Retail Brand & Creative Strategy

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Job Overview

Are you a visionary creative leader and brand powerhouse who believes financial services can, and should, produce culture-shaping, unforgettable creative work?

The SVP – Retail Brand, Creative & Experiential Strategy (C14) is a pivotal role designed for a creative brand superstar with impeccable taste, refined craft, and an uncompromising standard of excellence. Reporting directly to the Director (C15) of Retail Marketing Strategy & Market Activation, you will serve as the central Creative Subject Matter Expert (SME) and brand authority across Retail Banking & Citigold Marketing.

In this role, you will have the canvas, budget, and executive backing to challenge conventional category tropes and define how Citi shows up across consumer journeys / touchpoints. You will direct end-to-end creative platform activation, coach teams and agencies on authoring inspiring briefs, partner seamlessly with the Citi Wealth & enterprise brand teams and top-tier global agencies, and weave brand storytelling across physical and digital ecosystems.

We are seeking a seasoned creative leader and brand builder—with significant pedigree in leading advertising/creative agencies and world-class consumer brands—who possesses a discerning, critical eye for creative excellence, the gravitas to defend bold ideas, and the passion to make consumers genuinely reappraise and choose Citi.

Key Responsibilities

Creative SME Leadership & Design Governance

• Creative Authority & Standard Bearer: Serve as the central creative authority across all US Retail businesses, executing on creative guidelines, visual standards, and brand tone-of-voice to elevate Citi’s presence far above standard banking conventions.

• Design & Visual Governance: Champion uncompromising design craft across every consumer touchpoint, ensuring brand identity, creative direction, and messaging architectures are executed with immaculate precision, modern elegance, and consistency.

• Critical Eye & Creative Review Rituals: Institute rigorous creative review rituals; evaluate concepts with a sharp, discerning eye to ensure every output is not merely compliant, but strategically resonant, emotionally compelling, culturally relevant, and executed at the highest craft level.

Creative Platform Activation & Core Market Growth

• Translating Strategy into Big Ideas: Direct the activation and localization of the retail creative platforms, translating Retail Banking & Citigold strategic objectives, segment nuances, and core market-building initiatives into imaginative, full-funnel creative platforms.

• Bold, Attention-Earning Campaigns: Conceive and champion high-impact campaign concepts, and brand narratives that spark organic conversation, capture consumer mindshare, and drive measurable brand reappraisal and consideration.

• Content Innovation & Dynamic Storytelling: Pioneer fresh content formats, video storytelling, and digital-first narratives tailored to distinct consumer and wealth segments across their financial lifecycles.

World-Class Agency Leadership & Briefing Mastery

• Mastery of Creative Briefing & Coaching: Coach and elevate the entire Retail Banking & Citigold marketing team on the authorship of inspiring, razor-sharp creative briefs that crystallize strategic challenges, unlock fresh consumer truths, and inspire world-class work from creative partners.

• Agency Ecosystem & Citi Wealth Partnership: Partner closely with the Citi Wealth & enterprise brand team, top-tier external creative, brand, digital, and production agencies. Act as a demanding yet inspiring client partner who challenges agency leadership to produce their most ambitious, award-caliber work.

Experiential, Sponsorship & Branch Merchandising Integration

• Omnichannel Brand Cohesion: Develop and deploy end-to-end brand, creative, and experiential strategies that seamlessly interconnect physical retail environments (branch merchandising and environmental branding) with digital, social, and in-person activation channels.

• Physical Retail Merchandising: Partner with branch design and merchandising leads to ensure in-branch digital displays, window takeovers, and point-of-sale collateral match above-the-line (ATL) campaign excellence.

Media Optimization & Multi-Channel Asset Crafting

• Integrated Media Partnership: Partner closely with dedicated internal media strategy teams and external media agencies to ensure creative assets are tailored for channel-specific best practices, audience micro-segments, and distribution algorithms.

• Creative Performance Analytics: Regularly review creative performance metrics, brand lift studies, and attribution data alongside analytics partners to continuously test, learn, and optimize creative iterations in-market.
• Appropriately assess risk when business decisions are made, demonstrating particular consideration for the firm's reputation and safeguarding Citigroup, its clients and assets, by driving compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, adhering to Policy, applying sound ethical judgment regarding personal behavior, conduct and business practices, and escalating, managing and reporting control issues with transparency.

Qualifications & Leadership Profile

Education & Experience

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Advertising, Fine Arts, Communications, Design, or related field; Master’s/advanced degree or top portfolio school background a strong plus.

• Experience: 10–12+ years of progressive brand, creative, and advertising leadership experience.

• Background Requirement: Significant experience within a leading creative/advertising agency (as a Creative Director, Group Creative Director, or Senior Creative Strategist) and/or a world-class client-side brand management organization recognized for creative excellence, storytelling, and cultural impact.

Functional Proficiencies

• Exceptional portfolio demonstrating mastery in launching multi-channel brand campaigns, breakthrough experiential activations, and high-impact visual design systems.

• Proven ability to author and coach teams on writing world-class creative briefs, dissect creative concepts, articulate actionable creative direction, and oversee complex productions.

• Strong familiarity with modern digital media ecosystems, programmatic creative best practices, paid social content strategy, and performance-informed creative optimization.

Leadership & Behavioral Capabilities

• Critical Eye for Excellence: High aesthetic standards, refined taste, and an instinct for separating good work from truly exceptional, culture-shaping ideas.

• Influencing with Gravitas: Gravitas and executive presence (C14 level) to present creative work persuasively to senior leadership, challenge conventional thinking constructively, and defend bold, breakthrough ideas.

• Collaborative Leadership & Silo-Breaking: Outstanding interpersonal skills with the ability to bridge creative, strategic, analytical, media, and legal/compliance partners into a harmonious, high-performing workflow.

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In addition to salary, Citi’s offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards. Citi offers competitive employee benefits, including: medical, dental & vision coverage; 401(k); life, accident, and disability insurance; and wellness programs. Citi also offers paid time off packages, including planned time off (vacation), unplanned time off (sick leave), and paid holidays. For additional information regarding Citi employee benefits, please visit citibenefits.com. Available offerings may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and date of hire.

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Automated Processing and AI

We use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi.

Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details.

Illinois residents – AI Notice and Right

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Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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