Direct Marketing Strategy & Planning Manager

We have an opportunity for an experienced Performance Marketing Strategy & Planning Manager, working within our Planning Centre of Excellence, in the Customer Marketing team, which is part of the wider Group Customer & Communications function. You’ll play a critical role in driving forward our 121-marketing planning capability, providing specialist support for the wider planning community to develop planning capability, ensuring the delivery of robust marketing plans which align marketing strategies, commercial objectives and customer priorities.

You’ll be instrumental in ensuring efficiency in all aspects of the planning remit, with a continuous focus on target setting, performance and budget management principles to ensure return on investment thresholds are maintained along with the ongoing optimisation of plans, activities and operational planning processes. We are happy to consider flexible working approaches to help you perform at your best. The working hours (per week) for this role can be between 28 and 35 hours. At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible.

More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected. For this job you’ll be located at our nearest regional hub. There will be a need to regularly connect with colleagues for collaboration events in one of our office sites. This is anticipated to be monthly in Swindon, London or Wakefield.

If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll lead the strategic roadmap development by overseeing the development of long-term and short-term marketing plans that align to business goals, strategic objectives and customer priorities whilst emphasising 121-marketing performance and reporting. You’ll need to understand performance as you’ll support the oversight of key performance indicators and timely, accurate and actionable reporting of marketing metrics and insights.

You’ll use your commercial and financial acumen to draw on established knowledge of financial services markets to inform marketing planning strategies and partner with cross functional teams to ensure strategies and plans will deliver optimal customer and commercial outcomes. By collaborating and managing stakeholders you’ll build strong relationships with leadership, business partners and other key stakeholders to ensure marketing strategies and plans are effectively integrated and aligned with broader organisational goals and priorities.

You will manage the production of regular executive/leadership performance reporting ensuring smooth and timely provision of performance and planning priority updates and you’ll utilise your planning capability to drive the development of planning capability across the Customer Marketing squads raising the bar for planning capability within the function. Operational control and oversight will be critical within this role as you’ll oversee the core operation planning functions to ensure robust processes are in place and actioned on time.

About you

As a minimum, you’ll have:

• Experience in the field of performance (121) marketing planning, developing effective direct marketing plans, driven from deep business and commercial acumen
• Experience in understanding, analysing and interpreting complex performance data and insight to inform performance marketing strategy and decision making
• Strong strategic and operational planning and organisational skills and ability to manage competing priorities and deliverables
• Experience in leading and coaching, either direct line management or coaching of wider colleagues/stakeholders
• Knowledge and understanding of personalisation strategies within performance marketing
• Experience in the understanding of 121 marketing channels, trends, tools and technologies
• A good understanding of financial services, business strategy, performance marketing and communications strategy

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers’ shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind
• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think – we’re honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand
• Push for better - We don’t settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development
• Get it done - We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• Access to private medical insurance
• A highly competitive pension to help you build a strong foundation for retirement
• Access to an annual performance related bonus
• Training and development to help you progress your career
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Life assurance to provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones in the event of your death
• Wellhub – access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year

Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society. We forge our own path at Nationwide. As a mutual, we’re owned by our members - those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don’t see customers as the engine of our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives.

If you’re inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our customers, you’re one of us. At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best. As a community we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society. We are purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us. We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.