Director of Brand Marketing

Job Description:

POSITION SUMMARY: 

The Director of Brand Marketing is a senior leader within the Marketing organization responsible for shaping and elevating the brand for one of the industry’s most beloved restaurant chains.  This role drives the vision, strategy, and execution behind all brand-building efforts, ensuring Portillo’s shows up in a consistent and compelling way across every consumer touchpoint.

With a primary focus on increasing traffic and growing same-store sales, the Director of Brand Marketing champions integrated marketing initiatives that fuel brand relevance, deepen guest experience, and deliver measurable business impact.  The Director of Brand Marketing is a strategic, creative, and results-driven leader with influence and experience shaping iconic, growth-oriented brands with a multi-state footprint, where brand stewardship, cultural relevance, and business performance are critical to success.

This role owns brand strategy, integrated marketing campaigns, promotional strategy, marketing calendar, media strategy and planning, social media, influencer marketing, and creative.  Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, the Director of Brand Marketing is based at the Restaurant Support Center in Oakbrook, Illinois and partners closely with IT, Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, Culinary, Strategy and Insights, and People teams as well as executive leadership and agency partners to translate brand marketing strategy into measurable business results at the company and restaurant level.

This is a hybrid position based at the Portillo’s Restaurant Support Center in Oakbrook, Illinois with on-site presence required Tuesday through Thursday.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Enable our Purpose to create lifelong memories by igniting the senses with unrivaled food and experiences:

Family: Work together to make everyone feel at home, and we step up when someone needs help

• Balance brand heritage with modern relevance to drive consideration, frequency, and loyalty in a highly competitive industry
• Translate guest insights and market opportunity into a differentiated value proposition, messaging strategy, and creative platform that scales nationally while flexing locally
• Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Culinary, Finance, and Supply Chain to develop and launch new products and platforms, ensuring menu introductions meet consumer needs, are operationally sound and drive profitable sales

Greatness: We’re obsessed with being the best and work hard to continuously improve.  Our greatness is rooted in Quality, Service, Attitude and Cleanliness

• Lead the evolution of Portillo’s brand strategy, positioning, architecture, voice and visual identity to strengthen relevance and preference with consumers
• Translate brand strategy into actionable campaigns and creative that supports both long-term brand health and near-term performance
• Ensure brand consistency across all consumer touchpoints to create a seamless and memorable guest experience
• Lead national, regional and local promotional strategy and campaigns to drive traffic and same-store sales
• Own the annual marketing calendar guiding promotional strategy, product news, limited time offers (LTOs), and brand campaigns
• Oversee ideation, briefing, development, execution and measurement of multi-channel campaigns
• Direct media strategy, planning and buying to drive awareness, frequency, and conversion
• Own full funnel media plans across digital video, CTV/OTT, paid social, search, audio, OOH, and traditional channels
• Manage media budgets with strong ROI discipline and accountability
• Use data, testing, and market-level insights to optimize performance across campaigns
• Partner with agencies to optimize media mix, targeting, and attribution models with the goal of maximizing ROI and restaurant traffic

Energy: We move with urgency and passion, while maintaining attention to detail

• Leverage digital and social channels to amplify promotions and drive traffic and sales
• Oversee organic and paid social media strategies and internal team, ensuring approach drives brand relevance, engagement and community growth
• Optimize social media channel strategy, content pillars, partner platforms and social CRM
• Expand influencer marketing strategy, including NIL program, to authentically amplify the brand and drive measurable results at the local, regional and national level

Fun: We entertain our guests, we connect authentically, and we make each other smile

• Lead in-house creative team and external agency partners to deliver high-impact, performance-driven creative
• Ensure creative excellence across menu design, packaging, advertising, digital, and in-store merchandising to influence purchase decisions
• Maintain and evolve design standards and brand guidelines, optimizing for brand distinction, clarity and conversion at point of purchase
• Demonstrate sound judgment that balances brand storytelling with commercial effectiveness
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of brand marketing and creative professionals
• Own relationships with creative, media, digital, research and external agency partners
• Set clear goals, priorities, and development plans aligned to traffic and sales objectives
• Establish clear processes, briefs, KPIs, and performance expectations to ensure excellence
• Build a culture that values creativity, accountability, and results
• Other duties as assigned

ORGANIZATION RELATIONSHIPS

This role reports to the Chief Marketing Officer and leads a team of brand marketing and creative professionals. The Director of Brand Marketing partners closely with IT, Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, Culinary, Strategy and Insights, and People teams, and works with executive leadership and agency partners to translate brand marketing strategy into measurable business results at both the company and restaurant level.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Educational Level/Certifications

• Bachelor’s degree required
• MBA or equivalent a plus

Minimum Work Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• 10+ years of progressive marketing experience (QSR / Fast Casual, Retail, or CPG preferred)
• Visionary leader with the ability to move quickly, innovate boldly, and execute with excellence
• Proven track record of driving traffic and same-store sales through compelling integrated marketing programs
• Data-driven operator with fluency in performance metrics (ROAS, CPA, traffic, SSS, loyalty penetration, engagement rate, brand lift)
• Significant experience building and leading brand, promotional, media, and social campaigns with measurable business impact
• Deep expertise in integrated, multi-channel marketing including digital, social, paid media, influencer, and in-restaurant communication
• Sound creative judgment with experience overseeing design systems and visual identity
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to interpret data, insights, and trends
• Demonstrated people leadership and cross-functional influence
• Experience managing cross-functional teams, agencies and marketing budgets
• Exceptional communication, leadership, collaboration, and project management skills

Travel Requirement

• Travel Up to 25%

DISCLAIMER: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by incumbents assigned to this job.  This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the responsibilities, duties and skills required.  The incumbent may be expected to perform other duties as assigned. This job may be reviewed as duties and responsibilities change with business necessity.