Director, Marketing Communications - Lincoln

Lincoln is Ford’s luxury automotive brand, distinguished by its heritage and commitment to creating thoughtful products and experiences for customers. The brand brings together design, innovation, and experiences to create a distinctive expression of modern luxury.

The Director of Marketing Communications is a pivotal leadership role responsible for setting Lincoln’s communications strategy and owning all paid marketing communications across the brand. This includes media, retail and dealer Tier 2 assets, sales events, Certified Pre-Owned (CPO), social and ambassador programs, experiential marketing, and brand partnerships. In this role, you will translate brand, customer, product, and business priorities into integrated marketing programs; lead agency and internal partners from strategy and brief through creative development, production, deployment, optimization, and measurement; and ensure Lincoln shows up consistently and distinctively across customer touchpoints. You will serve as a key integrator across a highly collaborative organization—partnering with Lincoln leadership and teams across consumer marketing, product, digital, sales, customer experience, insights, and global marketing—to strengthen brand relevance, support vehicle and business objectives, and deliver measurable results.

You Will...

Brand & Communications Strategy

• Set Lincoln’s marketing communications strategy, translating customer, business, and vehicle priorities into clear audience, positioning, channel, and measurement direction.

• Lead the evolution of brand and nameplate positioning, using customer, cultural, market, competitive, and brand-health insights to guide distinctive, customer-relevant work.

• Establish strategic briefs and decision frameworks that align stakeholders, raise creative ambition, and connect investment to measurable brand and business outcomes.

Integrated Campaigns & Go-To-Market

• Own the integrated campaign and go-to-market agenda for Lincoln brand, vehicle launches, nameplates, and priority business initiatives, from annual planning through optimization and learning.

• Set paid media and communications direction across audiences, channels, messaging, content, investment, and performance expectations.

• Align product, sales, customer experience, agencies, and other stakeholders around coordinated launch and campaign decisions, resolving trade-offs and ensuring disciplined execution.

Paid Communications Portfolio

• Own Lincoln paid communications across media, retail, dealer Tier 3 assets, sales events, Certified Pre-Owned (CPO), social, ambassador programs, experiential marketing, and brand partnerships.

• Set portfolio strategies, annual plans, briefs, calendars, content requirements, and measurement frameworks that connect each program to Lincoln brand, vehicle, customer, and business priorities.

• Lead retail, dealer Tier 3 content, sales event, and CPO communications in partnership with sales, field, dealer, and retail teams, ensuring customer-facing assets are timely, brand-consistent, and effective across markets.

• Direct social and ambassador strategy, including partner selection, content development, governance, activation, and performance measurement.

• Build experiential and brand partnership strategies that extend Lincoln’s modern luxury positioning, reach priority audiences, and create distinctive customer experiences.

Cross-Functional & Agency Leadership

• Integrate plans with Lincoln leadership and partners across consumer marketing, product, digital, customer insights, field and dealer operations, sales, customer experience, and global marketing.

• Lead agency and external partner relationships, including strategic direction, scopes of work, resource planning, and continuous improvement.

• Build alignment among stakeholders with differing priorities; communicate recommendations, risks, and trade-offs and drive timely decisions.

• Represent Lincoln Marketing Communications in planning forums and senior-level reviews, clearly connecting communications plans to business and brand objectives.

Investment, Measurement & Team Leadership

• Develop and manage Lincoln’s paid marketing communications, media, production, partnership, experiential, and operating budgets. Allocate resources against customer, brand, and business priorities, clearly communicating trade-offs and expected outcomes.

• Establish objectives and measurement plans with research, analytics, and agency partners; evaluate results and convert learning into actionable improvements.

• Lead, coach, and develop two Senior Manager direct reports and a large supporting team, including agency and cross-functional resources. Set clear accountabilities and operating rhythms, strengthen organizational capabilities, support career growth and succession planning, and foster an inclusive culture of accountability, collaboration, and high-quality execution.

• Navigate ambiguity and changing priorities with sound judgment, maintaining focus on customer impact, brand integrity, and business results.

You'll Have...

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Advertising, Communications, Business, or a closely related field. 

• 12+ years of progressive professional experience in marketing communications, brand marketing, advertising, or a related field (or 10+ years of experience with a Master’s degree/MBA). 

• This role is considered Hybrid based in Detroit, MI.

You May also Have...

• Experience leading automotive marketing across paid media, brand and nameplate communications, retail and dealer Tier 2 assets, sales events, Certified Pre-Owned (CPO), social and ambassador programs, experiential marketing, brand partnerships, and launch activity.

• Experience developing communications for a premium or luxury brand and translating brand positioning into distinctive customer-facing work.

• Experience leading senior managers and large supporting teams, influencing executive stakeholders, and managing complex agency, dealer, and cross-functional relationships.

• Experience managing significant paid media, marketing communications, production, experiential, brand partnership, and operating budgets and prioritizing investment against business objectives.

• Strong understanding of paid media strategy and investment, integrated channels, retail and dealer Tier 2 communications, sales events, CPO, social and ambassador programs, experiential marketing, brand partnerships, creative development and production, consumer insights, brand-health measurement, and campaign analytics.

• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity, resolve competing priorities, exercise sound judgment, and communicate recommendations with clarity.

• Master's degree or MBA in Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field.

What you'll receive in return...

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we’ve outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:
• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up childcare and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service 
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day 
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.
This position is a leadership level 4.
Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.
For more information on salary and benefits, click here: LL4 Benefits
Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

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