Microsoft Excel
- Customer-first mindset and ability to use customer insights for recommendations and decision-making
- Strong critical thinking skills and curiosity
- Strong collaboration and relationship-building skills
- Excellent verbal, written, and visual communication skills
- Experience creating presentations and communicating strategic recommendations through visual storytelling
- Strong organization, attention to detail, initiative, and ability to manage competing priorities
- Familiarity with marketing strategies and tactics, retail, competitive environments, and emerging marketing trends
- Project management experience and understanding of project management principles
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to communicate with varied stakeholders
What We Do
Designer Brands is one of North America’s largest designers, producers and retailers of footwear and accessories that operates retail concepts. Our primary concept, DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, offers brand name and designer dress, casual and athletic footwear and accessories. The first store opened in 1991 in Dublin, Ohio. Today, DSW operates more than 500 stores in 44 states. The Affiliated Business Group operates nearly 290 leased departments for other retailers, such as Stein Mart, in the U.S. Designer Brands also operates several retail concepts in Canada, including The Shoe Company and Shoe Warehouse, which provide a convenient footwear solution for the whole family, as well as DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse – nearly 150 locations in all. In 2018, the company acquired Camuto Group, the legendary product design and brand development organization best known for the successful Vince Camuto® brand and the footwear licenses of Jessica Simpson® and Lucky Brand®. The partnership transformed Designer Brands into one of the largest footwear companies in North America with global, industry-leading capabilities in product design, development, sourcing and production.
