Head of Marketing Strategy, Planning & Performance

Royal London; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services provider is seeking a Head of Marketing Strategy, Planning and Performance. This role involves setting the brand strategy, overseeing performance optimization, and leading a collaborative team. The ideal candidate has extensive marketing experience in regulated industries and strong leadership skills. The position allows for hybrid working in locations such as London, Edinburgh, or Alderley Park.

Benefits

28 days annual leave

Up to 14% employer matching pension scheme

Private medical insurance

Qualifications

• Proven marketing experience in a highly regulated industry.
• Experience in developing an effective planning capability.
• Strong commercial and analytical acumen.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, influencing, and leadership skills.
• Strong stakeholder management.
• Self-sufficient, driven, able to deliver effectively.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Marketing Strategy, Planning and Performance team.
• Set brand and marketing strategy, oversee planning processes.
• Design frameworks for marketing strategy development.
• Oversee creation of a unified marketing plan.
• Develop suite of strategic Key Indicators for marketing.
• Expand capability of strategic Management Information systems.

Skills

Marketing experience in regulated industry

Commercial acumen

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Stakeholder management

Leadership skills

Job description

Job Title: Head of Marketing Strategy, Planning and Performance

Contract Type: Permanent

Role Grade: D

Location: London, Edinburgh or Alderley Park (Wilmslow)

Working Style: Hybrid 50% home/office based

Reporting to the Group Brand and Marketing Strategy Director this role leads the Marketing Strategy, Planning and Performance team. In collaboration with Senior Leaders you will set the brand and marketing strategy and oversee the quarterly rolling planning process to ensure that the aggregate plan consistently prioritises outcomes aligned to the strategy across brand and marketing teams and the Royal London Group. You will ensure the plan is continuously optimised against objectives, resource and investment, and leverage expansion of strategic MI capability/output.

Strategic Methodology & Insight Development

• Design and implement robust frameworks for marketing strategy development
• Establish processes for gathering, synthesising, and interpreting market, customer, and competitor intelligence to inform strategic decisions.
• Set up regular performance tracking mechanisms, to monitor progress against strategic objectives

Integrated Marketing Planning

• Oversee the creation and ongoing refinement of a unified marketing plan that aligns with Royal London's strategic goals, optimises resource allocation, and manages costs effectively.
• Ensure the plan incorporates input from all brand and marketing teams and is responsive to changing business priorities and market conditions.
• Lead the annual planning cycle and quarterly refreshes, coordinating submissions and ensuring alignment with both short-term and long-term strategic objectives.

Performance Optimisation & KPI Management

• Develop and maintain a suite of strategic Key Indicators (KIs) to measure marketing effectiveness, efficiency, and impact.
• Continuously review capacity and cost metrics, making recommendations for resource reallocation or process improvements to maximise value.
• Use data-driven insights to identify opportunities for optimisation and drive continuous improvement across all marketing activities.

Management Information (MI) & Reporting

• Expand the capability and output of strategic Management Information (MI) systems, ensuring timely, accurate, and actionable reporting for senior leadership.
• Ensure reporting frameworks are scalable and adaptable to future business needs.

Financial Expertise & Collaboration

• Demonstrate strong financial acumen in managing budgets, forecasting, and investment planning for marketing initiatives.
• Build and maintain effective partnerships with the Finance team to ensure rigorous financial governance and alignment with organisational priorities.
• Lead financial reviews and contribute to business cases for strategic marketing investments.

Operational Tools & Capability Development

• Collaborate with operations to design, implement, and scale planning tools and systems that drive efficiency and support strategic priorities.
• Identify and deploy technology solutions that enhance planning processes, resource management, and performance tracking.
• Champion the adoption of best practices and continuous improvement methodologies across the marketing strategy, planning, and performance team.

About you:

• Proven Marketing experience in a highly regulated industry
• Experience in developing an effective planning capability, leveraging new tools, processes and ways of working
• Strong commercial and analytical acumen
• Excellent communication, negotiation, influencing, and leadership skills.
• Strong stakeholder management.
• Self-sufficient, driven, and able to deliver through effective leadership.
• Foster a positive, collaborative, and high-performing team culture.

If you think you would be a great fit for our team at Royal London but don't meet all the requirements of the role, please get in touch as your application will still be considered.

About Royal London

We're the UK's largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, offering protection, long-term savings and asset management products and services.

Our People Promise to our colleagues is that we will all work somewhere inclusive, responsible, enjoyable and fulfilling. This is underpinned by our Spirit of Royal London values; Empowered, Trustworthy, Collaborate, Achieve.

We've always been proud to reward employees by offering great workplace benefits such as 28 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays, an up to 14% employer matching pension scheme and private medical insurance. You can see all our benefits here - Our Benefits.

Inclusion, diversity and belonging

We're an Inclusive employer. We celebrate and value different backgrounds and cultures across Royal London. Our diverse people and perspectives give us a range of skills which are recognised and respected - whatever their background.