Overview

The Vice President of Brand Strategy provides overall leadership, guidance, and direction on the brand foundation for a portfolio of properties within CoralTree’s Design & Development Services division. This role extracts and translates ownership’s vision, builds each property’s brand story and standards from the ground up, and equips service-oriented, high-performing teams across Marketing, Sales, Food & Beverage, and Operations with the tools and files to bring their individual world-class brands to life for guests.

This role is a proven brand leader, as well as a creative thinker who has a track record of building distinctive, place-rooted brands and delivering them on time and on budget. Success is defined through the strength of the brand foundation we hand to our teams; the commitments we make to owners and each other; cultural stewardship; leadership through trust; the successful implementation of a vision and strategy; and the ability to effectively solve problems across design, development, and the businesses that follow.

Responsibilities

• Own the brand foundation for each new Coral Tree property — story, positioning, voice, identity, and sense of place — serving as the definitive brand authority throughout design and development.
• Extract vision from Owners and their representatives through excellent and active communication, and translate their intent into a clear, actionable brand direction.
• Partner with the Development and Marketing team from initial concepting and RFPs so the brand is embedded at the ground floor of every project.
• Own the brand agency relationship end to end — collaborate with Marketing and Owner on selection, scope, budget, timelines, milestones, and deliverables — holding partners to the development critical path.
• Transition brand foundational assets to the Commerical Services Team at pre-opening. , PR narrative, property websites, and social identity are led and activated by Commercial Services.
• Deliver the finished tools, files, guidelines, and asset libraries that Marketing, Sales, Food & Beverage, and Operations use to bring the brand to life, setting each team up for self-sufficiency.
• Establish brand standards for guest touchpoints across the property, including branded and print collateral, uniforms, in-room amenities, the minibar program, and food and beverage concepts.
• Partner with Guest Experience and Food & Beverage teams on guest journey mapping so the brand shows up consistently at every physical touchpoint.
• Take a leadership role in meetings and be capable of presenting the brand vision and strategy to owners, audiences, and internal teams.
• Own brand foundation for new development/renovation properties, collaborating with commercial services. Own agency budgets for branding across the portfolio, managing multiple new properties simultaneously, each against its own development timeline. Collaborate on pre-opening budgets and timelines with the Commercial Services team as part of handover.
• Provide brand leadership in New Openings through coordination of brand deliverables against all pre-opening checklists, to include but not limited to General Manager’s, Finance, Sales, Marketing and Distribution, IT, Restaurant, Bars, Nightlife & Events, People Services, and Engineering.
• Collaborate across Design & Development Services, Development, Food & Beverage, Operations, Marketing, and Guest Journey, keeping the brand vision aligned and connected as it moves between teams throughout the pre-opening process.
• Ensure form meets function by aligning each concept to the pro forma — particularly for Food & Beverage — so that value-engineering (VE) decisions with cascading brand and operational impact are surfaced, communicated, and highlighted throughout the pre-opening process.
• Collaborate with Food & Beverage & Spa on pre-opening concept development, shaping outlet concepts, positioning, and programming so each dining, bar and spa experience expresses the property's brand and sense of place.
• Partner closely with Development throughout the project lifecycle, contributing brand and experience input to design decisions, site planning, and program mix from feasibility through opening. This includes feasibility costing on collateral and F&B OS&E.  
• Develop market narratives, case studies, RFP packages, existing asset sentiment analysis that position CoralTree competitively and articulate the brand and experience opportunity for each new property. 
• Collaborate with Commercial Services to analyze supply pipelines, demand generators, seasonality patterns, and barriers to entry across resort, urban, and residential-resort markets to inform positioning and feasibility. 
• Participate in owner and developer meetings, site visits, and presentations as the brand experience voice on the design team. 
• Evaluate the highest-and-best-use of proposed sites and existing assets, including brand versus independent positioning as well as F&B and amenity programming.
• Track how design, concept, and value-engineering decisions cascade across the project, connecting each to its downstream effect on the pre-opening budget so trade-offs are made with full visibility and no surprises late in the process. 

 

Qualifications

• 10+ years in brand, creative, or brand strategy leadership, ideally in hospitality, resort, or real estate development.
• Proven experience owning a brand or creative agency relationship end to end, including scope, budget, timelines, and deliverables.
• Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills, with the presence to engage owners and senior stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills.
• Strong project management skills; strong problem-solving skills and analytical/critical thinking.
• Ability to build guidelines, toolkits, and asset systems that scale and equip others.
• Ability to adapt to the needs of the organization and employees.
• Ability to travel as necessary.

Benefits

As a valued member of the CoralTree team, you’ll receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• Group medical, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits,
• Colorado Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (FAMLI)
• Participation in a pre-tax flexible benefit plan for healthcare and dependent care reimbursement
• An employee assistance program
• Paid time off/sick time
• Participation in a 401(k) plan with a company match
• Team member free room night program

Salary range: $175,000 – $190,000/yr. + bonus potential

Location: Remote with quarterly travel to CoralTree Home Office in Englewood, CO.