Marketing Director

Job Description

UNLEASH is entering a major phase of growth and reinvention. We are looking for a modern, ambitious, evidence‑led Marketing Director who can act as both strategic leader and hands‑on player‑manager. This role is central to our ambition to become the #1 global community and marketplace for the Future of Work, HR and Technology.

You will own the strategic vision, performance, systems, and creative energy of marketing across our global portfolio. You will bring gravitas, commercial sharpness, strong data instincts, modern AI‑fluency, and the courage required to thrive in a deadline‑driven events and media business.

This is a leadership role with real headroom – for the right person, this can grow into a broader executive remit as we scale.

Strategic growth: Build and execute data‑driven marketing strategies that deliver delegate acquisition, sponsor/exhibitor pipeline, audience expansion, and revenue.

Brand leadership: Elevate, protect, and amplify the UNLEASH brand across all touchpoints – events, media, digital and community.

Audience connection: Grow and nurture a global audience of HR, Work Tech, and business leaders through compelling content, journeys, and experiences.

AI‑powered marketing: Embed modern AI, automation, and intelligent systems into every layer of the marketing engine.

• Lead UNLEASH’s annual and three‑year marketing strategy, aligned to commercial and growth targets.
• Translate strategy into clear, high‑impact plans with ROI modelling, milestones, and KPIs.
• Partner with leadership to build a unified go‑to‑market engine across events, content, and community.

• Own and evolve UNLEASH’s brand, voice and differentiated market position.
• Deliver integrated multi‑channel campaigns that drive registrations, MQLs, community growth, and digital engagement.
• Ensure creative, copy, and positioning are world‑class and aligned with our mission and values.

• Champion a performance‑driven, data‑obsessed marketing culture.
• Own Salesforce Marketing Cloud (or equivalent) for segmentation, journeys, lead scoring, and funnel optimisation.
• Lead our marketing automation roadmap, audience growth strategy, data cleanliness, and reporting.

• Embed AI into workflows – segmentation, optimisation, testing, performance analysis, content creation, and predictive modelling.
• Constantly explore, test, and adopt emerging tools to improve efficiency, velocity, and impact.
• Build AI confidence and capability across the team.

• Lead, coach, and develop a growing cross‑functional marketing and design team.
• Set a culture of accountability, pace, creativity, and high performance.
• Act as a visible cultural leader and champion of the UNLEASH values.

• Work closely with Sales, Customer Success, Content, Operations and Tech to ensure marketing is tightly integrated with revenue and product plans.
• Partner with Commercial to accelerate pipeline and sales enablement.
• Represent UNLEASH with charisma and gravitas to partners, sponsors, media, and the wider ecosystem.

• Own all marketing KPIs: registrations, audience growth, revenue influence, MQLs, digital engagement, ROI.
• Build transparent reporting dashboards and rhythms for leadership and board visibility.
• Drive constant experimentation – A/B tests, funnel optimisation, behavioural insight.

• Own the annual marketing budget with disciplined commercial judgement.
• Manage key agencies and suppliers to deliver best‑in‑class work.

• Proven track record leading B2B marketing in a high‑growth or scale‑up environment.
• Strong commercial instinct – marketing as a revenue engine, not a cost centre.
• Deep experience with performance, digital and data‑led marketing.
• Hands‑on ownership of CRM systems (ideally Salesforce) and automation.
• Real fluency in AI‑enabled marketing tools and workflows.
• Strong written and verbal communication with ability to present with confidence.
• Demonstrated team leadership in fast‑paced, deadline‑heavy environments.
• Evidence of measurable impact on pipeline,…