HEAD OF MARKETING
Forum Europe | Cardiff, UK (with occasional international travel)
Reporting to: Senior leadership
Location: Cardiff HQ, with occasional international travel to our Brussels office and to events around the world
Team: Works closely with a team of four marketing colleagues, largely matrix-managed across event teams, and contributes regularly to senior leadership discussions on brand and commercial strategy
ABOUT US
Forum Europe is a digital policy conference business, running 65+ conferences a year across 14 countries through Forum Europe and its international arm, Forum Global. We work with an established blue-chip client base and are focused on growing it further, alongside expanding our global footprint beyond hubs like Brussels and Washington DC. We bring together policymakers, regulators and industry leaders on the issues that matter most, and we're always looking at ways to improve, staying alive to the direction of travel in the events industry and to how we can better support our communities and stakeholder groups, being central to their workflow all year round, not just at our events.
THE ROLE
This is a genuinely hands-on role (you'll get stuck into the detail and execution yourself, not just direct others) and a commercially accountable one, not a brand or communications-only position. You'll own the technical execution and performance of marketing campaigns that drive registrations, sponsorship revenue and new business across a 65+ event international portfolio: campaign strategy, audience targeting, conversion tracking, attribution and reporting, all measured against hard revenue and registration targets. You'll also own brand, content and CRM, deciding which channels (including video) earn their place in the mix with no sacred cows, and play a leading role in the commercial models and new revenue streams that will define the business over the coming years.
You'll lead and motivate a team of four marketing colleagues, largely matrix-managed across event teams, as a hands-on team builder, work closely with event and commercial leads across a fast-moving international events business, and sit at the top table, bringing data-backed insight to senior leadership discussions and helping shape new revenue and commercial models with the senior team.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Team coordination & senior leadership engagement
- Lead, motivate and develop a team of four marketing colleagues, largely matrix-managed across our event portfolio, as a hands-on team builder, setting standards, priorities and clear performance metrics.
- Represent marketing at the top table in senior leadership discussions, backed by data and performance evidence, and help shape new revenue and commercial models with the senior team.
Content & channel strategy
- Own content and channel strategy across the business, deciding the right mix of formats (written, video, social, email and more) to drive audience growth and commercial results, with no sacred cows.
- Work with editorial and events colleagues to keep our marketing and external comms pipeline aligned to audience value and growth.
- Maintain and evolve tone of voice and brand perception guidelines across all output.
- Oversee video and other multimedia output where it earns its place in the channel mix, from concept through to distribution.
CRM, data & marketing technology
- Own our CRM strategy and rollout on HubSpot, our CRM platform, including data structure, segmentation and campaign workflows, to give the business a single, reliable view of campaign and revenue performance.
- Lead resolution of legacy data and platform migration questions in coordination with the wider operations team.
- Manage our marketing technology stack and related vendor relationships, including procurement decisions, prioritising tools that improve targeting, automation and measurable ROI.
- Build and maintain dashboards and reporting that track campaign performance, conversion and ROI against registration and revenue targets, and use the data to continuously improve results.
Event marketing & campaign performance
- Own the technical execution of data-driven marketing campaigns across a 65+ event annual programme: audience segmentation, A/B testing, conversion tracking, attribution and performance reporting against registration and revenue targets.
- Set and monitor registration, engagement and revenue KPIs for each event, and course-correct campaigns in-flight based on the data.
- Run training for the wider events team on marketing tools and best practice.
- Own paid media strategy and budget, sponsor and partner marketing activation, and re-marketing activity, tracking ROI and cost-per-registration across every channel.
Brand development
- Act as brand guardian across our portfolio of brands, maintaining consistency across websites, event collateral and social channels.
- Play a leading marketing role in our ongoing brand development programme, including rollout planning.
New business models & revenue streams
- Work with senior leadership to shape and develop new commercial models and revenue streams for the business, using audience and campaign data to identify and validate opportunities.
- Provide marketing input, backed by performance data, to the evolution of our sponsorship and partnership models.
- Partner with leadership on go-to-market planning for new products and services as they launch.
Agency & partner management
- Manage relationships with external marketing and creative agency partners, including deliverables and performance.
- Act as a trusted marketing voice to leadership and event teams across a fast-moving, multi-event environment.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- Proven marketing leadership experience gained within the events industry is essential; conference, exhibition or similar live-events environments preferred.
- A proven track record of driving revenue and registrations through data-led, metrics-focused campaigns (you'll get your hands dirty with the execution yourself, not just direct others): this is a technical, hands-on role, not a purely brand or strategic one.
- Technical fluency across CRM/marketing automation, analytics, attribution and campaign reporting tools, and genuinely comfortable working with data, budgets and numbers day to day; experience with HubSpot (our CRM platform) is an advantage.
- Target-driven, with strong commercial and analytical judgement: comfortable setting KPIs, owning a budget and being accountable for ROI.
- Experience being involved in developing new commercial products and revenue streams is a strong advantage.
- Confidence managing external agencies and vendors, and setting standards that colleagues outside marketing can follow.
- An excellent motivator and team builder, with the presence to sit at the top table and contribute to strategic, not just executional, conversations.
REMUNERATION & BENEFITS
- £40,000+ salary, depending on experience
- Annual profit share
- Pension scheme
- Private healthcare
- Cycle to work scheme
- Minimum of two days a week in the office
- 33 days' holiday a year, including bank holidays
This role would suit someone looking to take the next step in their career, joining an ambitious, growing team with activities around the globe.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: From £40,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Bereavement leave
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Private medical insurance
- Work from home
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Cardiff CF10 5SF
