Admissions counselor Jobs in Knoxville, TN

Vice President of Marketing, Events, Sales and Communications

The Vice President of Marketing, Events, Sales and Communications serves as a senior executive leader responsible for stabilizing, aligning, and accelerating Zoo Knoxville's marketing, communications, events, and earned revenue strategies. This role assesses current performance, develops Zoo Knoxville's long-range marketing, sales, events, and communications strategy, and drives sustained improvements in attendance, revenue generation, brand positioning, and organizational effectiveness. Working in close collaboration with the President & CEO and senior leadership team, this position will provide hands-on leadership across marketing, sales, events, communications, and creative functions. The Vice President will lead a multidisciplinary team and ensure alignment with Zoo Knoxville's mission, strategic plan, and revenue goals, while building systems, processes, and performance standards that position the organization for long-term success.

Responsibilities include:

• Exemplifying Zoo Knoxville's core values through interactions with guests and fellow team members.
• Serving as a member of the Zoo's senior leadership team, contributing to organizational strategy, decision-making, and performance management.
• Conducting a comprehensive assessment of current marketing, communications, events, and sales functions, identifying gaps, inefficiencies, and opportunities for growth.
• Developing and implementing long-range strategic action plans focused on performance improvement and long-term sustainability.
• Establishing clear KPIs, performance metrics, and accountability structures across all functional areas.
• Aligning departmental strategies with Zoo Knoxville's strategic plan, brand positioning, and revenue goals.
• Leading the development and execution of integrated marketing strategies across paid, earned, and owned channels to drive attendance, membership, and revenue growth.
• Overseeing brand management to ensure consistency, quality, and alignment across all platforms and guest touchpoints.
• Evaluating and optimizing relationships with external agencies, vendors, and partners.
• Ensuring data-driven decision-making through analytics, audience segmentation, and performance tracking.
• Overseeing the CRM and audience-data infrastructure, ensuring strong data capture and segmentation that inform marketing, membership, and development strategies.
• Guiding website, digital, and content strategies to improve conversion, engagement, and storytelling impact.
• Serving as the organization's senior communications leader and advisor on messaging, positioning, and media relations.
• Overseeing public relations strategies to elevate Zoo Knoxville's visibility, reputation, and thought leadership.
• Setting the strategy for media, tourism, corporate, and civic relationships, directing the Communications Manager who serves as day-to-day spokesperson, while personally representing Zoo Knoxville at executive-level functions.
• Ensuring consistent, compelling storytelling that advances conservation, education, and community engagement.
• Leading crisis communications planning and execution, as needed.
• Strengthening internal communications alignment across departments.
• Overseeing the strategic direction, planning, and execution of all Zoo Knoxville events to ensure alignment with revenue and brand objectives.
• Evaluating event portfolio performance (attendance, revenue, guest satisfaction) and implementing improvements or restructuring as needed.
• Driving innovation in event programming, including seasonal experiences, signature events, and new revenue-generating concepts.
• Ensuring strong cross-functional collaboration with Operations, Guest Experience, and Development teams.
• Directing marketing that strengthens earned revenue across retail, food and beverage, admissions, and on-grounds signage, informed by guest survey and satisfaction data.
• Leading the development and execution of comprehensive sales strategies across admissions, memberships, group sales, and special events.
• Identifying and implementing new revenue opportunities, pricing strategies, and promotional tactics.
• Owning pricing, ticketing, and yield-management strategy across admissions, memberships, and events, improving channel mix and online conversion to maximize earned revenue.
• Overseeing revenue operations, using dashboards and forecasting to manage and improve performance across all earned-revenue streams.
• Partnering with Development to align sponsorship and partnership opportunities with marketing and event strategies.
• Driving a performance-based culture focused on achieving and exceeding revenue targets.
• Providing direct leadership, coaching, and accountability for all direct reports and functional teams.
• Assessing team structure, capabilities, and performance; implementing necessary organizational or role adjustments.
• Fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, and excellence.
• Ensuring clear roles, responsibilities, and workflows across marketing, events, communications, and creative functions.
• Supporting recruitment, onboarding, and transition planning as needed.
• Overseeing departmental budgets, ensuring effective allocation of resources and strong return on investment.
• Implementing systems, processes, and tools that improve efficiency, communication, and execution.
• Ensuring all marketing, communications, and event initiatives are delivered on time, on budget, and at a high level of quality.
• Attending zoo events and activities as required.
• Additional duties as assigned or required.

Qualifications include:

• Minimum of 10-15 years of progressive leadership experience in marketing, communications, sales, and/or revenue-generating functions.
• Proven track record of driving measurable growth in attendance, revenue, and brand engagement.
• Demonstrated experience leading organizational turnarounds, transformations, or performance improvement initiatives.
• Strong strategic thinker with the ability to operate at both executive and implementation levels.
• Experience managing integrated marketing campaigns, public relations, digital platforms, and event strategies.
• Experience with ticketing platforms, CRM systems, and digital marketing technology.
• Experience in a zoo, aquarium, museum, science center, theme park, or similar destination attraction preferred.
• Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, and ROI analysis.
• Exceptional leadership, interpersonal, and team development skills.
• Outstanding written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with multiple priorities.
• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field (advanced degree preferred).
• Must be at least 21 years of age.
• A strong affinity for the mission of Zoo Knoxville.
• Ability and willingness to work outside regular business hours, including evenings and weekends.
• Demonstrated integrity, professionalism, and respect for confidentiality.
• Understands and subscribes to the philosophy that meticulous organization, planning, and attention to detail are the fundamental components of successful events and marketing and communications campaigns.
• Professional demeanor and appearance.
• Self-starter with the ability to work independently as well as with a team.
• Excellent computer skills including all Microsoft Office programs especially Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook software.
• Proficient with Google Analytics.
• Ability and willingness to learn and adapt to new systems with minimal guidance.
• Must be able to pass a pre-employment drug screen and background check.

Don't meet every requirement? At Zoo Knoxville we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Working conditions include:

• Possess English communication skills as well as the ability to communicate using a 2-way radio, email, and telephone.
• Position hours vary depending on business needs.
• This position will be primarily remote but will require onsite engagement for 2-3 days every two weeks.
• Depending on the specific tasks, this position will be required to work within close proximity of exotic and domestic animals and must be aware that there are dangers inherent in working under those conditions.
• Position may also require working outdoors in all weather conditions.
• Zoo Knoxville is committed to maintaining a drug free workplace and as such each employee must pass a pre-employment drug screen.