About Junior Achievement USA®
Junior Achievement is education for what’s next. As a strategic partner working in collaboration with educators, employers, investors, leaders, and the communities they serve, we are dedicated to helping students achieve academically today and economically tomorrow. As a leader in experiential learning operating on a national scale with over a century of experience, we are driving toward lasting change. This means ensuring a generation of students has the transferable skills and competencies needed to navigate a rapidly changing world. By delivering career-connected learning, we are invested in accelerating economic mobility through education. By helping students become confident, capable, and connected today, we can ensure they have access to opportunity-filled futures tomorrow. Junior Achievement reaches more than 4.6 million students annually across nearly 100 U.S. markets, and is part of JA Worldwide, which serves over 19.9 million students in more than 100 countries. Learn more at www.ja.org.
Position Summary
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) provides enterprise leadership for Junior Achievement USA’s brand, marketing, communications, and market engagement strategy. Working closely with the Chief Executive Officer and senior leadership, the CMO sets the direction for how the organization builds awareness, strengthens its national brand, engages priority audiences, and supports more than 90 JA offices nationwide.
This executive translates organizational strategy into an integrated marketing agenda that advances mission impact, strengthens stakeholder engagement, and supports Junior Achievement’s long-term relevance and sustainability. The CMO leads a multidisciplinary marketing team, directs an agency-style shared-services model for the JA network, oversees significant financial and organizational resources, and ensures marketing priorities remain closely aligned with broader enterprise goals.
Success in this role will require establishing and executing a clear and actionable enterprise marketing and brand strategy that increases awareness, engagement, and consistent brand expression across priority audiences and the federated JA network. The CMO will strengthen the value and adoption of shared marketing services, advance CRM-enabled marketing automation and performance analytics, deepen integration between Marketing and other organizational functions, and build a high-performing team capable of supporting JA’s evolving needs. As a member of the executive leadership team, the CMO will also provide credible strategic counsel, steward resources responsibly, and help position Junior Achievement for continued growth and long-term sustainability.
Please note: This position may work remotely from any location within the United States. Periodic travel is required throughout the year, including meetings with JA USA leadership and associates in Atlanta and Colorado Springs, Board meetings, staff meetings, and organizational retreats.
Essential Functions
National Brand & Market Leadership
- Partner with the Chief Executive Officer, senior leadership, and key stakeholders to establish and advance JA USA’s enterprise brand, marketing, communications, and market engagement strategy
- Direct national outreach and awareness strategies designed to increase Junior Achievement’s visibility, relevance, and engagement with priority audiences
- Set the strategic direction for business-to-business marketing to education decision makers, corporate responsibility leaders, high-net-worth individuals, and community and family foundations
- Position Junior Achievement as a credible national thought leader through research, storytelling, executive communications, digital engagement, and mission-centered content
Federated Network & Shared Services
- Establish the strategic vision and operating model for marketing services provided to more than 90 JA offices nationwide
- Lead an agency-style shared-services model providing scalable baseline support, including nested websites, brand standards, messaging, toolkits, media assets, and general marketing guidance
- Direct the development of strategic marketing solutions supporting JA learning experiences, including sales enablement resources, videos, thought leadership, storytelling, and social media engagement
- Build engagement, alignment, and adoption across JA’s federated network through strong partnership, influence, and stakeholder credibility
Digital Marketing, Technology & Innovation
- Establish the enterprise vision and roadmap for marketing technology, digital engagement, and marketing automation
- Lead an integrated email marketing and automation strategy connected to the organization’s D365 CRM platform
- Leverage audience insights, benchmarking, analytics, and performance information to strengthen market segmentation, engagement strategies, resource allocation, and organizational decision-making
Executive & Cross-Functional Leadership
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the Chief Executive Officer and senior leadership on brand, marketing, communications, market engagement, and organizational reputation
- Integrate marketing priorities with Education, Development, Area Support, Human Resources, Information Technology, and other organizational functions
- Communicate complex strategies and recommendations clearly and persuasively to executive, governance, network, employee, and external audiences
People & Organizational Leadership
- Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team of approximately ten professionals across creative services, brand management, web development, and content creation
- Build leadership capacity within the function and establish accountability for strategic outcomes, collaboration, financial stewardship, and people development
- Anticipate future capability requirements and make strategic decisions regarding talent, organizational structure, succession, external partners, and workforce capacity
Financial & Resource Stewardship
- Provide executive oversight of the marketing function’s budget, resources, external partners, and significant organizational investments
- Direct an annual marketing budget of approximately $640,000 supporting national and local awareness efforts
- Monitor financial and operational performance and ensure resources are administered responsibly within approved organizational parameters
- Deliver meaningful organizational outcomes while operating within the financial realities and resource considerations of a nonprofit environment
Required Qualifications
- 12+ years of progressively responsible leadership experience in marketing, brand, communications, market engagement, or a related field
- Significant experience leading a major organizational function, enterprise-wide initiatives, or complex business operations
- Demonstrated experience advising a Chief Executive Officer, executive leadership team, governing body, or comparable senior stakeholder group
- Significant experience leading multidisciplinary teams, developing organizational and leadership capacity, and guiding teams through change
- Demonstrated experience managing substantial budgets, making strategic resource-allocation decisions, and overseeing external vendors, agencies, or partners
- Deep expertise across integrated marketing, brand positioning, audience strategy, digital engagement, content strategy, market analytics, executive communications, and agency-style service delivery
- Demonstrated ability to translate organizational strategy into actionable functional and cross-functional priorities
- Strong strategic planning, organizational design, talent development, and change leadership capabilities
- Strong financial acumen and demonstrated ability to balance strategic priorities with responsible budget and resource stewardship
- Exceptional executive communication, influence, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to communicate complex strategies and recommendations across executive, governance, employee, network, and external audiences
Desired Qualifications
- Experience leading marketing within a federated, networked, matrixed, nonprofit, education, purpose-driven, or similarly stakeholder-intensive organization
- Experience leading or evolving an agency-style or shared-services marketing model supporting multiple internal or external stakeholder groups
- Experience leveraging CRM-enabled marketing automation, digital platforms, audience analytics, and performance insights to strengthen organizational strategy and decision-making
Compensation
The base salary range for this position is $250,000 to $330,000 annually, with the exact salary depending on relevant experience, demonstrated impact, and alignment with the scope and responsibilities of the role.
Benefits
JA USA’s health care benefits provide coverage when needed—focusing on programs that support and encourage healthy living and your overall well-being. We offer medical, dental, vision, life insurance, long-term disability, holidays, paid time off, and 401(k).
Our Commitment
At JA USA, we believe that our success is directly tied to our ability to foster an environment where all individuals have access to opportunities and can thrive. We are deeply committed to creating a workplace where inclusion and belonging are not just principles but lived experiences. This commitment drives us to attract, develop, retain, and promote a workforce that mirrors the communities we serve, bringing together a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and talents.
We embrace the unique contributions that every JA USA employee brings to our mission and encourage individuals from all backgrounds to join our team. By welcoming various voices, we continue to expand our understanding of the world, and we actively seek to elevate representation of different individual experiences and the perspectives they shape.
We are dedicated to fostering an environment where everyone feels respected, valued, and heard—where people can be their authentic selves and know that they belong. This is how we build a workplace where every individual can succeed, and where we work together to create lasting impact for the young people and communities we serve.
Additional Information
JA USA does not provide sponsorship for employment visas for this position. All candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for sponsorship, now or in the future. If this is a remote position, candidates must reside in and be authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire and throughout employment.
