The Opportunity
Small World Music is looking for an experienced Marketing Department Manager to lead and develop our Marketing Department at an important point in the organization’s evolution. As the senior manager responsible for the department, you will bring together managers and leads across content, social media, web/digital, creative and graphic design, advertising and production management around clear organizational goals, strong strategy and measurable results. You will lead the department day to day, develop and implement marketing strategies, set objectives and KPIs, manage priorities and resources, and build the capability of the people you lead. Just as important, you will build trusted relationships across Small World Music and translate what each area needs into clear marketing priorities and plans. You will stay close enough to the work to review, edit, troubleshoot and step in where it adds value, while specialist execution remains owned by the team.
Why Now
Small World Music is investing in stronger marketing strategy, systems, people and measurement. Our fractional Chief Marketing Officer provides senior strategic guidance, mentorship and review. The Manager owns departmental leadership, staff management, strategy implementation, delivery and performance, and will take increasing ownership of strategy and results as the department grows. In 2027, Small World Music enters its 30th anniversary year, bringing expanded programming, greater visibility and new opportunities to build audience relationships. You will help lead marketing for this milestone while building capability that lasts well beyond it.
About Small World Music
Small World Music is a Toronto-based charitable organization dedicated to culturally diverse music, artists and communities. Our work brings people together through live music while supporting greater equity and representation across the cultural landscape.
What Marketing Supports
Marketing supports a diverse portfolio, and each area needs its own strategy and definition of success.
Concerts, Festivals and Audience Programs
Our presenting activity includes:
- Small World Music Series
- Backroom global DJ concerts
- Borderless Jazz
- ISHQ Festival
- Small World Music Festival
- Family programming
- Additional presentations, co-presentations and partnerships
Marketing helps turn awareness and interest into ticket sales, registrations, attendance, participation, repeat engagement and earned revenue.
Small World Centre
Small World Centre is an intimate Toronto venue for performance, production and cultural programming. Marketing builds its rental business by reaching prospective clients, generating qualified inquiries and supporting bookings and revenue.
Small World Services
Small World Music also offers professional technical and curatorial/programming services.
Marketing helps position these services, reach prospective clients, generate qualified leads and support client acquisition.
Industry Programs
Small World Music presents the annual Global Toronto Conference and Showcases and takes part in WOMEX and other industry events as both a talent buyer and promoter. Our growing artist development program includes the annual Small World Music Incubator and year-round support for artists.
Marketing raises awareness of these opportunities, amplifies participating artists and shares their impact with communities, partners and funders. Success here is measured by participation, visibility and sector impact, not revenue alone.
Development and Fundraising
Marketing works closely with our Development team.
Development leads fundraising strategy and donor and funder relationships. Marketing provides the campaigns, stories, content, communications and organizational visibility that support this work.
What You’ll Lead
Marketing Strategy and Results
You will:
- Develop departmental, program, campaign, audience-development and revenue-generating marketing strategies.
- Translate organizational priorities into clear objectives, audiences, plans, budgets and KPIs.
- Lead strategies that contribute to ticket sales, registrations, attendance, facility rentals, service clients, revenue, participation and repeat engagement.
- Define the right measure of success for different programs and business areas.
- Use audience insight, data and campaign performance to improve decisions.
- Connect marketing activity to meaningful organizational outcomes.
- Strengthen marketing’s contribution to revenue while supporting Small World Music’s artistic, cultural, community and accessibility priorities.
People and Department Leadership
You will lead a multidisciplinary department that includes managers and leads responsible for content, social media, web/digital, creative and graphic design, advertising and production management.
You will:
- Set clear priorities, responsibilities, standards and expectations.
- Coach, mentor and develop team members.
- Provide direction without unnecessarily taking work away from specialist leads.
- Review work and provide clear, constructive feedback.
- Build strong strategic thinking and marketing judgment across the team.
- Lead goal-setting, performance reviews, recruitment and onboarding in partnership with HR and organizational leadership.
- Identify capability gaps and address them through coaching, training, tools and professional development.
- Build a department whose people can take increasing ownership of their work and results.
Cross-Department Leadership
You will:
- Build trusted relationships across programming, Development, artist development, operations, venue activities and leadership.
- Understand what different areas of the organization need Marketing to help achieve.
- Translate those needs into clear strategies, priorities, briefs and plans.
- Bring Marketing into organizational planning early enough to contribute strategically.
- Navigate competing priorities with clarity and sound judgment.
- Communicate clearly about timelines, dependencies, decisions, risks and results.
Portfolio, Budget and Operations
You will:
- Oversee multiple simultaneous campaigns, programs and organizational priorities.
- Ensure initiatives have clear objectives, ownership, resources, timelines and measures of success.
- Manage the Marketing Department budget and campaign resources.
- Allocate people and budget according to priority, expected impact and realistic capacity.
- Lead campaign and departmental reporting.
- Strengthen workflows, briefs, planning and approval processes.
- Identify and resolve bottlenecks and unclear responsibilities.
- Help the department work with greater clarity, focus and consistency.
What You’ll Bring
We are looking for a marketing leader with strong people skills, strategic judgment and the ability to connect marketing activity to real organizational outcomes.
The strongest candidates will bring:
- Significant experience leading or managing marketing, communications, audience development or a related function.
- Experience managing and developing people, ideally within a multicultural and multidisciplinary team.
- Demonstrated success developing and implementing marketing strategies that produced measurable results.
- Experience using marketing to influence outcomes such as attendance, registrations, sales, client acquisition, participation, revenue or audience growth.
- Experience defining KPIs and using data and evaluation to improve decisions.
- Strong cross-department relationship-building skills.
- Strong facilitation, listening, negotiation and judgment.
- The ability to prioritize effectively across multiple simultaneous demands.
- Experience managing budgets and allocating marketing resources.
- Strong editorial and marketing judgment across digital and traditional channels.
- Excellent written and verbal communication.
- Experience helping teams navigate change and strengthen ways of working.
- A demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, accessibility and respectful collaboration.
Experience in arts and culture, not-for-profit organizations, festivals, live music, culturally diverse music, mission-driven organizations or adjacent sectors is strongly valued.
Knowledge of culturally diverse artists, audiences and communities is an asset.
The Leader We’re Looking For
You move comfortably between strategy, people and execution. You listen before prescribing, create clarity when priorities compete, and give candid feedback without diminishing the people receiving it. You understand that a concert may need ticket sales, a venue may need qualified rental leads and an artist-development program may need participation and evidence of impact, and you know how to build marketing around the result that matters.
How Success Will Be Measured
Annual goals will reflect organizational priorities and may include ticket sales, attendance and participation; audience growth and repeat engagement; Small World Centre and Small World Services leads, bookings and revenue; support for fundraising; visibility for artist-development programs; effective use of budgets; and growing capability and accountability across the team.
Compensation and Employment
Salary: $75,000–$85,000 annually, commensurate with experience
Employment Status: Permanent, Full Time
Reports to: Executive Director or designate
Works closely with: Fractional Chief Marketing Officer
Benefits: Health Benefits
Hours of Work: 40 hours per week, with a flexible schedule that includes occasional evenings and weekends for events.
Work Location / Hybrid Expectations: Toronto, Hybrid
Application Deadline: October 15th, 2026
Anticipated Start Date: November 2026
How to Apply
Email your cover letter and resume to Careers@smallworldmusic.com by October 15, 2026. If your experience is a strong fit, we encourage you to apply, even if you don't meet every qualification listed.
Equity, Accessibility and Accommodation
Small World Music is committed to a fair, inclusive and accessible hiring process, and we welcome candidates with diverse professional and lived experiences. If you need accommodation at any stage, please email Careers@smallworldmusic.com.
