Membership & Loyalty Director

Merlin Entertainments - Corporate; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A global entertainment leader seeks a Membership & Loyalty Director to define and build a membership and loyalty strategy across all markets. This role involves strategic leadership, accountability for global KPIs, and developing a customer-centric growth platform. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in loyalty within consumer-facing sectors, strong commercial acumen, and a passion for leading high-performing teams. The position offers a competitive salary and excellent benefits, including discounts and additional perks.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Pension

Life Assurance

25 days holiday

Merlin Magic Pass

Discounts at attractions and stores

Qualifications

• Extensive senior leadership experience in global consumer-facing sectors.
• Proven track record in designing large-scale loyalty programs.
• Strong commercial acumen with P&L ownership.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead global membership and loyalty strategy.
• Build Group-wide membership and loyalty framework.
• Define global KPIs for acquisition and retention.
• Lead high-performing global teams across regions.
• Act as executive sponsor for loyalty transformation.

Skills

Senior leadership experience in loyalty

Customer-centric growth platforms

Commercial acumen

Data-driven marketing

Cross-functional team leadership

Education

Degree in Marketing, Business or related discipline

Job description

What you'll bring to the team

Membership & Loyalty Director

Location: LondonCareer Level: B1Division: GrowthReporting to: SVP Consumer Proposition

Bring Joy. Create Connections. Make Memories.

At Merlin Entertainments, our purpose is to create unforgettable experiences for millions of guests worldwide. Home to some of the world’s most iconic entertainment brands, we are on a bold journey to become the global leader in branded entertainment destinations and the greatest place to work and play.

We are now seeking a Membership & Loyalty Director to build and lead one of Merlin’s most important future growth platforms.

The Role

This is a newly created, global leadership role with end-to-end accountability for defining, building and scaling Merlin’s membership, passes and loyalty strategy across all markets.

From inception, you will design a single, data-led global membership and loyalty ecosystem that connects guests and brands through compelling value propositions, seamless experiences and strong commercial performance. As the owner of a core global growth platform, you will ensure membership and loyalty become central to Merlin’s customer strategy, fully integrated with GTM and Global Marketing & Brand plans and executed locally with relevance and impact.

This role blends strategic vision, commercial ownership and operational leadership, with a clear focus on long-term guest engagement, retention and revenue growth.

Key Accountabilities

Strategic Leadership

• Define and lead Merlin’s global membership and loyalty strategy, aligning brand, customer and commercial growth objectives.
• Build and launch the Group-wide membership and loyalty framework including product architecture, benefits, engagement models and pricing strategy.
• Champion a customer-first culture where loyalty and recognition are key drivers of sustainable growth.
• Establish global governance, frameworks and toolkits that enable consistent execution while empowering regional innovation.
• Partner with GTM, Global Marketing and Brand leaders to embed loyalty into brand storytelling, campaigns and commercial plans.

Commercial Performance & Programme Development

• Define and deliver global KPIs covering acquisition, retention, lifetime value and revenue contribution.
• Oversee global product, pricing and yield strategies for passes and memberships, optimising profitability and guest value.
• Own the global loyalty and membership P&L, ensuring robust budgeting, forecasting and performance management.
• Build compelling business cases and financial models to secure investment and deliver strong ROI.

Customer Engagement & Data Insight

• Leverage customer insight, CRM and analytics to design a data-led loyalty ecosystem delivering personalisation at scale.
• Partner with data and analytics teams to build a unified view of member behaviour, engagement and lifetime value.
• Embed segmentation, test-and-learn methodologies and predictive modelling across the member lifecycle.
• Ensure compliance with global and regional data protection regulations including GDPR.

Team Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead, inspire and develop a high-performing global team across EMEA, Americas and APAC.
• Set clear global direction while enabling regional teams to execute with local relevance.
• Drive best-practice sharing, capability building and pace of delivery across markets.
• Partner closely with GTM, Global Marketing & Brand, Digital, Operations and Finance to align loyalty with guest experience and commercial outcomes.

Stakeholder & Partner Management

• Act as executive sponsor for Merlin’s loyalty transformation, influencing senior stakeholders globally.
• Partner with Global Digital & Technology to integrate loyalty seamlessly across digital platforms, CRM and data ecosystems.
• Oversee strategic external partners including loyalty platforms, agencies and fulfilment providers.
• Collaborate with partnerships and sponsorship teams to enhance member value through global and regional alliances.

Qualifications & Experience

About You

You are a visionary, commercially driven leader with a passion for building customer-centric growth platforms at scale.

You’ll bring

• Extensive senior leadership experience in loyalty, membership or CRM strategy within global consumer-facing sectors such as entertainment, travel, retail or hospitality.
• A proven track record of designing and scaling large-scale loyalty or membership programmes that deliver engagement, retention and incremental revenue.
• Strong commercial acumen with P&L ownership and measurable business impact.
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional and multi-regional teams.
• Deep understanding of data-driven marketing, CRM systems and customer lifecycle management.
• Degree in Marketing, Business or a related discipline with postgraduate qualification advantageous.

Leadership at Merlin

Our leaders are:

• Soulfully Curious – open, inquisitive and eager to learn.
• Results Focused – accountable, resilient and outcome driven.
• Extraordinary Teammates – collaborative, generous and enterprise minded.
• Developers of People – committed to coaching, growth and nurturing talent.

Why Join Merlin?

This is a rare opportunity to create a global membership and loyalty platform from the ground up within one of the world’s most loved entertainment groups. You will shape how millions of guests engage with our brands, influence senior leadership globally and deliver lasting commercial and customer impact at scale.

Benefits

We’re growing fast and alongside a fun and friendly environment, we offer a fabulous package and amazing prospects – ideal if you’re already fantastic and want to become even better (our magic can help here). Benefits include Pension, Life Assurance, discretionary company bonus, 25 days’ holiday and, of course, a Merlin Magic Pass which gives you and your friends and family free admission to all of our attractions worldwide, as well as 25% discount in our retail shops and restaurants and 40% discount on LEGO.

Pay Range

Competitive