Associate Vice President, Marketing

About the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) is a professional and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 95000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information visit .

Our Mission
The American College of Surgeons is dedicated to improving the care of the surgical patient and safeguarding standards of care in an optimal and ethical practice environment.

Our Vision
To create a healthcare landscape where surgeons thrive and every patient has access to and benefits from the highest standards of surgical care driven by innovation education leadership and trust.

Summary: The Associate Vice President (AVP) Marketing is a senior leader within the Division of Strategic Marketing and Communications responsible for building and scaling ACSs marketing engine. The AVP Marketing will drive measurable growth in member acquisition engagement and retention as well as awareness and adoption of ACSs Quality Programs and educational products. This role owns the strategy execution and continuous optimization of ACSs multichannel marketing portfolio including email/CRM marketing paid digital and search organic and paid social optimization search engine optimization (SEO) search engine marketing (SEM) answer engine optimization (AEO) generative engine optimization (GEO) and campaign analytics.

The AVP brings a rigorous test-and-learn metrics-first approach to marketing setting clear KPIs building attribution and reporting infrastructure and holding channels and campaigns accountable to conversion engagement and ROI targets. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who will build a modern marketing function within a mission-driven organization as well as create an infrastructure for operating continuous optimization.

This position partners closely with the AVP Strategic Communications and manages a high-performing team of five direct reports: two Marketing Managers Senior Manager Marketing Intelligence Senior Social Media Strategist and Social Media Coordinator.

This exempt position will report to the VP Strategic Marketing and Communications in the Division of Strategic Marketing and Communications. It is based in our Chicago office and is a hybrid role: 3 days per week in the office/2 days per week remote.

The anticipated salary range for this position is $170000 - $210000 (commensurate with related experience).

Major Responsibilities:

Growth Strategy & Execution

• Design and lead an integrated marketing strategy that drives measurable growth in membership acquisition engagement and renewal as well as adoption of Quality Programs educational offerings and other resources and services.
• Build a modern marketing function driving the full funnel end-to-end from awareness through conversion and retention with the systems and discipline to test measure and scale what works.

Accountability & Analytics

• Establish KPIs attribution models and dashboards (e.g. Power BI/AI) that make marketing ROI visible and actionable.
• Build a culture of continuous testing including A/B and multivariate testing on creative offers audiences and channels to systematically improve conversion and cost efficiency over time.

Paid and Owned Channel Leadership

• Direct paid digital and search investment (Google Ads LinkedIn Meta display) alongside owned channels (email web organic social) to maximize acquisition and engagement at the lowest sustainable cost.
• Own return on ad spend (ROAS) and cost-per-acquisition targets across paid channels in close partnership with the social media and web teams.

Marketing Technology & Data Infrastructure

• Serve as the marketing owner of ACSs automation and CRM/AMS ecosystem (e.g. Marketo) ensuring the platform segmentation and data architecture support increasingly sophisticated targeting personalization and lifecycle marketing at scale.
• Partner with the IT team to optimize data sources for marketing opportunities.

Team Leadership & Development

• Build mentor and manage a team of marketing professionals instilling a rigorous data-informed and growth-oriented culture.
• Partner with Membership Quality Programs Education and Business Development to translate organizational priorities into marketing campaigns with clear trackable business outcomes.
• Champion the responsible use of AI tools to accelerate content creation segmentation personalization and campaign optimization keeping ACS at the leading edge of marketing practice.
• Partner with the VP Strategic Marketing and Communications on the marketing budget allocating spend across channels based on demonstrated performance and return and reporting results transparently to senior leadership.

Required Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelors degree or higher from an accredited college or university is required; advanced degree preferred.
• 1012 years of progressive marketing experience with a demonstrated track record of driving measurable growth in acquisition engagement or revenue through data-driven multichannel campaigns; healthcare experience a plus.
• Proven success building and scaling testing programs (A/B multivariate) and translating results into strategy.
• Experience owning marketing automation and CRM/AMS platforms. Marketo experience at a strategic and technical level preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to market to various personas and stakeholders across the healthcare and hospital systems environments.
• Deep hands-on experience with paid digital/search advertising conversion rate optimization and marketing analytics with a demonstrated track record of managing and improving ROAS across paid channels.
• Knowledge of PropFuel preferred; proficiency with Stripo or equivalent email design tool required.
• Demonstrated experience in performance marketing and paid digital advertising (Google Ads LinkedIn Meta or similar platforms).
• Strong analytical skills with experience interpreting and presenting campaign performance data; Power BI experience preferred.
• Experience with CRM/AMS systems and using data to drive segmentation and targeting decisions.
• Fluency with AI tools for marketing applications (e.g. ChatGPT Claude or similar).
• Experience with personalization behavioral segmentation and lifecycle marketing.
• Strong attention to detail QA discipline and ability to manage multiple campaigns and deadlines independently.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Outlook Word Excel PowerPoint); Power BI and analytics tools preferred.
• Experience managing marketing budgets with clear ROI accountability.
• People leadership experience including managing high-performing metrics-driven teams.
• Comfortable being held accountable to numbers including conversion rates cost per acquisition engagement retention.
• Ability to translate data into clear narratives and recommendations for non-technical stakeholders and executives.
• Partners effectively across a complex mission-driven organization with many stakeholders.
• Has a high degree of integrity discretion and professional maturity as well as strong executive presence and credibility.

Comprehensive Benefits:
Were committed to attracting and retaining top talent via valuable benefits!

• Vacation personal and sick hours including 13 paid holidays per year
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Medicalcomprehensive coverage through BlueCross BlueShield
• Dental Vision and Prescription drug program
• 403(b) Matching Program
• Pension Plan
• Flexible Spending Medical/Dependent Care
• Employee Assistance Program
• Short Term/Long Term Disability
• Life Insurance
• Domestic Partner Coverage

The American College of Surgeons is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If because of a medical condition or disability you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process please send an e-mail to or call and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.

Required Experience:

Exec