Head of Marketing
About the Role
We’re looking for a builder-leader to own marketing at Wingstop Canada. With 20 stores open today and plans to scale to 100+ over the next five years, this is the person who sets the vision, owns the calendar and budget, and leads the team that brings Wingstop to life across every channel - brand, creative, performance, social, influencer, and partnerships.
This isn’t a brand stewardship role. It’s for someone who has built marketing functions through growth and wants to do it at a brand with real cultural momentum. Our audience skews gen-Z and our approach is pivoting toward content-creator-led, social-first storytelling - while continuing to invest across every channel. The Head of Marketing will shape how that bet plays out, making the kind of marketing that gets noticed, not just the kind that ships on time.
We’re a small team building something ambitious. Everyone here wears multiple hats, and the shape of your role will evolve as the business grows - if that’s exciting rather than unsettling, you’ll thrive.
This role reports to the Senior Partner, JPK Capital / CEO Wingstop Canada.
What You’ll Own
Marketing Strategy, Calendar & Budget
- Own the full marketing strategy and annual plan - what we’re building, what we’re not, and how marketing drives traffic, sales, and brand awareness as we scale
- Own the master marketing calendar - LTOs, menu launches, NSOs, partnerships, seasonal campaigns, activations - and the operating rhythm that makes sure every channel ships on time and in concert
- Own the marketing budget end-to-end - allocating across brand, performance, social, partnerships, and production, and re-allocating ruthlessly based on what’s working
- Own the consumer insight function - commissioning and acting on research, social listening, and store-level data so every decision is informed by real understanding of the Wingstop Canada customer, not instinct alone
- Shape menu and product marketing strategy in partnership with operations and Wingstop global - which LTOs to push, how pricing affects mix, how we defend value as the market shifts
- Set and track the KPIs that matter - SSSG, digital ordering mix, app adoption, CAC/LTV, brand health, earned impressions - and report them up to leadership with a point of view
Brand & Creative
- Through the Creative Director and Brand Marketing Manager, set the creative bar for Wingstop Canada - locally relevant while honouring the global brand
- Shape the campaign work directly - not just reviewing decks, but getting into the concept, the craft, and the calls that matter
- Hold the team to a taste standard - cultural relevance, craft, and the kind of work that people talk about
Digital Growth & Performance
- Through the Performance Marketing Manager, set the digital growth strategy - paid media, lifecycle/CRM, app and loyalty growth, and third-party delivery marketplaces (Uber Eats, DoorDash, SkipTheDishes)
- Drive digital ordering mix and profitability across Wingstop’s direct channels and delivery partners
- Own the analytics and test-and-learn discipline that makes every dollar of paid spend more productive than the last
Consumer Engagement & Loyalty
- Own the consumer engagement strategy - the ways we deepen relationships with the Wingstop customer beyond the transaction, spanning digital and in-store
- Lead the business strategy for loyalty and the Wingstop Canada app - what these programs need to do for the customer, how they drive frequency and revenue, and how they evolve over time
- Partner with Wingstop global, tech partners, and internal ops on the build and localization of digital engagement platforms (app, loyalty, CRM). You own the customer experience and feature priority; build partners execute
- Build the CRM and customer data thesis that makes every interaction more personalised and valuable over time
Social, Influencer & Partnerships
- Through the Social Media & Influencer Manager and Brand Marketing Manager, build Wingstop Canada into the most culturally relevant QSR brand on Canadian platforms
- Drive influencer, creator, and cultural partnerships that build brand affinity and sell product
- Approve and shape major brand partnerships - the Kith-style collabs, the cultural moments, the bets that define the brand’s year
Local Store Marketing & New Store Openings
- Through the Brand Marketing Manager, build and scale the LSM playbook that equips store teams to drive traffic in their trade areas
- Own the marketing program for new market entry - Alberta is the near-term test, with more provinces to follow - working in lockstep with development and operations
- Be a trusted marketing partner to operations - coaching, co-creating, and supporting field activation
Team Leadership & Cross-functional Partnership
- Coach and develop the managers underneath you - sharpening their judgement, stretching their scope, and building a team that outlasts any single campaign
- Complete the initial build of the marketing org - hiring the Creative Director if not already in seat, and any future roles needed as the business scales
- Set the operating rhythm - weekly team cadence, campaign post-mortems, quarterly planning - that makes the team run itself at pace
- Partner with Operations, Development, and Finance leadership - marketing succeeds when ops is executing in-store, development is picking great sites, and finance is backing the right bets. You’re the marketing voice at the senior table
- Report to the JPK ownership group on marketing strategy, performance, and major bets - clear, confident, data-backed communication to a sophisticated group based in New York
- Manage agency and vendor relationships - holding them to a high bar on craft and delivery
Press & Communications (light-touch)
- PR at Wingstop Canada is handled day-to-day by the Brand Culture Manager, who liaises with our PR agency. Your role is to approve strategy on big moments, draft or shape key messaging when stakes are high, and be available for crisis comms when they matter
Who You Are
- A builder-leader, not a brand steward - you’ve owned marketing outcomes, built playbooks, and led teams through growth. You are not someone who managed agencies from a distance or inherited a working machine
- A strategic mind with an operator’s reflexes - you set the vision, but you’re also happy to run the campaign, shape the creative brief, or get into the paid dashboard yourself when the moment requires it
- Has a strong visual eye and discerning taste - you know good work when you see it, what feels fresh now, and what will still land in 12 months. You set a high creative bar and hold your team to it
- Hungry to do cool marketing - the kind people notice, save, share, and reference. You’re bored by safe, workmanlike campaigns and energised by the idea of making Wingstop Canada one of the brands people actually talk about
- A coach - you develop your managers, give them room to own their scope, and build a team that gets stronger with each hire
- Follows through without being chased - when you take something on, it gets done. You proactively surface progress, flag risks early with a plan, and own outcomes rather than just tasks. You don’t wait to be asked for updates, and you expect the same from your team
- Financially fluent - you understand unit economics, can read a P&L, and allocate budget based on what drives traffic and profit, not what feels safe
- Comfortable with ambiguity - you’re energised by building rather than maintaining, and you can move a function forward without a perfect playbook
Qualifications
Required
- 10+ years of senior marketing leadership experience at consumer brands, with direct ownership of marketing outcomes - not franchisor support or corporate HQ roles
- Experience at a brand where taste and cultural relevance are core to how it competes - streetwear, lifestyle, fashion, beauty, DTC, or hospitality. QSR and fast-casual backgrounds are welcome too, provided you come with fresh thinking and a point of view that goes beyond category convention
- Proven track record balancing brand-building with digital performance, with measurable impact on traffic and sales
- Hands-on experience scaling a marketing function through rapid expansion - not just leading one that was already built
- Experience building small, high-impact teams - hiring, coaching, and developing managers
- Strong agency and vendor management experience, with a history of getting great work out of outside partners
- Based in Canada (Toronto / GTA preferred); willingness to travel to stores across the country
Nice to Have
- Experience leading the strategy and launch of a loyalty program, mobile app, or other consumer engagement platform
- Experience with third-party delivery marketplaces (Uber Eats, DoorDash, SkipTheDishes) and the unit economics that come with them
- Multi-unit or retail footprint experience, with understanding of how marketing supports store-level growth
- Bilingual (English/French) or experience marketing to the Quebec market
- Familiarity with the Canadian media, influencer, and partnerships landscape
Wingstop Canada provides equal opportunities for everyone that works for us and everyone that applies to join our team, without regard to sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, race, religious creed, colour, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation.
We’re committed to inclusive and accessible employment practices. If you require accommodation during the recruitment process, please let us know. We’ll work with you to ensure your needs are met.
