Senior Director - Brand Portfolio Strategy

About the Role

We are looking for a strategic and dynamic Brand Portfolio Strategist to lead initiatives that enhance brand clarity and coherence across our portfolio. This role will play a key part in shaping a consistent, modern brand structure that supports business growth and improves the way customers interact with our solutions.

You will work hands-on across divisions, providing expert-level guidance to ensure our brands are aligned, easily navigable, and positioned for long-term success.

We need someone who can produce high-quality strategic deliverables, lead complex portfolio branding projects end-to-end, guide naming development for new and existing solutions, and partner deeply with product, marketing, and strategy teams. You will be a trusted expert who teaches, challenges, and elevates brand thinking across the organization.

The Senior Director - Brand Portfolio Strategy will work directly with divisional marketing leads, product managers, commercial teams, and executive stakeholders to ensure that branding strategy, positioning, architecture, and naming across the portfolio are clear, differentiated, and aligned with business goals

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Brand Portfolio Leadership

• Lead the creation and evolution of brand architecture strategy across Elsevier, ensuring clarity from the corporate level through to divisions, portfolios, and individual products;
• Develop compelling, insight-driven positioning and messaging frameworks that can be adopted by divisional marketing and product teams;
• Interrogate existing strategies to ensure they are relevant, differentiated, and grounded in customer and market insight.

Portfolio & Architecture Strategy

• Define and maintain a coherent brand architecture that simplifies navigation and strengthens brand equity across the Academic & Government, Corporate, and Health divisions;
• Lead product and portfolio-level reviews to ensure alignment with architecture principles and Elsevier’s long-term brand strategy;
• Partner with business and product leadership to identify gaps, overlaps, and opportunities within the portfolio.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Work closely with divisional marketing teams to guide the adoption of positioning and messaging frameworks for products and go-to-market initiatives;
• Partner with product and strategy teams to ensure brand strategy informs solution development early and continuously;
• Provide expert consulting to senior stakeholders to align on naming, messaging, and architecture decisions.

Tangible Deliverable Creation

• Lead naming development for new solutions and renaming efforts for existing products, ensuring strategic coherence and legal viability;
• Produce strategic deliverables such as brand narratives, product naming frameworks, architecture models, messaging guides, value propositions, and portfolio storylines;
• Translate brand strategy into clear tools and templates that enable divisional teams to apply the work effectively.

Market Insight & Competitive Analysis

• Use customer insight, market research, and competitive analysis to inform brand decisions and strengthen value propositions. • Identify opportunities for brand-led innovation within divisions and across Elsevier;
• Governance, Training & Capability Building;
• Establish and maintain brand architecture and naming governance across divisions;
• Lead workshops, training, and working sessions to build brand fluency across marketing, product, and strategy teams. • Provide coaching and guidance to divisional marketers to strengthen brand capabilities at every level.

Change & Transition Leadership

• Lead change management associated with naming or repositioning initiatives, ensuring smooth adoption across internal and external audiences;
• Partner with legal and IP teams to oversee trademarking, brand clearance, and naming compliance.

Performance & Impact

• Track the success of brand initiatives and naming transitions, providing clear metrics and recommendations for continuous improvement;
• Ensure that brand strategy drives measurable business outcomes across all three divisions.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field;
• Solid experience in brand strategy, brand architecture, or portfolio management -ideally in a complex, global, technology or knowledge-based business;
• Demonstrated ability to produce brand strategy deliverables personally -not just manage or delegate them;
• Proven expertise in naming (new, existing, and portfolio-level), positioning, narrative development, and messaging;
• Experience partnering with product, marketing, strategy, and commercial teams;
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills;
• Ability to lead cross-functional projects with confidence and influence at all levels;
• Good analytical skills with the ability to interpret insights and translate them into strategic recommendations;
• Comfort working in a dynamic, evolving environment with multiple stakeholders and priorities.

Working for you

We know that your wellbeing and happiness are key to a long and successful career, as this role is global, benefits may vary according to your location. These are some of the benefits we are delighted to offer:  

• Health care plans and benefits 
• Modern Family Benefits, including maternity, paternity, adoption and surrogacy 
• Life assurance and accident policies 
• Comprehensive pension and retirement plans 
• Access to learning and development resources 
• Your recruiter will advise you on the benefits package for your location 

About the company

A global leader in advanced information and decision support, Elsevier helps to advance science and healthcare, to advance human progress. We do this by facilitating insights and critical decision-making with innovative solutions based on trusted, evidence-based content and advanced AI-enabled digital technologies.

If performed in New York, the base pay range is - .If performed in New York City, the base pay range is - .If performed in Rochester, NY, the base pay range is - .U.S. National Base Pay Range: - . Geographic differentials may apply in some locations to better reflect local market rates.

We know your well-being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. We are delighted to offer country specific benefits. Click here to access benefits specific to your location.

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