Job Description

Overview:
Company: Harlequin Enterprises ULC
Date: September 17, 2025
Job Title: Manager, Brand Marketing, Harlequin Brand Publishing
Department: Harlequin Brand Group
Reporting To: Director, Brand Marketing & Communications, Harlequin Brand Publishing
Status: Regular Full Time
Location: 22 Adelaide Street West, Toronto (Hybrid)
We celebrate and support the differences that make each of us unique, striving to create a welcoming workplace that ensures everyone has a voice and is able to do their best work. We welcome all applicants, including those who identify with groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the publishing industry including, but not limited to, Black, Indigenous, people of color, members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and persons with disabilities.
Join us and share your story.
Do you believe in romance ever after? We do! For over 75 years, Harlequin is the leading romance brand with a loyal fan-following all over the world!
We're looking for a creative and resourceful individual to passionately pursue marketing initiatives for the Harlequin Brand. Reporting to the Director, Brand Marketing and Communications, you'll lead the strategic planning, development and execution of brand marketing programs and initiatives; that support overarching business goals to increase brand awareness, readership and sales of the Harlequin business in North America. You'll lead the brand marketing team, providing strategic direction while overseeing the execution of associated activities. You will ensure adherence to the Harlequin brand identity and voice across all external facing touch-points, analyze KPI performance of marketing programs and initiatives, stay current on marketing industry trends, monitor results, recommending optimizations and sharing key insights with stakeholders.
You have a strong background in brand marketing with a proven track record of developing and executing successful marketing initiatives and program that drive brand awareness, affinity and sales. You're a seasoned people manager with experience leading and managing a team; who is able to motivate, while providing clear and actionable feedback that fosters professional development. You're able to take key data and insights and build them into impactful programs, initiatives and campaigns. You possess a strategic and creative mindset that allows you to develop and implement strategies that respond to and capitalize on the latest trends, cultural moments and social conversations to cultivate new readership and solidify brand loyalty. You are an excellent communicator with the ability to forge and foster cross-functional relationships and drive influence among key stakeholders to achieve alignment and collaboration. You are great at staying organized and meeting deadlines with exceptional project management skills. You analyze, optimize and evaluate initiatives, tracking against KPIs and identify and share key learnings and best practices with broader teams to drive efficiency for future initiatives. Responsibilities:

• Leading the development and implementation of comprehensive brand marketing initiatives, programs and campaigns that drive awareness and affinity for the Harlequin brand and key titles.
• Act as a promotional consultant for the department providing insight and suggestions on specific marketing campaigns plans and programs.
• Manage the brand team, overseeing their day-to-day work and fostering their professional growth and development
• Cultivate and nurture strong relationships with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Find new and innovative ways position Harlequin as an industry leader in topical and trending conversations.
• Identifies emerging trends in publishing and entertainment, and implement new go-to-market strategies capitalize on trending, cultural and seasonal moments.
• Oversees the strategy and execution for brand partnerships and activations.
• Evaluate marketing programs, initiatives and campaigns and provide analysis and key learnings to optimize for efficiency.

Qualifications:

• 6+ years of related experience working in brand marketing/publicity/communications or publishing.
• Post-secondary degree in one of the following is required: Marketing, Digital Marketing, Publicity/Communications (or related field)
• Strong people management skills and experience with the ability to coach and grow talent.
• Strong understanding of brand marketing to enhance awareness and affinity.
• Knowledge/experience in book blogging/influencer/content creation spaces an asset.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills and the ability to work successfully both independently and within a team dynamic.
• Creative thinker with a drive for results.
• An analytical problem-solver, with the ability to effectively manage multiple projects at once.
• Experience working collaboratively with cross-functional teams
• Proficiency with Office 365

About HarperCollins Canada and Harlequin
Harlequin is a leading publisher of commercial fiction and narrative nonfiction. We publish more than 100 titles a month that reach audiences globally. Encompassing highly recognizable imprints that span a broad number of genres, we are home to many award-winning New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling authors. Harlequin is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, the second-largest consumer book publisher in the world. Through HarperCollins's global publishing program, Harlequin titles are published in 17 countries and 16 languages.
Known worldwide for the quality of its list, HarperCollins Canada is the proud home of many bestselling and award-winning authors, including Esi Edugyan, Heather O'Neill, and Lawrence Hill. It is our vision to publish the best books of our generation and to work with authors over the length and breadth of their careers. Our authors are at the centre of everything we do. In addition to the Canadian publishing program, HarperCollins Canada is responsible for the sales, marketing, and publicity of HarperCollins titles from around the globe
HarperCollins Canada and Harlequin are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to equal employment opportunities. Employment decisions are based on job requirements and the skills, knowledge, and experience of the candidate, regardless of any other factors unrelated to job performance.
We are also committed to ensuring that the accessibility needs of candidates and employees are considered and accommodated during the recruitment process.
We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Skills Required