Senior Director, Marketing and Audience Experience

About the VSO

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Founded in 1919, the VSO is the third largest symphony orchestra in Canada, and the largest performing arts organization in Western Canada. The VSO creates, curates, and connects irresistible musical experiences—performing 150+ concerts annually in its home, the Orpheum Theatre, as well as numerous venues throughout Metro Vancouver, and online. The VSO is one of a handful of orchestras worldwide that has its own music school: the VSO School of Music. The organization delivers extensive education programs reaching more than 50,000 young people annually, and community engagement initiatives that reach a further 100,000+ people. Maestro Otto Tausk is the VSO’s Music Director and the Artistic Advisor of the VSO School of Music.

About the VSO School of Music

VSO School of Music, founded in 2010, is a 25,000 square foot state of-the-art music school located adjacent to the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Vancouver. With a mission to enrich lives through the joy of learning, playing and performing the world’s great music, the VSO SoM develops experiences that are accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, playing level or economic circumstances; and by nurturing creative and engaged members of society through achievement in the musical arts. With a roster of over 1900 students, the School is proud to offer individual or group instruction by members of the Vancouver Symphony and other high-quality music educators.

The school also features a performance theatre (Pyatt Hall) and Reception space which sees a wide range of arts, entertainment, and corporate groups utilizing the space for performances, recordings, and special events.

Job Description: Senior Director, Marketing and Audience Experience

We are seeking a dynamic and strategic Senior Director, Marketing & Audience Experience to join the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. This leadership role oversees the VSO's integrated marketing, customer service, and audience experience functions, with accountability for growing ticket revenue, attendance, audience engagement, and long-term patron relationships. The successful candidate will ensure that every audience interaction and performance experience is welcoming, meaningful, and aligned with the VSO's artistic vision and organizational goals.

The Senior Director leads a multidisciplinary team encompassing performance marketing, customer journey and business intelligence, communications, digital content, marketing production, customer service and patron services. The role also directs external specialists supporting paid acquisition, funnel technology, landing pages, graphic design, publication production and other specialized execution.

This is a senior leadership role requiring advanced expertise in contemporary performance marketing, digital audience acquisition, CRM, analytics, conversion strategy, brand leadership, customer experience and revenue growth. The successful candidate must be capable of directing the complete portfolio and assuming broader executive responsibility over time.

Reports to: Senior Vice President, Artistic & Marketing; in a future structre, President and CEO

Direct reports: Director, Customer Journey and Business Intelligence; Manager, Communications and Digital Content; Junior Marketing Officer; Customer Service / Patron Services leadership and assigned staff

Key relationships: Artistic, Production, Development, Education and Community Engagement, VSO School of Music, Finance, VCT, external agencies, contractors and community partners

MARKETING, AUDIENCE AND REVENUE STRATEGY

• Develop and execute an integrated marketing, audience-development and customer-experience strategy aligned with the VSO’s artistic, revenue and institutional priorities.
• Translate annual ticket-revenue and attendance objectives into clear campaign, audience, channel and investment strategies.
• Develop distinct approaches to audience acquisition, retention, reactivation, subscription and single-ticket sales.
• Identify priority audience segments and opportunities for sustainable growth, increased frequency and customer lifetime value.
• Work with the Senior Vice President to position programs and experiences in ways that are artistically credible, emotionally compelling and commercially effective.
• Contribute to longer-term planning involving programming, pricing, inventory, digital transformation, audience development and organizational growth.

PERFORMANCE MARKETING AND DIGITAL GROWTH

• Lead performance-marketing strategy across paid social, search, video, display, email, landing pages and emerging acquisition channels.
• Establish expectations for acquisition cost, conversion, return on advertising investment, new-tofile growth, retention and customer lifetime value.
• Evaluate campaign architecture, audience targeting, channel allocation, creative testing and optimization recommendations from staff, agencies and contractors.
• Ensure that paid media, landing pages, website pathways, email journeys, CRM segmentation, organic content and ticketing data operate as an integrated acquisition and conversion system.
• Interpret campaign and audience data independently and make timely decisions about messaging, targeting, creative, pricing, inventory and investment.
• Lead a rigorous testing culture and ensure reliable tracking, attribution and reporting across digital platforms, Tessitura and other marketing systems.
• Build internal knowledge that allows the VSO to use external specialists strategically without becoming unnecessarily dependent upon them.

CAMPAIGN AND BRAND LEADERSHIP

• Lead integrated campaigns across paid media, email, website, organic social, publicity, partnerships and other relevant channels.
• Establish campaign goals, target audiences, pacing, budgets, timelines, messaging, creative requirements and performance indicators.
• Monitor sales against established pacing targets and lead timely interventions when performances fall behind plan.
• Develop appropriate marketing approaches for classical concerts, Pops, films, family programming, festivals, special presentations and community initiatives.
• Lead brand strategy and ensure communications, creative work and audience experiences support a consistent and compelling public identity.
• Ensure campaign results and lessons are documented and applied to future planning.

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE AND PATRON SERVICES

• Provide strategic leadership and management oversight for Customer Service and Patron Services, including service standards, escalation procedures, accessibility and customer recovery.
• Ensure that the experience promised through marketing is reflected throughout ticket purchase, pre-concert communication, venue attendance and post-event engagement.
• Develop an integrated audience-experience strategy encompassing pre-concert chats, lobby activations, artist and musician encounters, community partnerships and participatory experiences.
• Determine which programs warrant additional audience-experience investment and establish a clear objective, budget, project lead and measure of success for each initiative.
• Assign one accountable operational lead for each activation and ensure responsibilities are clear across Communications, Marketing Operations, Customer Service, Artistic, Production and VCT.
• Use audience feedback, service evidence and behavioural data to improve accessibility, participation, satisfaction, retention and loyalty.
• Lead effective customer-recovery approaches that strengthen trust while identifying systemic issues requiring organizational action.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

• Provide strategic direction for CRM, audience segmentation, lifecycle marketing, email automation, website conversion and customer-journey development.
• Work closely with the Director, Customer Journey and Business Intelligence to turn Tessitura, campaign, web and customer-service evidence into decisions.
• Ensure reporting distinguishes acquisition, retention, subscription, single-ticket and reactivation performance.
• Require analysis to explain what happened, why it happened and what action should follow.

DEPARTMENTAL LEADERSHIP AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

• Serve as the clear day-to-day leader of Marketing and Audience Experience and establish responsibilities, priorities, workflows and standards of accountability.
• Lead, mentor and develop staff while fostering a culture of curiosity, creativity, service, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Develop and manage annual marketing and audience-experience budgets, allocate resources according to opportunity and maintain appropriate financial controls.
• Select and direct agencies, contractors, technology vendors and media partners; approve scopes and assess performance.
• Provide timely reporting and recommendations to the Senior Vice President, Executive Leadership Team, Marketing Committee and other stakeholders.
• Act on behalf of the Senior Vice President on delegated Marketing and Audience Experience matters.

DECISION RIGHTS AND ROLE BOUNDARIES

• Owns overall departmental performance, priorities, budgets, service standards and audienceexperience strategy, subject to executive approval for consequential decisions.
• Does not personally operate every advertising platform, pull every Tessitura report, design every asset, produce every story or coordinate every activation detail.
• Collaborates on venue and front-of-house experience but does not displace established Production, VCT, artistic or safety authority.
• Ensures one clearly accountable project lead is assigned whenever work crosses multiple departments.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• At least ten years of progressive experience in marketing, audience development, digital acquisition, revenue strategy, customer experience or related fields, including at least five years leading teams and holding significant responsibility for revenue, budgets and organizational strategy.
• Demonstrated expertise in performance marketing, digital audience acquisition, CRM strategy, conversion optimization, campaign analytics and revenue-focused marketing.
• A record of leading complex campaigns and making consequential decisions about targeting, creative, channel allocation, optimization and investment.
• Demonstrated success producing measurable revenue, attendance, customer or audience growth.
• Experience leading customer service, patron services, sales, hospitality or another customerfacing function, including service standards and customer recovery.
• Strong understanding of customer journeys, segmentation, lifecycle communication, website conversion, testing, attribution and marketing analytics.
• Ability to interrogate data, platform reporting and contractor recommendations rather than relying solely on specialists to interpret performance.
• Experience managing significant budgets, multidisciplinary teams, agencies, contractors and technology vendors.
• Excellent strategic, operational, financial, project-management, communication and presentation abilities.
• Postsecondary education in marketing, business, communications, arts administration or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

ASSETS

• Senior experience in the performing arts, entertainment, attractions, tourism, hospitality, media, sports or another ticketed and audience-driven sector.
• Experience with Tessitura or another sophisticated CRM and ticketing platform.
• Experience with subscriptions, memberships, loyalty programs, pricing, inventory management or revenue optimization.
• Experience designing in-person audience, guest or customer experiences.
• Knowledge of orchestral music or a strong curiosity and willingness to learn.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Commercial and audience judgment
• Performance-marketing fluency
• Analytical decision-making
• Customer and audience empathy
• Strategic and operational leadership
• Financial stewardship
• Creative judgment
• Cross-functional influence
• People development
• Calm and accountable execution

MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• Ticket revenue, attendance, acquisition, retention and customer-value objectives are translated into disciplined plans and managed actively.
• Marketing investment is evaluated through meaningful evidence rather than vanity metrics.
• Customer-service standards, escalation and feedback mechanisms are clear and consistently applied.
• Audience experiences have defined purposes, owners, budgets and evaluation measures.
• Staff and contractors understand their decision rights, deliverables and accountabilities.
• Senior leadership receives timely, candid and actionable reporting on performance, risks and opportunities.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Full-time senior leadership role based in Vancouver, with regular in-person collaboration.
• Requires periodic evening and weekend work around performances, audience activations, major campaigns and special events.
• Requires presence in performance and public-facing environments and the ability to respond calmly to time-sensitive operational or reputational issues.

Renumeration

• $82,000-$87,000 based on experience
• 4 weeks' vacation
• Extended Health, Medical, and Dental Benefits

What it’s like to work here

The VSO and the VSO School of Music offer a fast-paced, creative, and strategically minded workplace environment. We are a group of music-loving arts administrators, with a passion for the performing arts, combined with business acumen, personnel management, and leadership, in a strong and collaborative environment. We are proud of the VSO’s legacy in musical excellence and are working towards growing our reputation as a world-class orchestra, with state-of-the-art teaching facilities, outreach programs, as well as a community of engaged, philanthropic fans.

The VSO and VSO School of Music offer hybrid working models, though given that we work in live performing events, we know that some evening and weekend work will be required on site.

The VSO and the VSO School of Music value diverse perspectives, experiences and cultures and are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace. We encourage applications for this position from members of all groups experiencing barriers to equity.

Benefits

The VSO and the VSOSoM offer a flexible work environment, extended medical benefits available to full time employees, and other incentives and perks.

To Apply

Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume and cover letter combined into one document via email to employment@vancouversymphony.ca

Please include “Senior Director, Marketing and Audience Experience” in the subject line.

The VSO and the VSOSoM thanks all applicants for their interest, only those applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.

Application deadline

• Open Until Filled