Marketing Manager (Growth & Innovation) in Newcastle upon Tyne

This is a genuinely exciting opportunity for a strategically minded professional to shape how Northumbria University grows its student recruitment in an increasingly competitive market.

As Marketing Manager (Growth and Innovation), you’ll sit at the intersection of data, strategy, and action, turning insight into decisions that directly influence where and how we recruit. You’ll develop sophisticated growth strategies using propensity modelling, predictive analytics, and high‑value audience segmentation, identifying the student cohorts with the greatest potential and translating that intelligence into targeted, high‑impact activity.

You’ll be responsible for horizon scanning the sector to monitor financial packages, product launches, recruitment strategies, and emerging tactics, producing timely briefings that keep Northumbria one step ahead. You’ll build and present business cases for strategic initiatives to senior leadership.

Conversion is central to this role. You’ll conduct detailed funnel analysis disaggregated by source code, regionality, programme type and demographics, identifying bottlenecks, testing interventions, and tracking ROI across every channel. You’ll build dashboards and reporting frameworks that make recruitment pipeline health visible in real time.

You’ll also lead on innovation, identifying opportunities to apply AI, automation, and emerging technology to improve both recruitment efficiency and applicant experience, designing pilots, testing new approaches, and scaling what works.

At course level, you’ll lead annual cycle reviews for focus programmes, developing growth strategies that bring together marketing promotion, applicant experience, and competitive positioning, and monitoring in‑cycle performance to trigger interventions where trajectories deviate from target.

You’ll be based at our campus in Newcastle upon Tyne, a city that’s vibrant, affordable, and genuinely well‑connected, with a strong sense of identity and a growing reputation as a destination for talent and innovation.

This role sits within the UK Recruitment and Marketing team, a high‑performing, strategically ambitious team that spans media, CRM, content, insight and proposition, schools engagement, events, and applicant services. You’ll work closely with the Director, the wider marketing functions, Faculties and professional services.

You’ll lead and manage staff directly and through matrix management and engage actively with external networks including sector bodies and industry partners. This is a collaborative, fast‑paced environment where evidence‑based thinking is valued and ambitious ideas are welcomed.