Senior Director, CRM

The Role

We are seeking a Senior Director of CRM to architect the next evolution of our customer communication engine. You will be inheriting a high-performing program built on strong segmentation and optimized demand moments, with the mandate to take it to new heights through the strategic application of machine learning and AI.

This is a pivotal opportunity to overlay a sophisticated predictive layer onto our existing operational excellence. You will lead the rollout of our Predictive AI suite , evolving our strategy from best-in-class manual campaigns to a dynamic "Right Event, Right Time, Right Price" model. You will own the roadmap that marries our proven demand-generation tactics with algorithmic speed and hyper-relevance, ensuring we capture the critical "last-minute" window with greater precision than ever before

Key Responsibilities

1. Overall Growth Strategy & Roadmap

• Own the strategic vision and roadmap for CRM, including segmentation frameworks, testing agendas, personalization strategies, and automation expansions—all with the ultimate goal of driving improved first purchase conversion and LTV
• Evolve the "Right Event, Right Time" Strategy: Build upon our existing, high-performing segmentation framework to create a real-time predictive engine. You will lead the transition from manually optimized campaigns during key demand moments to an always-on, algorithmic approach that maximizes speed and relevance.
• Strategic Roadmap Execution: execute a prioritized rollout of advanced Braze capabilities, integrating them into our established user journeys. You will focus on deploying the Predictive AI suite to enhance our immediate revenue impact, ensuring we master the basics of predictive logic before exploring experimental beta technologies.
• Lifecycle Architecture: Refine our sophisticated user journeys to better capture the "last minute" impulse window. You will enhance our current logic to dynamically distinguish between active users and those simply "between seasons" (e.g., NFL fans in March), ensuring we retain users without unnecessary discounting.

1. Predictive capabilities and driving Hyper-Personalization

• Establish and Scale Intelligent Timing and Orchestration: Augment our manual send strategies by deploying algorithms that determine exactly when a user is holding their phone. You will move us from optimized static send times to individual-level delivery precision, ensuring we capture the critical 15-minute window for last-minute sales.
• Automate Inventory Relevance: Take our curated event recommendations to the next level by integrating our catalog with enhanced AI Item Recommendations. You will ensure that while we maintain our high standard of curation, the specific events shown (e.g., Taylor Swift vs. Monster Trucks) are dynamically personalized based on individual browsing history.
• Refine Retention Logic: Enhance our retention program by implementing Predictive Churn models. You will help us proactively identify "High Risk" users who are deviating from their standard buying patterns and trigger pre-emptive win-back offers before they lapse.
• Design a Machine Learning architecture: Partner with our in-house ML team to identify opportunities for ML to drive incremental value through enhanced personalization, and design a vision for how multiple Machine Learning models can augment each other to deliver the ultimate fan level personalization

1. Platform Strategy & Architecture

• Own the CRM platform strategy (e.g., Braze, modular ecosystem), serving as the primary owner of the relationship, ensuring we are maximizing our investment by utilizing the full Intelligence Suite to complement our strong journey based and manual strategies.
• Drive design for seamless integration across customer data, analytics, and marketing systems.
• Lead innovation in partnership with our platform service, ensuring rapid adoption of new features and acting as a first-mover in testing and guiding future capabilities— incorporating AI, automation, and analytics
• Ensure architectural alignment with our enterprise data and standards.

1. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Accelerate Creative Impact as a Growth lever: Partner with the Creative team to scale our high-quality output. You will empower CRM managers to leverage Liquid Assistant to generate complex personalization logic (such as dynamic "time-to-event" countdowns) rapidly, reducing the reliance on engineering for campaign execution.
• Partner with Data Science to interpret insights, model performance scenarios, and translate analytical findings into actionable strategies and optimizations.
• Engineering & Data Alignment: Act as the strategic bridge between Marketing and Engineering, ensuring our rich customer data is structured effectively to feed new propensity models and real-time recommendations.

1. Create a culture and program of continuous performance improvement through testing, Measurement & Optimization

• Establish a structured experimentation framework—prioritizing tests based on expected impact, statistical rigor, and customer relevance.
• AI-enabled testing: Champion a culture of high-velocity testing. You will utilize tools like AI Copywriting Assistants to generate and test rigorous variations of our best-performing copy (e.g., "Tickets dropped!" vs. "Price alert!") to incrementally lift engagement rates.
• Revenue-First Analytics: Continue our shift toward incrementality based measurement. You will track how adding predictive modeling to our manual baselines drives specific lift in GMV, Revenue per User and Retention Rates.

1. Team Leadership & Development

• Coach and develop for the AI Era: Mentor a talented team of Senior CRM managers, helping them evolve from executing excellent logic based segmentation to managing automated decisioning loops.
• Define quarterly and annual goals aligned to business priorities, ensuring CRM is a core growth driver of the business 
• Foster Operational Efficiency: Instill a mindset of scale, using Generative AI tools to handle production tasks so the team can focus on higher-level strategy and audience insights.

Requirements

Experience & Technical Fluency

• 10+ Years in CRM/Lifecycle: Deep experience leading retention strategies for high-growth consumer brands, preferably in marketplaces, travel, or ticketing where inventory is time-sensitive (expiring inventory).
• Machine Learning "Savviness": You do not need to be a data scientist, but you must have a strong conceptual grasp of propensity models, collaborative filtering, and predictive analytics. You know how to operationalize these models to drive revenue.
• Deep Braze Expertise: Proven experience managing complex Braze environments. You are familiar with (or have implemented) the Intelligence Suite, including Intelligent Timing, Connected Content, and Liquid logic, as well as experience with HTML and Campaign & Canvas creation for API-Triggered & Scheduled Campaigns.

Strategic & Operational Skills

• Commercial Acumen: You view CRM as a direct revenue engine. You have a track record of owning and improving metrics like LTV, Retention Rate, and Incremental Revenue per User.
• Mobile-First Mentality: You understand the nuances of push notification deliverability and the psychology of the mobile "impulse buy".
• Analytical Rigor: Ability to distinguish between correlation and causation. You use data to prove that a specific intervention (e.g., a churn prevention offer) actually saved a user rather than subsidizing a user who would have returned anyway.

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Executive level coaching and people development: Experience developing a high performance team to take them to new levels
• Cross-Functional Influence: Ability to speak the language of Product and Engineering to get the necessary data integrations prioritized.

Nice to Haves

• Experience in the ticketing, live events, or travel industries where inventory expires (time-sensitive inventory).
• Direct experience implementing AI Item Recommendations or similar recommendation engines.
• Significant hands on SQL experience 
• Knowledge of Liquid templating language.
  
  

Why Gametime

This is a rare opportunity to lead a function that fuels the next stage of growth at a fan-first brand. You will be handing the keys to a sophisticated machine learning engine, moving away from manual operations to full automation. At Gametime, your work will shape how millions experience live events, and you'll lead a team that moves fast, dreams big, and creates with purpose.