Red Lobster, the world’s largest and most beloved seafood restaurant brand, is proudly headquartered in Orlando, FL. We are seeking a dynamic and visionary Director of CRM to lead our customer relationship management efforts. This role will focus on driving revenue growth, enhancing customer loyalty, and leveraging data-driven strategies to deliver impactful, personalized marketing campaigns.
Position Summary:
The Director of CRM will oversee all CRM functions for Red Lobster, owning the strategy, execution, and optimization of key initiatives. This includes managing Red Lobster’s loyalty program, the Red Lobster app, in-app messaging, SMS campaigns, email marketing, and associated marketing technology (MarTech). The ideal candidate will excel at using analytics, audience segmentation, and modern MarTech to create meaningful customer experiences that drive measurable business results.
Key Responsibilities:
- Strategic Ownership:
- Develop and execute a comprehensive CRM strategy that aligns with Red Lobster’s business objectives, focusing on driving incremental revenue through personalized and targeted marketing initiatives.
- Omnichannel CRM Leadership:
- Oversee and optimize Red Lobster’s Loyalty program to maximize customer engagement, retention, and lifetime value.
- Manage the Red Lobster app, ensuring it delivers exceptional customer experiences and integrates seamlessly with CRM strategies.
- Develop and execute effective in-app messaging and SMS campaigns to engage customers at key moments and drive action.
- Manage all aspects of email marketing, including campaign planning, audience segmentation, copy/creative development, deployment, measurement, and performance optimization.
- Audience Segmentation & Targeting:
- Develop and implement robust audience segmentation strategies to ensure CRM campaigns reach the right customers with the right message at the right time.
- Leverage data and insights to refine targeting, personalize communications, and optimize customer engagement across all channels including paid as requested for lookalike audiences and retargeting audiences.
- MarTech Oversight:
- Own Red Lobster’s MarTech stack in collaboration with Red Lobster IT and outside vendor(s), ensuring it supports the CRM strategy, enhances operational efficiency, and enables advanced analytics capabilities.
- Ensure redlobster.com and redlobster.ca are appropriately tagged, technically optimized, and current with today’s standards including ecommerce capabilities to enable Google Analytics (GA) campaign measurement and optimization
- Steer the strategy, setup, maintenance and compliance for data architecture, particularly the Master Guest Database (MGD)
- Stay current on emerging MarTech trends and tools to maintain a competitive edge.
- Analytics & Data-Driven Decision-Making:
- Lead CRM analytics efforts, leveraging data to uncover insights, identify opportunities, and measure performance.
- Translate data into actionable recommendations to improve customer engagement, campaign effectiveness, and ROI.
- Collaboration & Leadership:
- Partner with cross-functional teams including Marketing, IT, Operations, and Finance, to align CRM efforts with organizational goals.
- Manage one direct report and CRM agency, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and accountability.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Data Science, or a related field; MBA preferred.
- 7+ years of experience in CRM, loyalty programs, email marketing, app management, and/or related areas, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
- Proven track record of driving incremental revenue through CRM strategies and programs.
- Experience managing app-based customer engagement, including in-app messaging and SMS campaigns.
- Deep expertise in MarTech platforms, customer data platforms (CDPs), and analytics tools, including
experience with agile SaaS platforms for loyalty and marketing automation.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex data sets and translate them into actionable strategies.
- Proven experience in audience segmentation, targeting, and personalization strategies.
- Excellent communication and leadership skills, with a history of building and leading high-performing teams.
- Experience in the restaurant, retail, or hospitality industry is a plus.
