CRM Optimisation Manager

Polam School; United Arab Emirates; Hybrid; AED 350,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognita is seeking a CRM product leader to own the vision, roadmap and results for a global HubSpot rollout. You will drive marketing automation, data foundations and lifecycle insights, unifying commercial teams across clusters.

You will lead cross-functional efforts to improve pipeline, conversion and retention while coordinating with schools, central teams and partners. This role is based in Dubai with hybrid work and international travel.

Qualifications

• CRM product management or growth experience with hands-on HubSpot or Salesforce.
• Track record of driving CRM adoption, training and change at scale.
• Experience delivering large-scale, multi-market CRM programs including integrations and marketing automation.

Responsibilities

• Own the CRM product vision and roadmap to drive pipeline, conversion and efficiency.
• Lead the global HubSpot rollout with standardized processes, governance and SLAs.
• Run marketing automation across the full funnel with AI-driven lead scoring and personalization.
• Build data foundations with integrations and tracking for trustworthy KPIs and dashboards.
• Connect CRM with MIS, finance, voice and communications tools and include Voice of Parent/NPS insights.
• Drive adoption through training, playbooks and certification and embed CRM into pipeline reviews.
• Bridge commercial, data and technical teams across clusters and central functions.

Skills

Product mindset

Commercial focus

Influencing skills

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

HubSpot

Salesforce

Job description

Working with us

Cognita is a global family of 86 schools across 21 countries, with more than 100,000 students, 22,000 colleagues, 14 curricula and 9 languages of instruction. Our strength lies in our diversity. There is no single model of a Cognita school because education is inherently local. When families choose a school, they are making a deeply personal and community-based decision, and our schools reflect this.

What unites us is a shared ambition to deliver consistently high-quality education, alongside an exceptional experience for students and parents. We define this clearly through group-wide standards that articulate what "great" looks like, while allowing schools the freedom to express their local identity.

We have recently launched a new vision and strategic plan. It is ambitious and sets a clear direction for the years ahead.

Job Overview

Turn one CRM into Cognita's growth engine

Cognita is a global community of schools, and we're building one commercial platform to power how every school attracts, converts and keeps families. You'll own it: the vision, the roadmap and the results.

This is a product and commercial role at the centre of how we grow. If you want your work measured in pipeline, conversion and retention, and you like making a CRM do far more than store records, read on.

What you'll do

• Owning the CRM product vision and roadmap. Prioritising what moves the needle on pipeline, conversion and efficiency, and turning CRM from a system of record into a core commercial platform.
• Leading the global HubSpot rollout. Taking every cluster onto one platform with standard processes, workflows and lifecycle stages, backed by clear governance, SLAs and change control.
• Running marketing automation across the full funnel. Bringing in AI-driven lead scoring, personalisation and predictive insight, and keeping lifecycle marketing always on across email, messaging and digital.
• Building the data foundations. Setting up the data model, integrations and tracking that give us attribution from first touch to enrolment, so our insight and data teams can build trusted KPIs and dashboards on top.
• Connecting the whole parent journey. Integrating CRM with MIS, finance, voice and communication tools, and bringing Voice of Parent and NPS into the picture so we can improve experience, conversion and retention.
• Driving adoption that sticks. Setting standards for CRM use and data quality, backed by training, playbooks and certification, and embedding CRM into pipeline reviews, follow-up and reporting.
• Bridging commercial, data and technical teams. Aligning clusters, schools and central functions, and building a community of CRM users through coaching and shared best practice.

What you'llbring

You think like a product owner and act like a commercial leader. You can get a large, multi-cluster organisation moving in the same direction, and you hold the line on delivery.

You’ll need

• A strong commercial focus, with a clear view of how a CRM drives growth, conversion and ROI.
• A product mindset: you build scalable, user-centric solutions and use data to prioritise and decide.
• Strong influencing skills, with the clarity, discipline and pace to drive change across many teams.
• Experience in CRM product management, growth or product marketing, or commercial systems leadership, with hands-on HubSpot or a similar platform such as Salesforce.
• A track record of driving CRM adoption, training and change management at scale, with a solid grasp of sales processes and customer journeys.
• Experience delivering large-scale, multi-market CRM programmes, including system integrations, marketing automation, tracking, attribution and reporting frameworks.
• A degree, or equivalent professional experience.

Workingarrangements

4 days per week in Dubai office, 1 day working from home. This roleinvolves flexible working across multiple time zones and regular engagementwith school and cluster leadership across regions, balancing central programmetimelines with local readiness. You should expect regular international travelto schools and clusters to support readiness, communications and go-liveactivities, particularly during active rollout phases.

Cognita is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and young people and expects the same from its employees. All new staff will be subject to detailed and enhanced pre-employment clearance, including identity checks, criminal background checks for all countries lived in, qualification checks, employment checks to include an exploration of any gaps in employment, and satisfactory reference checks for all employment in the last 10 years.