Director of Product Marketing

Education First; Zürich; On-site; CHF 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Staff discounts on EF programs

Free use of EF Hello language app

Tuition reimbursement

Referral bonus

Discounts with EF partners

Employee benefits

Job summary

EF Education First is seeking a Director of Marketing for Academic Year Abroad to lead the marketing strategy across markets, translating global direction into locally relevant plans and aligning with Sales, Product, and Digital teams.

You will own GTM for growth initiatives, refine messaging, and drive a customer-led approach to improve awareness, demand, and conversions. This role collaborates with global leaders to turn insights into actions.

Qualifications

• 8-12 years in product marketing, brand or GTM, preferably in education/travel/subscription businesses.
• Strong international experience with cultural nuance and global scalability.
• Excellent collaboration, networking, presentation, and storytelling abilities.
• Experience planning, budgeting, and managing P&L for marketing programs.
• Ability to write and present strategic briefs aligned with creative and market teams.
• Proven ability to develop differentiated value propositions and position products against competitors.

Responsibilities

• Establish and drive the marketing strategy for Academic Year Abroad, translating global direction into local plans.
• Lead go-to-market for launches, expansions and updates with scalable local adaptability.
• Own positioning, messaging framework, and value proposition for the portfolio.
• Partner with Product Heads, Sales, Central Creative, and Digital teams to localize efforts.
• Develop customer and market intelligence, turning insights into actionable roadmap recommendations.
• Create and maintain sales tools, training, and enablement for local teams.

Job description

EF Language Abroad has three business units (Products) that people around the world have been experiencing for more than 65 years: Language Travel, Academic Year Abroad and International Language Schools, and we are looking for a Director of Marketing to help them grow.

This role exists at the intersection of art and spreadsheet. This role is about helping us find as many customers as possible and it isn't a role for someone who wants to maintain the status quo. It's for someone who sees a crowded market and thinks "I know how to cut through this". Someone who finds genuine joy in turning complexity into clarity. Someone who wants to grow grow grow.

What you’ll do:

This role sets and drives the marketing strategy for the Academic Year Abroad portfolio, translating global direction into locally relevant plans in partnership with markets. It aligns and mobilizes Product, Sales, Central Creative and Digital teams to deliver those plans, setting priorities, directing resources and owning results.
You'll own the go-to-market strategy for our most exciting growth bets. That means getting deep into the minds of our customers, wrestling with market data until it tells you something genuinely interesting, and translating all of it into marketing that's better than what's out there.

You'll report to the Product Head with a dotted line to EF Language Abroad's Head of Marketing, and partner closely with the product's Sales and Marketing Directors across our global markets. Your inner circle will include our key leaders in EF Language Abroad's Central teams including our VP of Digital Marketing, Creative Director, and Director of Product Development. These people are the ones who will help you turn a sharp brief into something that actually moves people (and moves the business).

This one's for you if:

You toggle effortlessly between instinct and analysis. You brief like a strategist and think like a storyteller. You believe that good marketing does not interrupt people, it attracts them.

Still nodding? Then read on…

In this role, you will:

• Establish and nurture partnershipswith the Product Heads as well as Language Abroad's Central Creative Studio and Digital Marketing Team and lead all product marketing efforts to ensure on-brand localization of both product and central marketing effort and strategies.
• Build and foster collaboration with markets, sales, central creative, central marketing, technology, and product development teams to deeply understand what we sell and who we sell it to.
• Drive Positioning & Messagingby owning the global positioning framework and messaging hierarchy across the Product’s full program and destination portfolio.
• Define and champion a distinctive value proposition for Academic Year Abroad that clearly sets the program apart from competing options. Bring to life the benefits of developing language fluency through living abroad, including personal growth, independence, connection, and future opportunities, and support the story with compelling, audience-relevant proof points.
• Lead Go to Market (GTM) strategy for all launches, expansions, and updates; build scalable GTM playbooks with built-in local adaptability.
• Champion Customer & Market Intelligence by owning the voice of customer, competitive insights, and the feedback loop between markets and the product roadmap.Turn research, customer feedback and journey data into action, testing and refining messaging and experiences, then translating the insights into recommendations that shape the product roadmap and local market plans.
• Partner with Product Heads and Sales Management on Commercial Enablement, creating and maintaining sales tools, training, and enablement of materials for commercial and local marketing teams.
• Own Audience & Segmentation, including persona frameworks, and translate these into actionable briefs for all channel teams.
• Own the design and continuous improvement of a customer-led Academic Year Abroad journey—from initial awareness through exploration, consultation, decision, booking and preparation. Partner with Sales, Digital, Product and local markets to remove friction and connect online discovery, chat, self-service and human support into a seamless experience shaped around customer needs.
• Work with the Commercial Director and Product Head on Pricing Communication, turning pricing decisions into compelling, market ready value narratives.
• Help establish a culture of accountability by shaping departmental KPIs and setting clear marketing goals and objectives.Translate marketing objectives into measurable business outcomes, including qualified demand, booking conversion, student growth, customer experience and profitable growth. Balance volume targets with value creation, sound pricing and disciplined discounting.
• Keep EF ahead of the competition and ensure the business remains "futureproof" by monitoring trends and evolving our strategies to meet market needs.

You’ll be successful in this role if you have:

• 8-12 years of experience in product marketing, brand, or GTM—preferably in education, travel, or subscription based businesses.
• Strong international experience, with high EQ and the ability to navigate cultural nuances and balance local relevance with global scalability.
• Exceptional collaboration and networking skills, paired with strong presentation, communication, and storytelling abilities.Experience with planning, budgeting, and managing P&L
• The ability to write and present strategic, on brand briefs that resonate with creative, media, and market teams.
• Experience designing and managing GTM plans at global scale, including collaboration with central Brand and Media planning/buying teams.
• Expertise in customer research and competitive intelligence leadership.
• Proven ability to develop compelling, differentiated value propositions and position products effectively against direct competitors and alternative customer choices.
• Demonstrated ability to improve end-to-end customer journeys across marketing, digital, sales and consultation—using customer insight and funnel data to identify friction and drive better outcomes.
• Proven ability to turn marketing activity into measurable commercial impact, driving conversion, sustainable growth and profitability.
• Channel literacy across paid, organic, SEO, social, and CRM—able to brief effectively without owning execution.
• A deep understanding of emerging communication, media consumption, marketing, and cultural trends.
• A natural ability to translate big ideas into tactical execution, turning strategy into work that performs alongside and unmatched curiosity about how people think, behave, and communicate.
• Comfortable operating in fast changing, ambiguous environments with strong project management, planning, and organizational skills.
• A communication style that simplifies complexity and inspires action, paired with an entrepreneurial mindset and strong bias toward action.
• A sharp eye for outstanding creative—and a clear understanding of what makes it exceptional.

We are a global, mission driven company. Our goal? Open the world through education and cultural exchange. We are an International team, with an international audience, and have opportunities to work across regions.

Other benefits include:

• Discounts on EF programs for Staff, and Staff Friends and Family for all EF Programs
• Free use of EF Hello: a premium Language Learning App
• Tuition Reimbursement for continued Education
• Referral Bonus for all referred staff hires (equivalent for 500 USD)
• Discounts with our global hotel and travel partners
• 15% off our on-site Kita
• And much more!

About EF Education First

Openness to the world and cultural understanding are key qualities for a successful journey. Since 1965, we have helped millions of learners travel, discover new cultures, and live unique experiences. Our immersive educational programs—focused on languages, travel, cultural exchange, and academic learning—turn dreams into international opportunities.

By joining EF, you become part of a multicultural community active in over 50 countries, with hundreds of schools and offices worldwide. Our mission is to open the world through education. No matter your background or passions, we welcome you and hope you will share this vision with us. EF is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer, committed to inclusion and belonging, regardless of origin, gender, age, religion, parental status, identity, or experience.

Founded in Sweden in 1965, EF has schools and offices around the world, with regional headquarters in Boston, London, São Paulo, Tokyo, Zurich, and more.

EF is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All positions are subject to criminal background and/or reference checks, as applicable.

About the Team

At EF Language Abroad, we believe that the world is better when people try to understand one another. Since 1965, we've helped millions of students discover new places, embrace diverse cultures, and gain fresh perspectives. We're dedicated to our mission of opening the world through education, harnessing the power of language learning to deepen the connection between people across the globe.

We offer immersive short-term and long-term language courses and programs across different languages in the countries where they’re spoken. Through blending classroom-based lessons with interactive exercises and real-world practice, our courses bring you to the heart of the language. Together, our global staff help students from around the world develop the language skills they need to achieve their dreams.

EF is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All positions are subject to a criminal background and/or reference checks, as applicable.