Job Description

Serves as Marketing’s strategic partner for one of Sunward’s core product portfolios: lending or deposits. Translates portfolio objectives, member needs and competitive dynamics into positioning, messaging and go-to-market strategy. Applies advanced marketing expertise to independently manage complex, non-routine campaigns and serves as a trusted resource to portfolio stakeholders, Marketing Operations and agency partners.

This is a dual-track position. Incumbents are assigned to either the lending portfolio, with primary responsibility for credit cards, consumer loans, mortgages and home equity, or the deposit portfolio, with primary responsibility for Sunward’s retail and business deposit products, including checking, savings, certificates and money market accounts. Both portfolio assignments share the same scope and core responsibilities and differ only in the product portfolio supported.

Essential Functions

• Own and lead the marketing strategy for the assigned portfolio:
• Sunward’s lending portfolio track (credit cards, consumer loans, mortgages, home equity and other lending solutions) OR
• Sunward’s retail and business deposit portfolio track (checking, savings, certificates, money market accounts and other deposit and transactional banking solutions).
• Serve as Marketing’s primary strategic partner to assigned portfolio stakeholders, maintaining a strong understanding of portfolio objectives, product priorities, member needs and upcoming initiatives.
• Meet regularly with portfolio stakeholders to review priorities, current marketing activity, campaign performance, upcoming needs and opportunities for Marketing to support growth.
• Develop annual, quarterly and ad hoc marketing plans for the assigned portfolio, aligned with business objectives established by portfolio and organizational leadership.
• Contribute marketing, member and competitive insights to product development, pricing, offer development and promotional planning led by portfolio stakeholders.
• Translate approved products, features, offers and promotions into clear positioning, value propositions, messaging frameworks and go-to-market strategies.
• Identify target audiences and recommend channel strategies, campaign sequencing, key messages, calls to action and member journeys for portfolio initiatives.
• Draft foundational content for portfolio campaigns, product launches, promotions, webpages, emails, advertising, educational materials and other marketing initiatives.
• Develop core messages, headlines, supporting copy, benefit statements and campaign narratives that Marketing Operations and agency partners can adapt across channels.
• Write or revise channel-specific marketing content directly when project needs, timing or team capacity require additional support.
• Create strategic and creative briefs that provide Marketing Operations and agency partners with clear direction, business context, target audiences, messaging, deliverables and measures of success.
• Review content and creative assets developed by internal teams and agency partners to ensure accuracy, consistency and alignment with the approved strategy, product details and Sunward brand.
• Maintain a marketing roadmap and campaign calendar for the assigned portfolio, providing visibility into current, upcoming and planned marketing activity.
• Proactively identify opportunities for Marketing to support portfolio growth.
• For the lending portfolio track, this includes acquisition, application completion, product adoption, activation, utilization, engagement, retention and relationship growth.
• For the deposit portfolio track, this includes account acquisition, initial funding, balance growth, direct deposit adoption, product engagement, account primacy, retention and relationship growth across the full deposit-product lifecycle (onboarding, funding, activation, engagement, cross-sell, maturity, renewal, retention and re-engagement).
• Monitor competitor products, offers, messaging and marketing activity to identify market opportunities and potential implications for Sunward’s marketing strategy.
• Partner with the marketing analyst to define analytical questions, audience requirements, campaign KPIs, measurement plans and reporting priorities for the assigned portfolio.
• Use available marketing and business intelligence tools to monitor performance, interpret findings and develop actionable recommendations for future marketing activity.
• Prepare and present recurring performance updates to portfolio, executive and marketing stakeholders, including what is currently in market, campaign results, emerging insights, upcoming initiatives and recommended changes.
• Partner with business units such as Compliance, Digital, Marketing Operations, Communications, Payments, and Retail to coordinate the development, approval and execution of portfolio marketing initiatives.
• Develop foundational FAQs, product-marketing resources and campaign information for frontline employees, and coordinate with retail communications leaders to ensure frontline communications align with approved messaging and strategy.
• Maintain accurate foundational marketing content and update it as products, features, rates, terms, disclosures or organizational priorities change.
• Evaluate campaign and launch performance, document lessons learned and apply insights to improve future positioning, content, targeting and channel strategy.
• Perform other duties as assigned that are consistent with the general scope and responsibilities of the position.

Requirements

Experience

• Minimum of 4 years of progressive experience in marketing strategy, product marketing, brand marketing or a related field, including experience independently managing complex, non-routine marketing initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing marketing strategy for a specific product portfolio or line of business.
• Demonstrated experience partnering with product, sales or line-of-business stakeholders to translate business objectives into marketing plans.
• Experience in financial services, banking or credit union marketing preferred.
• Experience with lending products (e.g., credit cards, consumer loans, mortgages, home equity) preferred for the lending portfolio track.
• Experience with deposit and transactional banking products preferred for the deposit portfolio track.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business administration or a related field OR relevant work experience equivalent to a bachelor’s degree.

Knowledge

• Advanced knowledge of marketing strategy development, including audience segmentation, positioning, messaging and channel planning.
• Working knowledge of the assigned product portfolio — lending or deposit products, depending on track — sufficient to translate product features, rates, terms and disclosures into accurate marketing content.
• Working knowledge of integrated marketing channels, including digital, email, direct marketing, advertising and content marketing.
• Familiarity with marketing performance measurement, including acquisition, adoption, engagement, retention and campaign-efficiency metrics.
• Working knowledge of Sunward’s products, brand and member value proposition.
• Working knowledge of applicable regulatory and compliance considerations affecting marketing content for the assigned portfolio (e.g., lending disclosures or deposit account terms).

Skills/Abilities

• Applies advanced expertise to independently manage complex, non-routine marketing work; serves as a trusted resource for problem-solving and interpreting marketing standards.
• Uses advanced analytical and critical-thinking skills to solve complex, non-routine problems; evaluates trade-offs and broader business impact when making recommendations.
• Exercises sound judgment in ambiguous situations while operating with limited supervision and broad responsibility for managing complex work; determines when to escalate higher-risk or ambiguous issues versus resolving independently.
• Influences peers and stakeholders through data-driven insights, clear rationale and strong written and verbal communication; may mentor other marketing team members.
• Demonstrates strong understanding of how work aligns with functional and organizational priorities, including cross-functional implications.
• Proactively identifies and addresses issues; ensures work aligns with regulatory and compliance requirements, identifying and communicating risks appropriately.
• Collaborative and consultative; partners effectively with cross-functional teams, agency partners and portfolio stakeholders.
• Strong project and roadmap management skills; manages multiple campaigns, timelines, dependencies and deliverables simultaneously.

Physical Requirements/Work Environment

• Prolonged periods of sitting and working at a computer.
• Must be able to operate standard office equipment (computer, keyboard, mouse, phone, video-conferencing tools).
• Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with internal teams, stakeholders and external agency partners.
• Visual acuity to review marketing content, data and creative materials on screen.
• Work performed in a professional office or hybrid environment.