Head of Retention Marketing & Customer Journeys

British Heart Foundation; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading charity organization in London is looking for an interim Head of Retention Marketing to manage donor engagement and drive cross-channel marketing strategies. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in customer retention and experience in using marketing platforms like Adobe Campaign. This 12-month fixed term contract requires a strategic leader passionate about customer-centric marketing in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• Proven track record in customer retention and journey optimisation.
• Experience managing teams through transformation.
• Expertise in CRM and customer data strategy.

Responsibilities

• Lead the transformation project for retention marketing.
• Manage the second-largest income stream from donors.
• Develop and execute cross-channel engagement strategies.

Skills

Customer retention

Multi-channel growth

CRM

Data-led strategies

Tools

Adobe Campaign

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Klaviyo

Job description

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The Opportunity

We're recruiting an interim Head of Retention Marketing and Customer Journeys on a 12-month fixed term contract to lead a key transformation project.

In this role, you'll be responsible for managing the second-largest income stream at the BHF, from our existing donor base while delivering adoption of the Adobe marketing stack.

You'll lead the adoption of Adobe Campaign and CDP in the Retention and Customer Journey Team, coaching the team on developing data-led strategies to inspire support from our customers to power lifesaving research, taking them on a cross-channel journey to drive greater engagement with our cause and working with our Digital Teams to bring these journeys to life.

Managing income across our loyal regular giving base, our new lottery player base as well as our cash donor, raffle (Give Help) and retail, volunteering, event participant bases (Achieve Goals), your objective will be to grow income from our existing customer groups using cross-sell, upsell and engagement communications to improve lifetime value, taking a customer-centric approach.

This role is also key to ensuring that our customers know where they can get help from the BHF, be it access to health content, to learn CPR or contact our Heart Helpline (Get Help).

Leading a talented below-the-line marketing team across our Give Help, Get Help and Achieve Goals objectives, you'll also work closely with colleagues in our above-the-line teams to take an integrated approach to key comms moments.

About You

You're a strategic marketing leader with a proven track record in customer retention, journey optimisation, and multi-channel growth. You've led teams through transformation, embedded new platforms, and delivered measurable impact.

You bring expertise in CRM, product marketing, and customer data strategy, with a passion for customer-centric marketing that drives engagement and long-term value. Experience with Adobe is ideal, but we would also value experience in platforms like Klaviyo, Bloomreach, Intuit (Mailchimp), Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or HubSpot and an understanding of the capability they have to drive personalised marketing.

You'll also bring:

• Strong working knowledge of customer data, CRM, and product marketing, with experience developing retention and journey campaigns across email, SMS, direct mail, and data-led channels.
• Proven success as a people manager, with a track record of delivering change, building high-performing teams, and driving revenue growth.
• Ability to foster collaboration across teams and stakeholders, and experience managing external agencies through complex CRM and below-the-line marketing projects.
• Commercial and financial acumen, including budget modelling and P&L management.
• Experience working with data science teams to uncover customer insights and translate them into actionable strategies-paired with excellent storytelling and briefing skills to deliver impactful, optimised campaigns.

Working Arrangements

This is a 12-month fixed term contract covering family leave. Start date ideally in December 2025, although there can be some flexibility.

This is a hybrid role, where your work will be split between your home and at least one day per week, on average, in our London Office. This may vary from time to time, so you will need to work in a flexible way to unlock your best work for our cause.

About Us

Everything we do comes back to funding lifesaving research for all heart and circulatory conditions including heart failure, stroke and vascular dementia. Every hour of research we've ever funded, every item we've ever sold, every campaign we've ever run, all the support we've ever given. The donations we receive are used to make people's lives healthier and longer.

We value and respect every individual's unique contribution, celebrate diversity, and make inclusion part of what we do every day.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy, Igniting Change, along with our internal EDI group, Kaleidoscope, and a growing number of employee network groups (our Affinity Groups), help us create an environment where all our colleagues and volunteers can succeed.

Interview Process

The interview process will consist of two stages. First stage interviews will be held over MS Teams on w/c 21 Oct 2025. For those successful, there will be second stage interviews in-person at our London Office (NW1 7AW) on w/c 4 Nov 2025.

How to Apply

It's quick and easy to apply for a role at the BHF. Just click on the apply button below. All you'll need is an up-to-date CV and a supporting statement, outlining your interest in the role and how you meet the role's criteria.

As part of our commitment to be an inclusive employer and ensure fairness and consistency in selecting the best candidate for this role, the BHF will use anonymous CV software as part of the application journey.

Should you need any adjustments to the recruitment process, at either application or interview, please contact us.

The British Heart Foundation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community.