Capability Development Manager Jobs in River Forest, IL

Impassioned…Emboldened…Infinitely Curious: The Bradford Group family of brands is a world leader in new product development. We have been selling joy for over 50 years! Our global organization consists of several business divisions ranging from jewelry, apparel, to collectible coins and so much more. We concept, create, design and market our creative products directly to our customers, and leverage licenses with the biggest names in entertainment and sports to bring unique and curated products to our customers across the globe.

We are seeking a Senior Manager, Paid Social, a senior marketing leadership role responsible for the strategy, performance, and profitable growth of Bradford Exchange’s Paid Social function. This role leads a team of e-commerce marketing professionals and owns end-to-end accountability for revenue generation, budget management, customer acquisition efficiency, and long-term capability development. As the functional leader for Paid Social, this individual sets strategic direction, allocates resources, and drives performance across campaigns and product divisions while ensuring alignment with broader business objectives. The role operates with significant autonomy and serves as the primary liaison between Paid Social, divisional stakeholders, and marketing leadership. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in performance marketing, strong business acumen, and a proven ability to lead high-performing teams, manage substantial advertising investments, and deliver measurable, profitable growth in a dynamic environment.

How you will contribute:

Strategic Leadership, Paid Social Performance & Financial Accountability

• Lead the overall strategy, performance, and profitable growth of paid advertising efforts across multiple campaigns and product divisions on Meta platforms.
• Own performance against key business metrics including revenue, contribution margin, profitability, customer acquisition efficiency, ROAS, ROI, and long-term growth objectives.
• Develop and maintain the long-term strategic roadmap for the Paid Social channel, including investment strategies, growth initiatives, capability development, and performance improvement opportunities.
• Exercise independent judgment and decision-making authority regarding campaign strategy, budget allocation, optimization approaches, testing priorities, audience strategies, and resource deployment.
• Manage significant annual and quarterly advertising investments, including budget forecasting, allocation decisions, pacing oversight, and performance accountability.
• Establish testing roadmaps focused on creative strategy, campaign structures, audience development, platform innovations, and optimization methodologies.
• Identify, evaluate, and recommend new growth opportunities, platform capabilities, technologies, and investment strategies that support enterprise objectives.
• Ensure campaigns align with both short-term business priorities and long-term growth strategies while maintaining acceptable profitability targets.
• Serve as the senior functional leader responsible for balancing divisional priorities while maximizing overall Paid Social business performance.

Team Leadership, Talent Development & Organizational Effectiveness

• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a team of Paid Social Marketing professionals, fostering a collaborative, accountable, and high-performance culture.
• Directly manage employee performance, professional development, goal setting, coaching, succession planning, and career growth initiatives.
• Build and maintain a high-performing organization through effective talent management, employee engagement, accountability, and continuous development.
• Establish departmental goals, team KPIs, performance standards, and accountability measures that support business objectives.
• Create an environment where team members feel supported, empowered, and motivated to achieve exceptional results while advancing professionally.
• Lead workforce planning efforts and make recommendations regarding staffing, organizational structure, role design, and capability development.
• Manage team workload balancing, prioritization, and resource allocation across multiple divisions, campaigns, and strategic initiatives.
• Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, continuous improvement, and data-driven decision-making.
• Champion a “test, learn, and scale” mindset while encouraging the adoption of best practices, emerging technologies, and evolving platform capabilities.
• Strengthen organizational depth and bench strength through ongoing coaching, skill development, and leadership cultivation.

Cross-Functional Leadership, Strategic Partnership & Subject Matter Expertise

• Serve as the primary senior-level liaison between the Paid Social team and divisional stakeholders to align on product launches, promotional priorities, campaign timing, business objectives, and strategic initiatives.
• Act as Bradford Exchange's senior internal authority on Paid Social strategy, platform capabilities, performance marketing best practices, and industry trends.
• Provide strategic recommendations to leadership regarding channel investments, growth opportunities, performance expectations, and future marketing initiatives.
• Influence business decisions through data-driven insights, market knowledge, and expertise in performance marketing and customer acquisition.
• Partner with creative teams to develop high-performing advertising concepts, messaging strategies, creative testing frameworks, and performance-focused content initiatives.
• Represent the Paid Social function in leadership discussions involving growth strategies, budget planning, customer acquisition, marketing investments, and organizational priorities.
• Communicate performance insights, strategic recommendations, business risks, and growth opportunities clearly and confidently to leadership and stakeholders.

Performance Analysis, Innovation & Operational Excellence

• Review campaign performance and identify actionable insights to improve efficiency, scalability, profitability, and long-term growth.
• Monitor campaign health, budget pacing, investment efficiency, and operational effectiveness across multiple divisions and initiatives.
• Leverage reporting, analytics, and performance data to support strategic decision-making and optimization opportunities.
• Evaluate and implement new technologies, automation opportunities, AI tools, and platform innovations that improve team efficiency and marketing effectiveness.
• Establish reporting frameworks and measurement standards that provide visibility into team performance, business impact, and growth opportunities.
• Stay current on Meta platform changes, industry trends, competitive dynamics, and emerging performance marketing best practices.

What you will bring and skills that excite us:

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field.
• 7+ years of progressive digital marketing experience, including substantial responsibility for performance marketing initiatives.
• 5+ years of direct people leadership experience managing teams of marketing professionals within a performance-driven environment.
• Demonstrated success leading, coaching, developing, and performance-managing multiple direct reports while building high-performing teams.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience managing paid digital advertising campaigns with a strong emphasis on Meta advertising platforms.
• Proven experience owning and managing significant digital advertising budgets with direct accountability for revenue, profitability, customer acquisition, and return-on-investment outcomes.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing performance-driven paid social strategies tied to measurable business growth and financial objectives.
• Experience with organizational planning, workforce management, talent development, and team leadership responsibilities.
• Demonstrated ability to independently develop and execute strategic marketing initiatives with limited day-to-day oversight.
• Experience collaborating cross-functionally with senior stakeholders and managing competing business priorities.
• Experience operating in a fast-paced e-commerce, direct-to-consumer, retail, or performance marketing environment is strongly preferred.
• Experience with TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit, or other paid social platforms is a plus.

Bradford at a glance:

• Our scale: We have over 250 employees based out of our global headquarters right outside of Chicago, we have marketing operations in over 10 countries worldwide, and have over 32 million customers served.
• Compensation and benefits: We offer a competitive compensation plan and great benefits, with some benefits starting from day 1!
• We own the company: Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) which allows you to not only derive the benefits of working as an employee at The Bradford Group, but also gain the benefits of being an owner.
• Professional Development: There is always room to learn! We offer a Professional Development Program, a Mentor Program, and LinkedIn Learning to our teams as well as additional hands-on training and development. Our teams utilize a continuous performance management and development structure for feedback. We meet quarterly to focus on the future!
• Our values: Honesty. Innovation. Respect. Teamwork. Giving back. These are just some of the core values that drive our team members. Our team strives to build a culture of continuous feedback where anyone can share and create our “next big idea,” among diverse and inclusive teams.
• Flexibility and wellness: Whether it’s offering hybrid environment (onsite/remote) for our corporate staff, to a generous, front-loaded PTO and holiday package to all staff and corporate wellness initiatives such as an annual health fair and an onsite fitness center, we are committed to our team members well-being. New hires start with 16 days of PTO and 8 paid holidays per year.
• Perks and more: We have a Business Casual Work Environment, Health and Dental Insurance, Vision, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, Paid Time Off (PTO), Direct Deposit, Credit Union, Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, Employee Assistance Program, Employee Referral Bonus Program, 401(k), Profit Sharing, Tuition Reimbursement, and Toastmaster’s memberships, a Peer Recognition Program, Product Discounts and more!

Compensation: 

$105,000 - $115,000

The Bradford Exchange is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 

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