Head of English Programmes Marketing at British Council

Role Purpose

The Head of Marketing, English Programmes will help drive the global growth, reach, impact, and reputation of the business by:

• Supporting the business to secure new funding (contracts, partnerships, sponsorship) by communicating the impact of our work and positioning the British Council’s unique role, approach, and track record to key government and sector stakeholders
• Devising strategic, insight-led campaigns for engaging professional sectors with our opportunities, paid services, research, case studies, best practices, thought leadership, and guidance
• Promoting the best of UK and international culture, creativity, and education to new and existing audiences around the world, particularly linked to our main programme highlights
• Providing strategic support to colleagues in-country and region to communicate their programmes to local audiences

Main accountabilities but not limited to the following:

Subject/Sector Expertise

• Develop the overall marketing strategy for English Programmes, and in-year plans and oversee marketing proposals for sector positioning, programmes, and contracts.
• Ensure a data-driven, audience-led approach, including commissioning market research into key audience segments and competitors.
• Oversee marketing campaigns and activity for global programmes across all channels, ensuring annual plans are in place that are aligned to and deliver on planned business objectives.
• Develop a thought leadership strategy to effectively position the work of English Programmes and the British Council as a leading expert in this area, with a particular focus on international development
• Ensure monitoring and evaluation of marketing performance for English Programmes to review effectiveness against KPIs.
• Champion the capture and sharing of insight and analytics across marketing teams.
• Provide appropriate input to product/programme development and work with programme teams to embed the value of strategic marketing principles and practice in all contracts and programmes.
• Oversee the scoping, design, and development of marketing proposals for English Programmes contract bids, including the negotiation of marketing budgets and resources.
• Act as a brand champion for English Programmes, ensuring all opportunities to leverage the British Council brand are explored and implemented, strategically reviewing programmes against our wider brand architecture, and owning quality control with the Brand team.
• Work effectively with Corporate Communications across media relations, internal communications, and events to ensure a collaborative and consistent approach (both proactive and reactive).
• Work with Director Marketing, CE to set up and manage a roster of freelancers and agencies to provide bespoke support on programmes.

Consultancy, analysis, and problem-solving

• Promote the identification and implementation of effective strategies for developing new (or extending existing) markets across the globe.
• Work with Regional Marketing Directors to agree on specialized strategies and plans to support effective marketing delivery in a variety of complex markets.
• Build an in-depth understanding of the operational context, opportunities and challenges, and current and future business needs identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Ensure campaigns are commensurate with project prioritization, scale and scope, and sustainability. Manage internal and external delivery of marketing campaign activity and manage relationships with internal and external suppliers.
• Apply advanced knowledge of marketing and market insight to solve a range of complex business issues within Education globally.

Commercial/financial management

• Support the development of bids/business cases, determining the budget required for related marketing and events activity and resources to deliver.
• Develop a marketing resource model that ensures flexible and cost-effective access to professional skills throughout the marketing lifecycle.
• Agree and monitor resources, costs, and budgets for delivery maximizing ROI across marketing and between contracts.
• Report monthly and at year-end finance and apply learning from this to improve financial planning, management, and performance.
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Business Development

• Identify and make recommendations for improvements to ways of working that enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing.
• Make marketing recommendations that have a measurable impact on performance (e.g. in terms of efficiency, quality, reliability, risk mitigation, productivity, profitability, or customer satisfaction).

Relationship and stakeholder management

• Proactively build and maintain excellent relationships with internal and external partners and stakeholders, to ensure effective, integrated, and joined-up delivery of collective goals across the matrix.
• Plan how to establish and maintain nominated stakeholder relationships to support the achievement of agreed impact targets.
• Develop peer/personal networks within and outside the British Council to enhance own knowledge and expertise.
• Work with regional marketing colleagues to embed best practices and service delivery.

Leadership and management

• Partner and coordinate with the English Programmes leadership teams to develop and establish long-term business plans and marketing sector strategies.
• Guide and coordinate the English Programmes marketing team, building on and sharing best practices and bringing consistency to common functions across the SBU.
• Provide formal line and/or professional management to the English Programmes marketing team, setting the vision, direction, and annual marketing plan to ensure business objectives are realized in accordance with the overarching British Council strategy
• Demonstrate effective ROI for marketing spend across the year and ensure external contractual arrangements are fully met along with effective supplier management,
• Using agreed corporate systems and processes, plan and manage the core budget for Education marketing, conducting monthly and year-end reporting on income, expenditure, and risk, and actively applying learning to improve planning, management, and performance.
• Work across Cultural Engagement Marketing, particularly Education and Innovation, and Insight teams, to ensure alignment and to maximize opportunities for knowledge sharing

Role-specific knowledge and experience:

Essential requirements:

• Degree or professional qualification in marketing, communications, or business or demonstrable level of equivalent experience
• Proven experience managing complex global marketing programmes
• Experience leading a team within a large and complex global organization
• Highly experienced in the design and delivery of marketing strategies and plans to support
• Experience in business development and thought leadership strategies programmes/products
• Experience in effectively negotiating budgets and resources with senior stakeholders
• Thorough knowledge of strategic planning and budgeting management.
• Experience in marketing within the ELT sector

Desirable:

• Postgraduate degree in a relevant field, or demonstrable level of equivalent experience
• Experience in embedding a marketing and audience-led culture within organizations
• Experience in managing change and embedding new ways of working
• Experience working in an international development context