Interim Brand Director- Parental Leave Cover

Contract Employment Status: FTC - Full-Time

Hi! We’re UW. We’re on a mission to take the headache out of utilities by providing them all in one place. One bill for energy, broadband, mobile and insurance and a whole lot of savings! We’re aiming to double in size as we help more people to stop wasting time and money. Big ambitions, to be delivered by people like you. Got your attention? Read on…

We put people first. It’s all about you. Having spent the past 18 months defining our ‘challenger brand’ strategy and a new creative identity, we are moving into a crucial implementation phase in 2025/26. We first need to bring the brand to life for our employees and Partners who are critical in delivering the new strategy to our external audiences, and then for our customers, media, investors and the public. UW’s Brand Director will be on parental leave from June 2025 and so we’re looking to find a Brand expert to oversee continuity of the new strategy and its effective adaptation and delivery into operational and marketing plans. This is a fixed term contract from mid/late May 2025 – July 2026.

To be successful in this role you’ll need:

• Experience of leading strong brands through brand transformations and other significant periods of change. (Experience working on challenger brands extra helpful.)
• A proven track record in delivering great business outcomes - confidently managing multiple demands and priorities through your strong business acumen, people and project management skills.
• Commercial acumen with a proven understanding of how brand contributes to the bottom line, a relentless focus on effectiveness and a first-class track record of managing media activity and budgetary control.
• The ability to energise stakeholders and the broader organisation. You work hard to engage and inspire your colleagues, and go out of your way to understand what makes them tick.
• You can influence and galvanise senior stakeholders, and provide clarity and direction to people of all levels.
• You’re empathetic and build partnerships internally and externally based on trust and performance.
• Strong strategic, creative and editorial judgement and a laser-sharp eye for detail.
• A pragmatic approach to problem-solving, a high degree of initiative and bias to action.

We work together. Your team and the people you will work with… The Brand Director leads a team of ~20 brand, comms and creative professionals and manages a substantial budget. Reporting into the Chief Growth Officer, this role is our executive brand champion, influencing executive and non-executive stakeholders and working with cross-functional teams to create cultural alignment and deliver a brand that powerfully accelerates UW’s growth.

We deliver progress. What you’ll do and how you will make an impact. Success will be measured against the effective delivery of key milestones in the brand implementation plan, which in turn will drive improvements in brand health, engagement of key audiences, and integrated marketing performance. The right candidate will have substantial experience of building standout brands, including leading successful brand rollouts and broad programmes of business-wide change. You’ll be responsible for the following key activities:

• Leading the brand implementation: Setting the direction and overseeing the day-to-day activities of the cross-functional project team and overall programme of brand implementation, especially our 4 big brand priorities: Re-evaluation of Partner experience & proposition, Re-evaluation of Customer experience & proposition, Launch with a bang “Brand-to-demand” marketing strategy and plans.
• Ensuring the new vision and strategy are translated into valuable brand assets: impactful propositions and realistic plans with clear goals, milestones, and KPIs. Driving the metrics and feedback loops required to measure success and optimise over time.
• Develop a new "brand to demand" integrated marketing strategy: Working cross-functionally with Customer, Partner and Commercial Development to define an effective, full-funnel, "brand to demand" long-term marketing strategy. This will include defining the approach to marketing measurement, ensuring we have the right frameworks, tools and resources in place.
• Brand strategy: Overseeing the creation and delivery of the annual plans and business activity. Setting the media strategy and channel mix for brand-led activity, driving the creative and media planning processes to ensure effective ROI.
• Managing the Brand team: Leading a team of c.20 people across Brand, Earned Media and Creative. You’ll have direct management responsibility for the Head of Brand, Head of Creative and Earned Media Lead. Working closely with, and managing, external partners and agencies.
• Managing the Brand budget: Managing the agreed Brand opex budget, modelling and securing the additional brand marketing investment required to deliver on our growth goals. Ensuring efficient allocation of resources, cost-effective execution of projects and workload, and overall return on investment.

So why pick UW? We’ve got big ambitions so there’s going to be plenty of challenges. There are also a lot of benefits:

• An industry benchmarked salary. We’ll share it during your first conversation.
• Hybrid working, with 2 days in the office. (We’re definitely open to discussing flexible working arrangements)
• Discount on our services and you get our coveted Cashback Card for free.
• You’ll also get access to 100s of rewards and discounts through Perkbox.
• A matched contribution pension scheme and life assurance up to 4x your salary.
• You can also access free mortgage advice and a financial wellbeing tool.
• Family-friendly policies, designed to help you and your family thrive.
• Discounted private health insurance, access to an Employee Assistance line and a free Virtual GP.
• Our wellbeing app Unmind supports your mental health.
• Belonging groups that help UW shape an even more inclusive future.
• A commitment to helping you develop your career journey through learning, coaching and new experiences.

Apply here! You’ve got this far… Hit apply - we can’t wait to hear from you! Worried you don’t hit all the criteria? We welcome applications from diverse and varied backgrounds so get your application in and let’s chat! Claire Fennell will be your point of contact throughout the recruitment process. Not sure you meet all the requirements? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other underrepresented groups tend not to apply for jobs if they think they may not meet every qualification, when in fact they often do.

We provide equal opportunities, a diverse and inclusive work environment, and fairness for everyone. You are welcome to apply no matter your age, disability, gender, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity status, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. Please don’t be afraid to ask about what we can do to support your needs. All requests will be carefully and fairly considered. Please note, if you are successful and offered a role at UW, you will be subject to a background check. Where checks are unsatisfactory or incomplete and/or a failure to reveal information relating to convictions that you are required to identify as part of the background checks, could lead to withdrawal of an offer of employment.