Director of Growth and Digital Marketing

Job Description:

Hai Hospitality is accepting applications for an experienced Director of Growth and Digital Marketing for our Home Office based in Austin, TX. We are an innovative and growing restaurant group, looking for individuals who are creative, ambitious, and passionate about food and people.

The Director of Growth and Digital Marketing leads measurable guest and revenue growth across Hai Hospitality’s multi-brand, multi-market portfolio. This role owns the growth strategy and performance of paid media, digital discovery, brand websites, online conversion, and marketing activity across third-party ordering platforms. The Director also leads the CRM, lifecycle, and loyalty function through agency support with the future to bring function in-house, connecting acquisition with repeat visits and guest value. This leader turns brand and business priorities into coordinated digital plans, builds clear measurement, and partners closely with Brand Management, Social, Creative Services, Operations, Finance, and agency partners.

Reports Directly to: Chief Brand Officer

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Growth Strategy and Performance Marketing

- Set the portfolio growth and digital marketing roadmap, translating annual brand plans, market priorities, and openings into measurable channel plans.

- Own paid and performance media strategy, budget allocation, agency/vendor direction, channel mix, audience strategy, testing, and optimization across search, paid social, and relevant platforms.

- Partner with the Head of Social and Content on creative inputs and trafficking for paid campaigns; Growth owns media investment, targeting, placements, testing, and results.

- Build a testing culture that improves incremental revenue, guest acquisition, conversion, return on ad spend, and cost efficiency; distinguish channel attribution from business incrementality where data allows.

Web, search, and digital guest experience

- Own the portfolio website roadmap and ongoing web redesign, new web launches, and ongoing management, including vendor direction, content publishing workflows, technical health, UX, accessibility, conversion, and online-ordering pathways.

- Lead SEO and local digital discovery strategy, including location pages, listings, review-platform visibility, and tools such as Marqii, establish standards and audit accuracy with Operations and restaurant teams.

- Work with Brand Managers and Creative Services to translate brand positioning and approved creative into useful, current digital experiences.

CRM, lifecycle, and loyalty leadership

- Lead the CRM, Lifecycle & Loyalty Efforts and agency relationship; set portfolio strategy, priorities, budget, service expectations, and measurement for guest data capture, segmentation, email/SMS, automation, retention, and loyalty.

- Ensure the day-to-day campaign execution, calendar coordination, list health, testing, automation, and loyalty program operations, in partnership with Brand Managers on brand voice, offers, and guest value.

- For Uchi’s 801 program, partner with the Uchi Brand Manager on proposition and brand experience and maintenance of the program.

- Connect acquisition and retention programs through a shared view of guest behavior, repeat rate, frequency, and lifetime value; maintain appropriate consent, data quality, and platform governance.

Third Party and Off Premise Marketing and Leadership:

- In partnership with Brand Managers, support the marketing and commercial partnership plan for third-party ordering and digital off-premise channels, including platform visibility, sponsored placements, digital merchandising, promotional plans, and marketing partner relationships.

- Analyze sales, traffic, conversion, promotion performance, and channel contribution; recommend investment and growth opportunities with Finance, Operations, and Brand Managers.

- Partner with Operations as the accountable owner for delivery execution and economics.

Reporting and Optimization

- Own growth and digital marketing budgets, forecasts, pacing, agency scopes, and vendor performance; coordinate with Finance and FP&A on consistent definitions and reporting.

- Create a concise performance scorecard for leadership and brand teams covering spend, attributed and incremental revenue where available, acquisition cost, conversion, web/search health, CRM contribution, and third-party channel marketing results.

- Turn analysis into clear actions, communicate performance and risks, and build repeatable planning and review rhythms across brands and markets.

- Manage the CRM function and agency partners through clear goals, feedback, prioritization, and accountability.

DESIRED EDUCATION and QUALIFICATIONS

- 8+ years of progressive experience in growth, performance, or digital marketing; experience leading multi-brand, multi-location, hospitality, restaurant, or consumer businesses strongly preferred.

- Demonstrated ownership of paid media budgets and measurable growth outcomes, with strong fluency in analytics, attribution, experimentation, and forecasting.

- Experience with website management, SEO/local search, digital conversion, online ordering or e-commerce, and agency/vendor management.

- Experience leading CRM or lifecycle teams and partnering across brand, creative, social, operations, and finance functions.

- Strong people leadership, project management, communication, and decision-making skills; able to translate complex performance data into clear recommendations.

- Experience in startup, lean, growth-oriented companies with proven results in building technology, systems, and marketing infrastructure.

- BA/BS degree or equivalent practical experience.

Our Arizona and Florida locations participate in E-Verify. For more information below, please follow the links below:

- If you have the right to work, don't let anyone take it away : E-verify.gov (https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RightToWorkPoster%20Eng_Es.pdf)
- E-Verify Participation Poster (https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/EVerifyParticipationPoster.pdf)

Hai Hospitality is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.