We have been retained by Luminate Bank to find their Chief Marketing Officer. Luminate Bank is redefining what modern banking can be. In just five years under its current leadership, the company has grown from a $62 million community bank into a $500 million financial institution, the fastest-growing state-chartered bank, while building one of the fastest-growing mortgage platforms in the country.
In 2025, Luminate Bank and Luminate Home Loans united under a single brand — Luminate Bank — creating a more integrated financial experience for customers and accelerating the company’s ability to scale. The executive team is building the next generation of banking: one that pairs technology, operational excellence, and customer obsession with the trust and service of a community-minded institution.
The momentum has been extraordinary:
- Grew bank assets from $62 million to $500 million in five years- the fastest-growing state-chartered bank
- Ranked a 2026 Top Workplace in Minnesota by the Star Tribune and #1 among large companies in Colorado Top Workplaces 2026
- Named a 2026 Top Workplaces Culture Excellence winner in eight categories and a Top Workplace nationally in Financial Services
- Surpassed $4 billion in mortgage originations in 2025
- Ranked among the Top 30 Mortgage Lenders nationally by Scotsman Guide
- Maintain a 4.9-star average rating across 45,000+ customer reviews
- Recognized by Freddie Mac with two 2026 Home Possible RISE Awards® for Greatest Volume and Fastest Growth
- Honored by the Minnesota Mortgage Association as 2025 Leaders of the Year
But the story is bigger than growth metrics and awards. Luminate Bank is building a culture designed for ambitious, high-performing people who want to shape the future of banking. We move quickly, think boldly, and invest deeply in our people. Innovation, accountability, collaboration, and customer experience are at the center of everything we do.
What began as a rapidly growing lending and banking platform is now entering its next phase: building a nationally recognized financial brand that redefines how modern banking is experienced.
For leaders who want the opportunity to build, scale, and leave a lasting impact, this is a rare moment to join a company with startup energy, national momentum, and a long runway ahead.
Position Overview:
We are seeking an innovative, results-driven Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to lead enterprise-wide marketing strategy and transform a high-volume mortgage platform (10,000+ annual originations; 30,000+ applications) into a scalable primary checking account acquisition engine. This is a growth-oriented executive leadership role focused on measurable customer acquisition, deposit growth, and relationship expansion, not a traditional brand-only marketing position.
The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in digital banking, retail banking, or credit unions and understands how to monetize top-of-funnel customer acquisition—particularly through mortgage—while expanding lifetime value through checking accounts, deposits, debit card usage, and broader household penetration.
The successful candidate will bring demonstrated experience driving growth at significant scale within complex, regulated financial institutions and leading transformational change. This executive must be highly collaborative and capable of building strong partnerships across sales, operations, finance, technology teams to deliver measurable business outcomes.
This executive will be responsible for evolving marketing into a measurable growth engine, combining data-driven performance marketing, brand leadership, and customer lifecycle strategy within a regulated financial services environment.
Responsibilities and Duties:
Mortgage-to-Checking Conversion Engine (Primary Mandate)
- Transform the mortgage platform into a scalable checking account acquisition and cross-sell engine
- Drive conversion of borrowers into primary checking, direct deposit, and multi-product households
- Own and improve key metrics: conversion rates, direct deposit adoption, and deposit balances per customer
- Partner directly with mortgage, retail banking, commercial, and treasury management leadership to drive measurable production, account acquisition, and relationship expansion outcomes.
- Build marketing programs and sales enablement strategies that frontline teams actively adopt and execute, creating shared accountability for conversion, funding, and household growth.
Enterprise Deposit Growth & Funding Strategy
- Lead strategy to drive core deposit growth, improve deposit mix, and reduce cost of funds
- Scale non-interest bearing and relationship-based deposits as primary funding sources
- Align marketing with finance, treasury, and sales leadership to influence balance sheet outcomes, customer profitability, and long-term relationship growth
Embedded Banking Experience & Distribution
- Integrate deposit acquisition directly into the mortgage journey (application through closing and beyond)
- Partner with technology and operations teams across the customer journey to eliminate friction in account opening/onboarding, funding, and activation experiences (pre-fill, SSO, one-click funding)
- Enable frontline teams (loan officers, retail) to consistently convert and deepen relationships
Lifecycle Growth, Engagement & Cross-Sell
- Build lifecycle programs that drive direct deposit adoption, debit card usage, and ongoing product expansion
- Maximize customer lifetime value through disciplined cross-sell into lending, savings, and ancillary products
- Drive measurable growth in funded checking accounts, direct deposit adoption, relationship balances, household penetration, retention, and customer lifetime value
- Leverage CRM, data, automation, and personalization to increase retention and share of wallet
Data-Driven Growth & Marketing Performance
- Build a high-performance marketing engine grounded in attribution, segmentation, and LTV-driven investment
- Develop insights comparing mortgage-originated vs. digitally acquired customers to optimize spend
- Establish clear KPIs tied to deposit growth, conversion, and lifetime value
- Build a culture of continuous optimization, experimentation, and data-driven decision-making across marketing and customer acquisition functions
Leadership, Brand & Organizational Alignment
- Build and lead a high-performing, accountable, growth-oriented marketing organization capable of driving enterprise-wide transformation and measurable business impact
- Position the brand as a primary financial institution and long-term partner
- Ensure alignment across product, sales, operations, and compliance within a highly regulated environment
- Influence organizational change and drive alignment across sales, operations, product, finance, compliance, and technology teams in a complex, regulated environment
Qualifications and Skills:
- Proven executive leadership driving consumer banking growth, deposit acquisition, and customer relationship expansion
- Demonstrated success leading transformational growth initiatives within complex financial institutions
- Deep expertise in digital marketing, performance marketing, lifecycle marketing, and growth strategy
- Strong understanding of consumer banking products, especially checking, savings, and mortgage
- Experience scaling customer acquisition and deposit growth programs at significant scale, including high-volume or multi-market environments
- Deep understanding of customer lifecycle marketing, household growth, and cross-sell strategies
- Expertise in marketing analytics, attribution modeling, customer segmentation, and ROI/LTV optimization
- Proven ability to influence executive stakeholders and drive organizational change across sales, operations, product, and technology
- 10–15+ years of senior marketing leadership in banking, credit unions, or fintech
- Deep understanding of regulated financial services environments and compliance considerations
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, or related field.
