Marketing Director Small Business

The Sage Group plc; Newcastle upon Tyne; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading software company is seeking a Marketing Director for Small Business to define and execute marketing strategies across the UK and Ireland. This senior leadership role demands a focus on customer acquisition and lifecycle growth through digital channels. The ideal candidate will have strong performance marketing expertise, experience leading multi-disciplinary teams, and a data-driven mindset to optimize marketing investments and drive growth. This position offers opportunities for ongoing professional development and flexible working patterns.

Benefits

Comprehensive health coverage

Flexible work patterns

On-going training and professional development

Paid volunteer days

Qualifications

• Experience in demand generation or performance marketing, ideally in small business or SaaS.
• Proven experience leading digital acquisition strategies at scale.
• Deep expertise across paid media channels.

Responsibilities

• Own the acquisition strategy across digital and indirect channels.
• Lead lifecycle marketing strategies for customer retention.
• Manage large budgets and oversee ROI reporting.

Skills

Demand generation experience

Performance marketing

Team leadership

Digital expertise

Ecommerce trading

Stakeholder management

AI fluency

Job description

The Marketing Director, Small Business is a senior leadership role responsible for defining and delivering performance marketing strategy for Sage's Small Business segment across the UK and Ireland. You will own the Winning in Small strategy, driving customer acquisition, lifecycle growth, and Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) through direct digital channels, accountants, and embedded accounting ecosystems. This role combines deep performance marketing expertise with commercial leadership. You will oversee full-funnel acquisition and lifecycle programmes, lead a large multi-disciplinary team, and work cross-functionally with Brand, Web, Product, Sales, Finance, and Technology to ensure marketing investment delivers sustainable growth, strong ROI, and long-term customer value. As a senior leader within the Performance Marketing organisation, you will shape strategy, influence at executive level, and embed a high‑performance, AI‑enabled culture.

Responsibilities

• Owning acquisition strategy across direct digital, accountant‑led, and embedded channels, ensuring sustained customer growth and marketing‑sourced revenue.
• Forecasting, managing, and reporting on acquisition and lifecycle performance, with ownership of large budgets and clear accountability for ROI.
• Leading full‑funnel optimisation across awareness, conversion, retention, cross‑sell, and up‑sell, embedding test‑and‑learn principles throughout planning and execution.
• Owning paid media strategy at scale (PPC, Paid Social, Display, Affiliates, Programmatic), ensuring continual optimisation and commercial impact.
• Running a cross‑functional trading and ecommerce cadence to deliver monthly unit and ARR targets, optimising digital storefronts for conversion and revenue growth.
• Connecting brand and demand investment into a single, unified strategy that maximises impact across channels.
• Leading quarterly and annual performance planning, including scenario modelling, investment recommendations, and growth forecasts.
• Driving lifecycle marketing strategies that maximise customer engagement, retention, and lifetime value across direct and indirect channels.
• Leveraging AI and emerging technologies to improve efficiency, speed, and performance across marketing execution and decision‑making.
• Acting as a senior leader within Performance Marketing, coaching leaders, influencing peers, and embedding a high‑performance culture.

Qualifications

What we are looking for? We're looking for a commercially minded, performance‑driven marketing leader with strong people leadership skills and deep digital expertise.

• Experience in demand generation or performance marketing, ideally within small business, accounting, or SaaS environments.
• Experience leading large, multi‑disciplinary teams and influencing cross‑functional stakeholders toward shared commercial goals.
• Proven experience leading digital acquisition strategies at scale within high‑growth or ecommerce‑led organisations.
• Deep expertise across paid media channels and performance marketing optimisation.
• Strong ecommerce trading experience, with a track record of delivering customer growth, ARR, and ROI.
• Demonstrated ability to forecast, budget, and manage large‑scale marketing investment with commercial rigour.
• Experience driving lifecycle marketing, including retention, cross‑sell, and up‑sell strategies to support ARR objectives.
• Knowledge of indirect models, including accountant and partner‑led growth.
• AI fluency, with practical experience using modern tools to increase speed, efficiency, and performance.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with confidence influencing at senior and executive level.
• A data‑driven mindset, able to translate complex performance data into clear insights and actions.

Working at Sage means you're supporting millions of small and medium‑sized businesses globally with technology to work faster and smarter. We leverage the future of AI, meaning business owners spend less time doing routine tasks, like entering invoices and generating reports, and more time pursuing their ambitions.

Benefits

• Benefits video - https://youtu.be/TCMtTYUUiuU
• Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage
• Work away scheme for up to 10 weeks a year
• On‑going training and professional development
• Paid 5 days yearly to volunteer through our Sage Foundation
• Flexible work patterns and hybrid working