Marketing Manager, B2B Lifecycle at Financial Times in London

Job description

• The Marketing Manager, B2B Lifecycle will own and develop defined areas of the B2B lifecycle strategy across FT Professional and the FT Specialist portfolio, with a primary focus on renewal and customer value growth through cross-sell and upsell.
• You will own a portfolio of lifecycle programmes spanning renewal support, retention, cross-sell and upsell, delivering measurable improvements in account growth, renewal rates and customer lifetime value. The role will also flex across earlier lifecycle stages, including trial engagement, onboarding and in-life engagement, where required to support broader commercial priorities.
• Working closely with the Head of B2B Lifecycle, you will translate the overall lifecycle strategy into quarterly plans, prioritised initiatives and commercial outcomes. Using customer insight and performance analysis, you will find opportunities, determine where resource should be focused and lead programmes designed to improve renewal outcomes and drive expansion within existing accounts.
• You will work closely with collaborators across B2B Marketing, Sales, Data & Analytics and Marketing Automation to ensure lifecycle programmes support wider product, proposition and account strategies while remaining focused on customer outcomes. Marketing Automation will design and build campaigns and journeys from the briefs and strategic requirements you develop.
• A core part of the role is ownership of business performance. You will define KPIs, monitor progress against commercial objectives, identify risks and opportunities, and recommend interventions that improve renewal performance, account growth and customer lifetime value.
• As part of the Experience and Lifecycle Centre of Excellence, you will also help establish and embed consistent lifecycle frameworks, playbooks and ways of working across FT Professional, FT Specialist and Consumer Lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Lifecycle strategy and planning
• Own lifecycle plans and a portfolio of programmes focused on renewal, retention, cross-sell and upsell, translating the overall B2B lifecycle strategy into quarterly priorities and measurable commercial outcomes.
• Identify customer needs, behavioural trends and commercial opportunities, prioritising initiatives that maximise renewal rates, account expansion and customer lifetime value.
• Define lifecycle approaches including audience segmentation, personalisation, contact strategy and customer experience, aligned with wider commercial and account priorities.
• Prioritise initiatives within your area, balancing renewal performance, growth opportunity and available resource.
• Lead the adoption of Experience and Lifecycle Centre of Excellence standards, supporting a consistent, premium customer experience.
• Briefing and programme development
• Define programme and campaign objectives, customer journeys, content direction, KPIs and success measures, with a strong emphasis on renewal and expansion outcomes.
• Develop campaign briefs and journey requirements for Marketing Automation, ensuring activity aligns with lifecycle strategy and commercial priorities.
• Lead cross-functional planning with B2B Marketing, Sales and Data & Analytics to deliver integrated renewal and growth programmes.
• Oversee programme delivery, proactively managing risks, dependencies and collaborator alignment.
• Maintain programme documentation, governance and delivery standards across lifecycle activity.
• Reporting, insight and performance management
• Own the performance of lifecycle programmes within your remit, defining KPIs and monitoring progress against renewal, retention and expansion objectives.
• Lead regular performance reviews, identifying trends, risks and opportunities and recommending corrective action where required.
• Translate customer behaviour, lifecycle performance and commercial insight into clear recommendations that inform future strategy and programme priorities.
• Demonstrate the contribution of lifecycle activity to renewal rates, retention, cross-sell, upsell, account growth and customer lifetime value.
• Provide clear performance updates and strategic recommendations to the Head of B2B Lifecycle and senior collaborators.
• Optimisation and experimentation
• Own the testing and optimisation roadmap for your lifecycle portfolio, prioritising opportunities with the greatest potential impact on renewal and customer expansion.
• Lead optimisation of audiences, journeys, messaging, content and customer experiences using customer insight and performance data.
• Work with Marketing Automation and Data & Analytics to support robust test design, measurement and evaluation.
• Embed successful approaches into future programmes, documenting optimal procedures and scaling improvements across the portfolio.
• See opportunities to improve lifecycle capability, customer journeys and operational efficiency across the B2B business.
• Collaboration and collaborator management
• Partner with B2B Marketing to ensure lifecycle programmes support wider product, proposition, account and commercial strategies, with a clear focus on renewal and customer growth.
• Influence senior partners using customer insight, commercial evidence and market context to build alignment around renewal and growth priorities and investment decisions.
• Monitor market developments and emerging lifecycle optimal procedures, applying relevant learning to continuously improve the FT’s B2B customer experience.
• Centre of Excellence contribution
• Lead the development and adoption of lifecycle frameworks, playbooks, governance and optimal procedures across the B2B lifecycle.
• Champion consistent lifecycle standards, customer experience principles and measurement frameworks across the B2B portfolio.
• Share successful approaches, insight and innovation across the Experience and Lifecycle Centre of Excellence to help build organisational capability.
• Partner with Consumer Lifecycle colleagues to find opportunities to scale lifecycle strategies and reusable approaches across RRG.
• Coach and support junior lifecycle colleagues, helping develop lifecycle marketing capability and a culture of continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Significant experience in CRM, lifecycle, retention, renewal, expansion or customer marketing within a commercial B2B or subscription environment.
• Proven experience owning customer marketing programmes and defining plans, KPIs and commercial outcomes.
• Strong analytical and commercial skills, with the ability to turn customer behaviour and business performance into strategic recommendations and measurable improvements.
• Experience defining customer segmentation, personalisation, testing strategies and lifecycle programmes informed by customer insight.
• Strong planning, prioritisation and organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and drive delivery through others.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present recommendations clearly and influence collaborators.
• Strong creative judgement and experience reviewing customer-facing communications, journeys and content.
• A customer-focused and commercially minded approach, with an interest in delivering measurable improvements in renewal performance and customer value growth.
• An interest in journalism and media, alongside an understanding of how large or complex media organisations operate.
• No additional desirable criteria have been specified for this role.

Skills

Required

• CRM
• Lifecycle marketing
• Retention marketing
• Renewal marketing
• Expansion marketing
• Customer marketing
• Analytical skills
• Commercial skills
• Customer segmentation
• Personalisation
• Testing strategies
• Planning

Benefits

• Our benefits vary by location but we are committed to providing best-in-class perks across all our offices. These include generous annual leave, medical cover, inclusive parental leave packages, subsidised gym memberships and opportunities to give back to the community. Full details of our benefits are available here.
• We currently operate a hybrid model which requires staff to work onsite 50% of the time, subject to role requirements & regular review. While flexible working requests will be considered, not all patterns are suitable for all roles. We believe this balanced approach supports flexibility and protects our culture, making collaboration and communication easier, building stronger relationships and team cohesion, and supporting peer learning. We reserve discretion on reasonable notice to change this approach either generally or for specific individuals or teams.