Job Description

The Loyalty, Customer Growth & Digital Marketing Manager is responsible for driving customer acquisition, engagement, retention, frequency, and lifetime value through Gelson’s Rewards, CRM, personalization, lifecycle marketing, and digital growth initiatives.

This position leads the ongoing development and execution of Gelson’s customer loyalty strategy and connects loyalty programs with customer communications and digital marketing to strengthen customer relationships and generate measurable incremental growth.

The Loyalty, Customer Growth & Digital Marketing Manager develops strategies that move customers through the full lifecycle—from acquisition and enrollment through activation, engagement, retention, and increased customer value. This role uses customer insights, segmentation, personalization, digital channels, and continuous improvement to increase the effectiveness of customer-facing marketing programs.

The position works closely with Campaign Strategy, Content, Creative, Program Management, Marketing Operations & Analytics, Merchandising, IT, Operations, and external platform and agency partners to ensure customer growth initiatives are aligned with Gelson’s brand and business objectives.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Loyalty & Customer Growth

• Manage the ongoing development, execution, and optimization of Gelson’s Rewards/Loyalty program, including enrollment, activation, engagement, retention, and member-value initiatives.
• Develop strategies to increase Rewards membership, active-member participation, purchase frequency, customer spend, and overall customer value.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen the relationship between loyalty engagement and customer behavior.
• Develop customer acquisition strategies designed to attract new customers and convert them into engaged and loyal customers.
• Develop retention and re-engagement strategies designed to reduce customer attrition and increase repeat purchasing.
• Monitor customer lifecycle performance and identify opportunities to improve customer progression from acquisition through long-term loyalty.
• Support initiatives designed to increase customer lifetime value and measurable loyalty contribution.

CRM & Lifecycle Marketing

• Develop and execute customer lifecycle marketing strategies across email, digital media, e-commerce, loyalty, and other customer communication channels.
• Develop customer journeys and communications based on customer behavior, purchase patterns, loyalty status, engagement, and lifecycle stage.
• Create segmentation and personalization strategies that improve message relevance, customer engagement, purchase frequency, and customer value.
• Partner with Content and Creative to develop customer communications that are compelling, customer-focused, on-brand, and consistent across touchpoints.
• Establish and maintain lifecycle communication strategies for acquisition, onboarding, activation, retention, re-engagement, and other key customer moments.
• Continuously evaluate customer communications and recommend opportunities to improve engagement and performance.

Digital Marketing & E-Commerce Growth

• Manage digital growth programs designed to increase customer acquisition, engagement, conversion, and incremental revenue.
• Support and manage digital marketing initiatives associated with e-commerce and online customer experiences.
• Manage partner relationships and marketing initiatives related to e-commerce platforms, including Instacart-related marketing programs.
• Identify opportunities to improve the connection between digital channels, loyalty, e-commerce, and in-store customer experiences.
• Monitor digital marketing performance and identify opportunities to improve channel effectiveness and customer conversion.
• Collaborate with Marketing Operations & Analytics to evaluate digital program performance and identify opportunities for incremental growth.

Marketing Strategy & Planning

• Own and maintain the loyalty and digital marketing calendar in partnership with Campaign Strategy, Content, Program Management, Operations & Analytics, and other key stakeholders.
• Ensure loyalty, CRM, lifecycle, and digital initiatives are properly coordinated with broader marketing campaigns and promotional activities.
• Develop annual and ongoing customer growth plans aligned with Gelson’s marketing and business objectives.
• Translate customer and loyalty insights into actionable marketing strategies and initiatives.
• Develop PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) plans to continuously improve offer strategy, customer communications, channel performance, and program results.
• Identify opportunities for testing and optimization, including offers, messaging, segmentation, timing, frequency, and channel strategy.

Analytics & Performance Management

• Partner with the Marketing Operations & Analytics Manager to establish KPIs and measurement frameworks for loyalty, CRM, customer growth, and digital marketing initiatives.
• Evaluate customer acquisition cost, retention, purchase frequency, spend, engagement, conversion, incremental revenue, and customer lifetime value.
• Monitor loyalty program performance and identify trends, opportunities, and areas requiring improvement.
• Use customer and campaign data to develop actionable recommendations for improving customer growth and loyalty performance.
• Participate in post-campaign and program reviews to evaluate results and identify opportunities for future improvement.
• Use testing and performance results to refine customer segmentation, personalization, offers, communications, and channel strategies.

Cross-Functional & Partner Management

• Partner with Campaign Strategy, Content, Program Management, Marketing Operations & Analytics, Creative, Merchandising, IT, Operations, and other departments to execute customer growth initiatives.
• Coordinate with internal teams to ensure loyalty and digital initiatives are operationally feasible and aligned with company priorities.
• Manage relationships with external platform providers, agencies, technology partners, and digital marketing partners as assigned.
• Establish clear objectives, deliverables, timelines, and performance expectations for external partners.
• Support vendor reviews, business cases, program evaluations, and recommendations related to loyalty and digital marketing investments.
• Communicate program priorities, performance, opportunities, and issues to Marketing leadership and relevant business partners.

Customer Experience & Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve the customer experience across loyalty, digital, e-commerce, and customer communication touchpoints.
• Evaluate customer feedback, engagement data, and behavioral trends to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Recommend enhancements to loyalty benefits, customer journeys, offers, communications, and digital experiences.
• Continuously evaluate emerging customer engagement, personalization, loyalty, CRM, and digital marketing practices relevant to the retail and grocery industry.
• Ensure customer growth initiatives reinforce Gelson’s brand positioning and customer experience standards.

Performance in this position will be measured by:

• Growth in Gelson’s Rewards enrollment, activation, and active membership.
• Customer retention and repeat purchase behavior.
• Improvements in customer visit frequency, spend, engagement, and overall customer value.
• Growth in customer acquisition and conversion.
• Digital campaign efficiency and measurable incremental revenue.
• Improved performance of personalized and lifecycle marketing programs.
• Growth in customer lifetime value and measurable contribution from loyalty initiatives.
• Effectiveness of customer segmentation and personalization strategies.
• Successful execution of loyalty and digital marketing programs and initiatives.
• Quality and adoption of data-driven recommendations and continuous improvement plans.
• Effective management of external partners and cross-functional initiatives.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, Digital Marketing, or a related field preferred.
• Equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience may be considered.

Experience

• Approximately 4–7 years of progressive experience in loyalty, CRM, lifecycle marketing, digital marketing, e-commerce, customer growth, or a related discipline.
• Experience managing customer loyalty or membership programs preferred.
• Experience developing and executing customer segmentation, personalization, lifecycle marketing, and customer engagement strategies.
• Experience managing digital campaigns and evaluating digital marketing performance.
• Experience working with external agencies, technology platforms, or marketing partners.
• Retail, grocery, consumer, e-commerce, or membership-program experience preferred.

Knowledge & Skills

• Strong understanding of the customer lifecycle and the relationship between customer engagement, loyalty, and business growth.
• Knowledge of loyalty program strategy, CRM, customer segmentation, personalization, lifecycle marketing, and digital marketing.
• Ability to use customer and campaign data to develop actionable marketing strategies.
• Strong understanding of digital marketing channels, email marketing, e-commerce, and customer engagement platforms.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple initiatives, priorities, and deadlines.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong presentation skills with the ability to communicate marketing strategies and results to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across departments and with external partners.
• Ability to identify opportunities, develop practical solutions, and drive initiatives through execution.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to sit and work at a computer for extended periods.
• Ability to communicate effectively in person, by telephone, and through electronic communication.
• Ability to review customer, marketing, and business information for extended periods.
• Occasional travel to Gelson’s stores, vendor locations, meetings, or other business-related locations may be required.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Primarily office-based in a professional corporate environment.
• Regular interaction with Marketing, Merchandising, IT, Operations, Finance, Digital, store teams, and external agencies and platform partners.
• Occasional visits to Gelson’s stores and other company locations may be required.
• May require occasional work outside of normal business hours to support marketing campaigns, special projects, launches, meetings, or business needs.

Salary range: $87,900 - $95,000