Brand Director

| Chicago, IL | Hybrid
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Who we are

M1 Finance has created a personal wealth-building platform made for the modern era, uniting personal perspective and automated ease. We seamlessly combine free investing, low-cost borrowing, digital checking, and soon, an innovative credit card that rewards shareholders in one intuitive, automated Finance Super App, and we’re driven by a mission to empower personal financial well-being. We believe that financial well-being is fundamental to overall well-being, and we strive to deliver products that are simpler, smarter, and stronger than those created by our boring, entrenched, and slow-moving competitors in the personal finance industry. 

Our clients have already trusted us with more than $5 billion of assets; we’re currently helping hundreds of thousands of people grow and manage their wealth with our industry leading automation and tools, and we’re adding thousands of new clients every day.

We’re looking for passionate people who want to improve and build on what we’ve created and take responsibility to help others build something meaningful and sustainable for their futures.  

We mean it when we say, “M1 is yours to build.”

If this sounds interesting to you, read on!

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for an experienced brand leader with a brain for strategy, an eye for strong visual creative (digital, video, and static), an ear for captivating yet concise copy, the people skills required to lead a growing team, the prioritization skills of a Cirque du Soleil juggler, the willingness to roll-up sleeves when necessary to get things done, and the perfectionist tendencies of an artist combined in perfect balance with the execution sensibilities of a business operator.

We’re looking for a brand obsessed, creative unicorn... who relishes the opportunity to be at a company disrupting a moribund industry dominated by behind-the-times behemoths… and who wants to do meaningful, interesting work that helps people build wealth the right way.

The tl;dr: it’s a big, fun role.

To be successful, you’ll need to be a strong, organized manager who can collaboratively grow and lead a talented creative group; demonstrate expertise in your domain with the presence to work with all members of M1’s leadership; select and manage third-party agencies; work across our various marketing, product, people, and compliance functions; maintain a consistent brand and voice across all customer-facing touchpoints; and ensure the high quality of multiple, cross-channel concepts, campaigns and initiatives.

Your mission will be to define and reinforce a vision for the M1 brand - the way we look, feel, walk, and talk - at all points of the client journey - from awareness through consideration, selection, adoption, expansion, and growth. Your work will be the driving force that carves out a recognizable and defendable position for M1’s brand. M1 is in a highly competitive space that consists of fintech upstarts and established financial institutions, so you’ll need a strong capability to deliver thoughtful, differentiating, memorable, and impactful results.

What you’ll do

Brand

  • Define, hone, refine, and enforce guidelines in partnership with M1’s product design lead that align the company on M1's voice, brand, look and feel, and tactics for all brand touchpoints (for use by internal and external teams)
  • Work with Product, Operations, and Leadership team to craft M1's brand positioning and essence and ensure it breaks through and is consistent across all channels
  • Ensure brand presence in online and offline channels and create plans to increase brand awareness in those channels in partnership with the acquisition marketing group
  • Lead brainstorming sessions to generate ideas and implement ideas that boost the company’s brand
  • Plan the brand team’s growth and structure, and hire talented creative people to continue to build marketing campaigns for M1

Customer

  • Analyze consumer behavior and business goals to define M1 customer personas
  • Craft M1's differentiation strategy and use competitive research to identify strengths and weaknesses in our messaging
  • Gather feedback from Product, Operations, and broader Marketing team and analyze consumer behavior to define M1's positioning
  • Participate in and contribute to customer and brand research

Creative

  • Revise content, messaging, marketing materials, presentation, etc. and provide feedback to the team
  • Create a tactical strategy to reach the target demographic with relevant content, messages, and visualizations
  • Manage third party agencies and freelancers, including budgets, and provide creative direction to ensure delivery of high-quality assets
  • Oversee the conception and implementation of concepts, guidelines, and strategies in various creative projects and oversee them to completion
  • Manage internal creative team and work with project managers to develop processes, SLAs, and workflows as an internal shared service across multiple business lines and GMs.
  • Review and develop creative briefs for internal and external teams and agencies for display, animation, video, direct mail, audio, OOH, and other assets.

Qualifications 

  • 8+ years of total experience as a brand strategist or creative director at a B2C company or at an agency with a consumer-facing role
  • 3+ years of managing, mentoring, and leading a team(s)
  • Demonstrated track record of brand building with a referenceable portfolio
    • Please provide a link to this in your application
  • Ability to lead and collaborate with cross-functional teams, outside agencies, and freelancers in a rapidly growing setting with high-velocity output demands
  • Ability to think strategically about brand value’s impact on business results and enterprise growth
  • Demonstrated experience working across all advertising mediums, with a particular focus on digital and video

Our Values

Our team embodies our eight core principles and if these principles speak to you – we’d love to talk with you.

  • Mission Driven: We will passionately apply ourselves to deliver immense value to our customers, knowing if they succeed, so too will the company
  • Extreme Ownership: We think and act like owners. Our focus is building long-term value, not scoring short-term marks. We own everything in our domain, including the outcome and everything that affects it
  • Boldness: We want to do things of consequence. Make a difference. We would rather fail at something meaningful than succeed at something trivial
  • Bias for action: The best way to make progress is to act
  • Economical: Efficiency is important, and we consider both the costs and benefits of our actions
  • Team-oriented: In working together, we maintain a low ego, make everyone feel welcome, assume good intent, trust one another, and seek out different perspectives. We empower our teammates to be at their best.
  • Challenged, but not overwhelmed: We are curious people who always want to grow. Growth happens outside our comfort zone. We achieve our potential through consistent, manageable growth
  • Integrity: We do the right thing. When we make mistakes, we own and correct them. We would be proud of our actions are shared with our family, friends, and strangers. Everyone can count on us to act according to our values, beliefs, and principles we state we hold. This trust must never be broken.

Our Perks 

  • Competitive Pay and Stock Options
  • Comprehensive health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance
  • Retirement benefit with employer match
  • Unlimited PTO
  • $500 to spend on home office equipment while working from home
  • Super stylish M1 swag
  • Socially distant team outings, celebrations, and events
  • Transparent and open communication with leadership
  • Knowledge that you’re working on the noble mission of helping people build wealth in a durable manner
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Technology we use

  • Engineering
    • PythonLanguages
    • ScalaLanguages
    • SqlLanguages
    • SwiftLanguages
    • ReactLanguages
    • NodeJSLanguages
    • KotlinLanguages

An Insider's view of M1

What are some social events your company does?

Different ERGs and departments host monthly Happy Hours in-office and virtually. We heard from a panel of black start-up founders during Black History Month and had a drag queen come host Trivia for Pride. M1 makes sure to plan events that appeal to different interests throughout the year.

Loukas

Client Success Operations Associate

What does your typical day look like?

Most days start with team standup, followed by a mix of focused coding time, cross-functional meetings with Design or Backend teams, and pairing with other engineers. There's always an exciting problem to tackle!

Monica

Senior Software Engineer

How does the company support your career growth?

We are growing in everything that we do as a company which means growth opportunities for our team members. We encourage growth by offering challenging assignments and opportunities for advancement. We support them by providing opportunities for learning and development, fostering an entrepreneurial spirit, and cultivating a culture of feedback.

Haley

Director of People Development & DEIB

M1 has a very deliberate culture of transparency that enables all teams - not just engineers - to have a deep understanding of how our work furthers M1's overall mission. This shared alignment and access to the bigger picture fosters the type of collaboration across teams that makes highly creative and effective problem solving possible.

Simon

VP of Platform Engineering

How has your career grown since starting at the company?

I've had many opportunities to improve my skills, learn from others' expertise, and take on new challenges at M1. I'm way more capable and confident than I was when I got here.

Tori

Copywriter

What are M1 Perks + Benefits

M1 Benefits Overview

A great product is the result of a talented team and strong work culture. At M1, our philosophy is to hire unbelievably intelligent, motivated, high-integrity individuals and promote an environment that enables their best work. Our company’s culture reflects what creative, intelligent people value in their careers: meaningful and interesting work, a fun environment, and financially rewarding opportunities.

Find out more about our culture: https://m1.com/life-at-m1/

Culture
Volunteer in local community
M1 sponsors volunteer opportunities in the Chicago community each quarter, which allows us to give back, bond as a team, and spend time doing things that are important to the employees of M1.
Partners with nonprofits
M1 partners with nonprofits such as Howard Brown Health and Junior Achievement.
Open door policy
OKR operational model
Team based strategic planning
Pair programming
Open office floor plan
Employee resource groups
Hybrid work model
Flexible work schedule
Remote work program
Diversity
Mandated unconscious bias training
M1 offers unconscious bias, harassment, and interview training for all employees
Diversity manifesto
Diversity employee resource groups
M1 has three task forces for Internal Education, Community Involvement, and Diverse Hiring, and five employee resource groups: Mental Health at M1, Pride at M1, Black at M1, SomosM1, and Women at M1.
Hiring practices that promote diversity
M1 tracks diversity on a bi-annual basis and reports on diverse hiring metrics to leadership and the M1 board.
Health Insurance & Wellness Benefits
Disability insurance
M1 covers this at 100%
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Health insurance
Life insurance
M1 covers this at 100%
Wellness programs
Mental health benefits
Financial & Retirement
401(K)
401(K) matching
Company equity
Charitable contribution matching
Our CEO personally matches employee's charitable contributions
Child Care & Parental Leave Benefits
Generous parental leave
We provide up to 12 weeks of parental leave for the primary caretaker. M1 also provides 4 weeks of leave for the secondary caretaker.
Family medical leave
Return-to-work program post parental leave
Vacation & Time Off Benefits
Unlimited vacation policy
Paid holidays
Paid sick days
Office Perks
Commuter benefits
Company-sponsored outings
Free snacks and drinks
Company-sponsored happy hours
Recreational clubs
Home-office stipend for remote employees
M1 allows employees to reimburse up to $500 for home office equipment for all employees.
Onsite gym
Professional Development Benefits
Job training & conferences
Tuition reimbursement
$1,000 annual learning and development stipend.
Lunch and learns
Promote from within
Mentorship program
Continuing education stipend
M1 offers employees a learning and development stipend per calendar year to support continued learning and career growth.
Continuing education available during work hours
Paid industry certifications

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