Director of Marketing

Born over 60 years ago with its roots in the surplus business, Century Arms has an extensive history of providing unique and affordable products to the American collector, hunter, and target shooter. That tradition is carried on today, with a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located in Vermont and another under construction in Florida, as the company continues to offer unique, innovative, and quality products to the United States consumer as well as the United States Government. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Execute Century/Canik’s marketing efforts by managing the message, budget, and effectiveness making course correcting as required. Identify major opportunities and assess feasibility to meet these requirements utilizing internal and external partner resources. Determine customer needs/requirements, technical and management capabilities, and competitive positioning. Identify market factors, develop competitive win strategies, and ensure proactive customer engagement and opportunity shaping early in the sales/acquisition cycle. Develop a diverse sales funnel, account capture plan, differentiated technical and management strategies and tactics, and teaming/partnership approaches to win new business. Fully understand competitive landscape and related benchmarking. Oversee and approve company collateral including white papers, presentations, press announcements, and blogs. Prepare marketing materials, presentations, and drive market awareness. Understand our customers, how they buy, their buying criteria, and transfer that knowledge to the sales channel. Utilize both traditional marketing outlets (advertising, events, direct marketing, public relations, website optimization, and pay-per-click programs) and emerging approaches to generating awareness (wikis, blogs, podcasts, viral campaigns). Collaborate across the organization to build Century/Canik’s portfolio of diverse firearm and accessory offerings, focusing on end customer needs and communication while maintaining and refocusing relationships with the distributor community. Develop a marketing budget utilizing an ROI rationale and provide feedback based on market and sales indicators. Lead, build, and develop marketing department employees. Interact closely with the Director of Sales to determine which products to highlight in marketing materials and coordinate new product launches. Attend trade shows and events as necessary and conduct in-market research trips as needed. QUALIFICATIONS

7+ years of marketing experience required with a minimum of 2+ years’ experience within firearms sector and 2+ years’ experience in a business-to-business environment. Bachelor’s degree in marketing field preferred or equivalent experience required. Proven management experience, leading a team. Able to define and execute sales support material including presentation material and sell sheets. Demonstrates strong knowledge of firearms safety and high-level of proficiency required. Strong written and analytical skills. Strong computer skills a plus, including Database Management, Graphics, and Desktop Publishing a bonus. Demonstrated work experiences that require strong attention to detail and an eye for quality. Price analysis, product line forecasting, and product costing from product inception to the end user. Demonstrated experience with the ability to grasp and translate technical capabilities into user benefits. Excellent research skills and strong negotiation skills required.

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