Director of Brand & Digital Transformation

Job Description

Job Description

Director of Brand & Digital Transformation

Buddy’s Pizza | Detroit, MI | On-Site

About the Role

Buddy’s Pizza, the Detroit original and inventor of Detroit-style pizza since 1946, is entering its next chapter. We’re looking for a Director of Brand & Digital Transformation to lead the modernization of one of Michigan’s most iconic restaurant brands — honoring 80 years of heritage while making Buddy’s irresistible to a new generation of guests. This is a hands-on builder role for someone who lives at the intersection of brand storytelling, consumer data, and modern marketing technology.

You’ll own the brand’s evolution end-to-end: how it looks, how it shows up digitally, how it talks to guests, and how we use data and AI to make every touchpoint smarter. You’ll work directly with the CEO and executive team and have the runway to reshape how Buddy’s connects with its community.

What You’ll Own

• Brand modernization. Lead a refresh of Buddy’s voice, visual identity, and creative expression for a younger, digitally native audience — without losing the soul of the brand.
• Digital ecosystem. Own the website, app, online ordering experience, third-party delivery presence, and review channels. Make every digital surface feel as good as a slice out of the pan.
• Social and content. Build a social-first content engine across Instagram, TikTok, and emerging platforms. Develop creator and influencer partnerships in the Detroit market and beyond.
• Loyalty and CRM. Launch and scale a first-party data and loyalty program. Use guest data to personalize offers, drive frequency, and grow lifetime value.
• AI and marketing tech. Evaluate, implement, and operationalize modern tools — generative AI for content, customer data platforms, marketing automation, analytics dashboards, and review management.
• Performance marketing. Run paid social, paid search, geo-targeted local campaigns, and new-store openings. Hold every dollar accountable to measurable results.
• Frozen retail and brand extensions. Support marketing for the growing frozen pizza retail business and other brand extension opportunities.
• Insights. Build the muscle for guest research, sentiment tracking, and competitive intelligence so the brand makes decisions from data, not gut.

What You Bring

• 7+ years of marketing experience, with at least 3 in a senior digital, brand, or growth role
• Multi-unit restaurant, hospitality, or consumer brand experience strongly preferred
• Demonstrated track record modernizing or repositioning a legacy brand for a younger audience
• Hands-on fluency with modern marketing tools: CDPs, loyalty platforms, marketing automation, analytics tools, and generative AI applications for content and creative
• Strong creative judgment and the ability to brief and direct designers, agencies, and content creators
• Comfort with first-party data, basic SQL or BI tools, and reading dashboards to drive decisions
• Experience launching or scaling loyalty programs and CRM strategies
• Bias for action, scrappy execution, and the willingness to roll up your sleeves in a lean team
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA a plus but not required

What Sets You Apart

• You’ve worked inside a private equity-backed or founder-led company and understand operating with discipline and pace
• You have an existing network in the Detroit creative, content, and food scene
• You’ve built or rebuilt a restaurant loyalty program with measurable lift
• You think like an operator, not just a marketer — you understand how marketing decisions hit the four-wall P&L

The Details

Location: On-site at Buddy’s Pizza headquarters in metro Detroit. This is not a remote or hybrid role — you’ll be in market, in restaurants, and with the team.

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Benefits: Full health, dental, vision; 401(k); PTO; meal benefits; and the chance to help write the next chapter of a Detroit institution