Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) - Remote

About You

You’re an experienced CMO who blends strategic clarity with strong creative judgement and taste. You’ve owned full‑stack marketing in high‑growth environments, shaping positioning, narrative and go‑to‑market execution while maintaining a high bar for quality and consistency. You’re highly organised and commercially aware, able to turn ambiguity into clear plans, launch rhythms and operating discipline. You understand how to balance brand building with performance outcomes, scaling what works while protecting long‑term trust and credibility. You bring deep empathy for customers and communities, using insight to shape messaging, product launches and engagement. You’re comfortable influencing across senior stakeholders and working as a hands‑on player‑coach in a lean team.

About The Role

As Car & Classic’s CMO you will own the full marketing function end‑to‑end. From brand positioning and storytelling, to launch strategy, content and cultural presence, PR, events, and performance amplification. This is a hands‑on leadership role in a lean team environment. Success requires someone who can combine strategic thinking, creative judgement, strong organisation, and the ability to influence across the business, while still being willing to roll up their sleeves and execute. You will play a central role in shaping Car & Classic’s next phase of growth by strengthening the brand, building a repeatable GTM engine, and driving meaningful engagement and adoption across web and app.

About Us

Car & Classic is one of the largest automotive marketplaces in the world. Launched in 2005 but under new, VC‑backed ownership since 2018 and on an exciting double‑digit growth journey to bring classic vehicle transactions online. Our culture is incredibly important to us. We’re lucky enough to have built the team from scratch with a focus on enjoying the day‑to‑day, diversity, inclusion and high performance. We’re a fully remote team of builders, dreamers, and petrolheads using tech to connect enthusiasts with the machines that move them. If you’re driven by passion and curious about shaping the future of classic motoring online, you’ll fit right in. We’re looking for a CMO who has good, relevant experience and wants to make their mark in a rapid‑growth business where they can make a real difference whilst enjoying the environment and culture.

Role and responsibilities

• Brand strategy & positioning: (Re)define Car & Classic’s positioning within the community by building a clear point of view, consistent storytelling, and stronger brand trust across both online and offline touchpoints.
• GTM & launch leadership: Build and run a repeatable GTM machine and lead key launches (product/feature/marketing rollouts), including narrative, messaging hierarchy, sequencing, timing, and asset requirements.
• Content, social & cultural presence: Set the editorial and creative standard for Car & Classic’s content and social media, ensuring the brand feels lovable, relevant, and culturally credible — leveraging creators and influencer partners where it makes sense.
• PR, events & reputation: Own PR strategy and agency relationships, and lead key calendar moments (events, announcements, partnerships) to build authority and trust in the category.
• Paid media direction & alignment: Define strategic direction and guardrails for paid media, ensuring it supports business priorities efficiently while staying aligned with the brand.
• CRM strategy leadership: Own the CRM direction to deliver best‑in‑class communication journeys that increase engagement, retention, and long‑term user value.
• Team leadership & leverage: Lead a lean team and build an efficient operating model using freelancers, agencies, and partners through clear briefs, high standards, and fast decision‑making.
• Cross‑functional leadership: Work closely with the CEO and leadership team, plus Product, Performance, Data, and head of CRM, to align priorities, make trade‑offs, and ship work that helps extract value from our users and deliver them outstanding experience.
• Performance tracking & reporting: Define and track marketing KPIs across brand, demand, and engagement; communicate progress clearly and continuously adjust priorities based on impact.

The skills, attributes and experience you must have

• Proven experience owning full‑stack marketing scope (brand → demand), including brand, GTM, content, PR, social, partnerships, events, creative production and lifecycle coordination.
• Strong ability to define and evolve brand positioning and narrative, with excellent judgement, taste and consistency.
• Demonstrated capability to build and run high‑quality launches (GTM strategy + execution).
• Strong operational discipline — able to turn ambiguity into clear plans, timelines and delivery while moving fast without sacrificing quality.
• Comfort operating as a player‑coach in a small team — able to write, brief, edit and make hands‑on decisions when needed.
• Strong stakeholder management and influence skills — able to align leadership and cross‑functional teams without heavy hierarchy.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills (briefs, messaging, copy, narrative).
• Commercial awareness — able to balance brand equity with business impact and make smart prioritisation decisions.

The skills, attributes and experience it would be nice to have

• Experience in a marketplace, media‑led business, or enthusiast‑driven brand.
• Experience launching premium products or trust‑driven propositions (e.g. insurance, financial services, high‑consideration offers).
• Experience leading or supporting a rebrand or major brand evolution.
• Strong familiarity with brand trackers and brand health measurement, using insight to guide strategy.
• Experience managing agencies and production partners across PR, creative and content.
• Understanding of performance marketing economics (CAC, contribution margin, payback) — even if not hands‑on in platforms.
• Interest in classic cars, collector culture or high‑trust communities (nice‑to‑have, not essential).

This role probably isn’t for you if

• You are primarily a performance / growth marketer and don’t enjoy owning brand, content and creative direction.
• You prefer leading through large teams and would be frustrated by a lean, high‑ownership environment.
• You are uncomfortable being hands‑on (writing, briefing, shaping creative, building launch plans).
• You see PR, content, social and events as “nice‑to‑haves” rather than core brand drivers.
• You rely heavily on agencies to do most of the thinking and strategy work.
• You struggle with ambiguity, fast priorities and cross‑functional decision‑making.

What do you get (remuneration & benefits)

• Competitive & benchmarked base salary
• Generous stock options scheme
• All the equipment you need to get the job done
• Flexible working - work where and when you want to get the job done
• Access to free counselling, therapy and mental health support via Spill
• Professional development allowance
• Life cover
• Smart Health
• Generous parental leave
• 33 days holiday (including bank holidays)
• Ability to make your mark on a fast‑growing start‑up

Our application process

Once you decide to apply you’ll be presented with a series of questions. The answers to the questions are the difference between your application being progressed or not. Please do give them your time and effort when answering. We want to hear from you, not AI. Using AI to write your answers will mean that your application will be rejected.

Car & Classic Limited is an equal‑opportunity employer. Equality, diversity and inclusion are integral parts of our culture. We recognise and celebrate the value and impact diversity brings to our company and are committed to ensuring this is a consistent focus, for which we hold ourselves responsible. We are committed to treating all applicants fairly and equally and encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply for this role. Good luck with your application and thank you in advance for your interest in joining us at Car & Classic.