Head of Marketing, Simply Be (12 months FTC)

Here at N Brown, we champion inclusivity by making our customers look and feel amazing. We don’t believe that age, size, shape or background should stop anyone from feeling confident, stylish and happy with the way they look and feel. With our industry leading expertise in creating fashion that fits, we’ve been proudly breaking down these barriers for over 150 years. We help our customers to express themselves with stylish products, helpful services and flexible finance. Now, we’re moving forward together, embracing innovation and new technology, to continue to delight our customers. You will be part of our home team who have a strong strategy to grow home and are passionate about offering home products for our customers.

We’re looking for an experienced and strategic brand marketing leader to join Simply Be as our Head of Marketing on a 12 month fixed-term contract. You’ll be responsible for shaping and executing a compelling and comprehensive through-the-line marketing strategy that delivers on the brand vision, connects with customers and drives growth. You’ll own everything from brand storytelling and though-the-line content strategy, media partnerships and PR activations, social and influencer strategy and budget management - all while ensuring brand consistency. In this dynamic role, you’ll lead a team of experienced marketeers, manage core KPIs, and work cross-functionally with the wider marketing and creative teams, plus leaders from across the wider business to deliver impactful, multi-channel campaigns, with a specific focus across social, influencer, content partnerships and PR. If you’re passionate about creating powerful brand narratives, driving performance, and leading with creativity and insight, we’d love to hear from you.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Brand Marketing Strategy Creation & Alignment: develop and execute the brand marketing strategy, ensuring alignment with digital marketing strategies.

• KPI Management: own and manage the core commercial KPIs at the brand level, ensuring performance aligns with business goals.

• Team Leadership & Development: lead, mentor, and motivate a dynamic brand marketing and CRM team, as well as a dotted-line digital marketing team, creating an agile, multi-disciplinary squad.

• Strategic Collaboration: partner with senior leadership to craft and execute advertising, broadcast, marketing, and PR/social campaigns, ensuring consistency in brand voice and messaging. 

• Brand Communication & Execution: oversee the design and delivery of a robust brand communication strategy, ensuring it resonates with the target audience across channels.

• Budget Management: manage the brand marketing budget, ensuring commercial awareness and adaptability in response to shifting market conditions.

• Customer-Facing Strategy: drive the brand’s customer-facing strategy, ensuring key executions resonate with target audience.

• Selling Plan Translation: convert the selling plan into an actionable, effective brand marketing plan that supports business goals, integrated through the line. 

• Always-On Content Creation: develop a content calendar for continuous, engaging “always-on” marketing initiatives.

• Storytelling & Campaign Execution: translate products and promotions into authentic, compelling brand stories that connect with customers.

• Vendor & Relationship Management: manage key relationships with external partners (creative, media, PR agencies, etc.) to drive impactful brand marketing initiatives.

• Regulatory Compliance: ensure that all marketing campaigns meet regulatory and industry requirements.

• Event Planning & Execution: oversee event planning and execution within time and budgetary constraints, ensuring they align with brand objectives.

• Performance Analysis: track, measure, and report on the success of all marketing initiatives, analysing ROI and recommending improvements

Job Qualifications and Skills

• Collaborative & Proactive: flexible and able to work effectively within cross-functional teams, with a proactive approach to problem-solving and driving results.

• Resourceful & Results-Oriented: can overcome challenges, focused on delivering outcomes that align with business goals.

• Passionate & Self-Motivated: enthusiastic, with the ability to thrive in high-pressure environments and maintain motivation to meet objectives.

• Exceptional Planning & Organizational Skills: skilled in managing multiple projects simultaneously, meeting deadlines, and prioritizing tasks effectively.

• Multi-Channel Campaign Coordination: proven experience in planning and executing integrated, multi-channel marketing campaigns across various channels.

• Customer-Centric: an understanding of customer needs and a keen eye for style and fashion, with the ability to shape marketing initiatives around customer drivers.

• Brand & Digital Marketing Expertise: strong foundation in both, with the ability to merge the two for seamless execution.

• Leadership & Team Management: experience in managing and influencing teams (matrixed or dotted structure), leading a diverse brand and CRM marketing team, while leveraging experts in wider marketing channels/disciplines (e.g. digital) and wider business areas, executing through-the-line marketing strategies.

• Strategic Brand Planning & Execution: brand strategy, marketing planning, and communication/media planning experience, with a particular focus on social media, content and influencer marketing.

• Understanding of the Customer Journey: knowledge of the end-to-end customer journey in an online retail business, with the ability to design marketing initiatives that resonate at every touchpoint.

• Senior Leadership Experience: proven ability to lead at a senior level with a solid marketing background, influencing both internal and external stakeholders. 

• Storytelling Expertise: ability to translate product offerings and promotions into authentic, compelling stories that engage customers.

  Brand Differentiation: skilled at articulating a brand’s unique proposition to effectively differentiate in the marketplace and drive growth.

  Fashion/Beauty Experience (Desirable): experience in the fashion or beauty industries is a plus, understanding the unique dynamics and trends in these sectors.

  Educational Background: degree in marketing or a related field is desirable but not essential.

What’s in it for you? 

• 24 days holiday (+ 8 bank holidays) with the option to buy an additional 10 days
• Annual bonus scheme
• Enhanced maternity and adoption leave
• Company pension with up to 8% N Brown contribution
• Mental Health support both internally and externally, including access to our wellbeing champions and counselling services
• A range of financial wellbeing support
• Colleague discount across all N Brown brands
• Onsite café with subsidised rates and local restaurant discounts!
• Life Assurance and Private Medical Insurance
• Paid volunteer time – all our colleagues can take a full day paid to volunteer for a charity of their choice

Ways of Working 

• We offer hybrid working which varies across the business depending on the role you’re in.  Our Head Office is located in the Northern Quarter in Manchester City Centre. So if you are travelling by train, tram or bus we’re perfectly located, plus we’re surrounded by cool cafes, trendy bars and the best places to eat!
• Our full-time working hours are 36.17 per week over 5-days. We don’t have strict working hours therefore there is some flexibility around start and finish times as long as you are meeting the needs of the business.
• Our promise to you:
• We’re an equal opportunity employer and value diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.