---
title: 'Senior Strategic Marketing Specialist (Hybrid) at Rewards Network'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-strategic-marketing-specialist-hybrid-rewards-network-chicago-tecm1p9njpdk'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-16'
---

# Senior Strategic Marketing Specialist (Hybrid) at Rewards Network

- **Company:** Rewards Network
- **Location:** Chicago, IL
- **Compensation:** $90k–$100k
- **Posted:** 2026-09-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-16
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/rewardsnetwork/jobs/5235757007

## Job description

## About Rewards Network

For 41 years, Rewards Network has been helping restaurants grow revenue, increase traffic, and boost customer engagement through innovative financial, marketing services, and premier dining rewards programs. By offering unique card-linked offers, we introduce diners to fantastic restaurant experiences, leveraging advanced technology and data analytics to deliver value to restaurants, diners, and our strategic partners' loyalty programs.

Our Culture

At Rewards Network, you'll be part of a driven and diverse team that excels in collaboration, issue resolution, and taking ownership of both personal growth and the company's success. We take pride in partnering with the world's most powerful loyalty programs to drive full-price paying customers to local restaurants through marketing services and flexible funding options. Our engaging and rewarding environment is designed to help you gain your full potential.

Job Overview

The Strategic Marketing Manager is an integral part of the restaurant marketing team at Rewards Network.  You will be responsible for creating custom, sophisticated, compelling sales and service materials for our restaurant customers and prospects.

You will partner closely with our Enterprise customer team as well as our broader Restaurant marketing team to craft compelling sales/service content and enablement for our most important customers.  By understanding each customer segment and particular customer need, you will produce personalized, clear, concise value propositions supported by data and analysis.  You will work hand in hand with your colleagues in marketing to detail proposed customer marketing campaigns.

For current customers, you will own the creation of regular Business Review materials and proof of value tools.  The creation of these will require exceptional analytical and communication skills to ensure that customer performance is supported by clear and effective analytics and insights.  You will partner with analysts in Finance and Data Science.

Your ability to think critically, understand complex marketing programs, distill sophisticated analysis into clear and concise conclusions, and communicate effectively will be paramount to your success in this role.

This is a hybrid position and requires in-office presence Tuesday through Thursday each week in Chicago.

What you’ll bring to the table: (Responsibilities)

- Customer Campaign Communication: Create and direct the creation of multi-channel customer marketing campaigns and offer strategies for our most important customers and prospects from concept to execution to analysis.
- Product & Brand Storytelling: Create compelling stories and presentations to communicate our value proposition to our most important customers and prospects.  Partner with Creative Marketing to ensure that visuals clearly communicate the specific customer objective or marketing campaign.  Partner with analysts in Finance and Data Science to ensure messages are accurate and clearly supported by data, analysis and insights.
- Company Values: Exude Rewards Network’s company values: be open, honest and direct; put customers at the center of everything we do, set a high bar and achieve it, think and act like an owner and always with integrity, presume trust, celebrate others, and have fun.

Do you have the right mix of ingredients: (Requirements)

- A deep and extensive understanding of the restaurant industry, specifically the business of restaurants.
- Exceptional ability to bring clarity to complex business situations, to apply frameworks to simplify a message, and to define the appropriate story and analysis to clearly communicate an outcome.
- Demonstrated experience creating clear, sophisticated marketing and sales materials: presentations, customer-facing summaries, analysis and insights.
- Experience working with creative tools, systems and technologies.
- Experience interacting with senior leaders; comfortable asking detailed questions to clarify complex situations.
- Demonstrated ability to ramp quickly into ambiguous, in-flight programs, and operate independently within days or weeks, not months.

Education, Certifications and Experience: Preferred

- Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, or related field
- 3+ years experience creating customer facing presentations or sales materials
- Relevant experience may include: business development, strategy, consulting, marketing, banking, or similar role

What you’ll love about us:

Comprehensive benefits package, which includes:

- This is a full-time, exempt position and the base compensation for this opening in Chicago is expected to be $90,000-$100,000 annualized, depending on level, candidate experience, skills, and other factors. This position will be eligible for an annual bonus program with a 7.5% bonus target for total at target of $96,750-$107,500.
- Competitive Paid Time Off and company holidays
- Generous dining reimbursement when you dine with our restaurant clients
- 401(k) plan with a company match
- Two medical plan options- Standard PPO or High Deductible Health Plan (HSA with company match for HDHP participants)
- Partnership with Rx n Go, offering certain prescriptions for free
- Two dental plan options and a vision plan
- Flexible Spending Accounts and a pre-tax commuter benefit program
- Accident, Critical Illness, and Hospital Indemnity Insurance Plans
- Short Term and Long Term disability
- Company-paid life insurance and AD&D insurance, supplemental employee, spouse, and child life insurance
- Employee Life Assistance Program
- Hybrid working space in our state of the art office downtown located by the Metra and Ogilvie train stations
- Catered lunches provided on Tuesday's in our Chicago office

Rewards Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). We encourage and strongly support workplace diversity.

Expected Pay Range $90,000—$100,000 USD

## About Rewards Network

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Rewards Network partners with local restaurants to drive full-price paying guests through a card-linked dining rewards program funded by the world’s largest loyalty programs.
- **Entity Type**: Private (backed by TowerBrook Capital Partners)
- **Headquarters**: Chicago, Illinois, USA
- **Founded**: 1984 (over 40 years in operation)
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Dining rewards, marketing services, financial services for restaurants
- **Target customers**: B2B (local and independent restaurants) and B2B2C (via loyalty program partners such as airlines, hotels, and retail brands)
- **Mission**: “When local restaurants thrive, communities thrive.”

## Products & Services
- **Dining Rewards Program**: A card-linked offer platform where diners earn rewards (e.g., airline miles, hotel points) for full-price dining at partner restaurants. Restaurants pay only when a verified member visits — no upfront costs, no discounts required.
- **Marketing Services**: National and local restaurant marketing via loyalty partner channels (e.g., American Airlines, Hilton, Caesars Rewards) to drive new, full-price customers.
- **Working Capital Solutions**: Rewards Network pre-purchases food and beverage on behalf of diners, providing restaurants with fast, non-loan capital (over $3.4 billion funded to date).
- **Data & Analytics Portal**: Live sales reports, guest survey analytics, and verified review management tools for restaurant partners.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: $3.4 billion in total cash funded to restaurants; network of 20,000+ restaurant partners; 25 million+ dining members
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: TowerBrook Capital Partners (private equity backer). Strategic partners include American Airlines, United Airlines, Hilton Hotels, Caesars Entertainment, and other major loyalty programs.
- **Growth Signals**: Over 400 employees; expanding hybrid workforce with active hiring across Sales, Engineering, Product, and Data Science; investing in AI and advanced data analytics.

## Competitive Advantages
- **40+ Year Track Record**: Deeply entrenched in the restaurant financing and marketing ecosystem.
- **Unique Business Model**: Restaurants pay only for performance (actual customer visits), not for clicks or impressions — aligning incentives with restaurant success.
- **Exclusive Loyalty Network**: Access to 25 million+ verified, high-spend diners who are incentivized by top-tier loyalty currencies (miles, points) — not discounts.
- **Capital Without Debt**: Pre-purchase model provides restaurants with working capital without traditional loan terms.

## Strategic Focus
- **Technology & Data Analytics**: Renewed focus on advanced technology and more sophisticated data analytics under new leadership.
- **AI Investment**: Actively hiring an AI Operations Specialist, signaling a push into AI-driven marketing and operations.
- **National Sales Expansion**: Hiring Sales Account Executives in over 25 U.S. markets (from Seattle to Miami), indicating aggressive geographic growth.
- **Product Development**: Hiring Product Managers for B2C Offers and Senior Product Marketing Managers, suggesting new consumer-facing features.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Casual, collaborative environment with a “service mentality.” Emphasizes work/life balance, teamwork, and community involvement (e.g., volunteer events at Greater Chicago Food Depository).
- **Hybrid/Remote Policy**: Most corporate roles are listed as “Hybrid” (Chicago HQ). Field sales roles are remote in assigned territories.
- **Benefits**: Blue Cross Blue Shield medical, dental, vision; HSA with employer match; 401(k) with 50% match up to 8% of salary; generous PTO; 33% dining reimbursement at partner restaurants; commuter benefits; free on-site fitness center in Chicago.
- **Engineering Culture**: Agile development environment; teams include Scala, Python, and data engineering roles. Emphasis on iterative learning and fast execution.
- **Impact**: Directly helps local restaurant owners grow their businesses — a mission-driven role for those who care about small business success.
- **Fun Perks**: Ping pong tournaments, holiday parties, company lunches, volunteering events.

## Sources
1. [rewardsnetwork.com](https://www.rewardsnetwork.com/about-us/)
2. [rewardsnetwork.com](https://www.rewardsnetwork.com/)
3. [rewardsnetwork.com](https://www.rewardsnetwork.com/about-us/careers/)
4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/rewardsnetwork)
5. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/rewards-network)

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