UK & I Retail Marketing Director

This inclusive employer is a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community.

From day one, our mission has been to create an independent business with a unique culture - one that is controlled by the people who work for it. Finding the most talented and entrepreneurial people has always been key to our success.

People come to Howden for lots of different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. That's what sets us apart, and why we nurture and retain the best talent in the market. Whatever your priorities - work/life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering - you'll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

Title: UK & I retail marketing director

Location: Flexible, although some time in London

Term: Permanent, immediate start

Company

From day one, our mission at Howden has been to create an independent business with a unique culture - one that is controlled by the people who work for it. Finding the most talented and entrepreneurial people has always been key to our success.

People come to Howden for lots of different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. That's what sets us apart, and why we nurture and retain the best talent in the market. Whatever your priorities - work/life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering - you'll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

From launching with just three employees in 1994 in the UK, we've grown to over 16,000 people around the globe. Together, our expertise spans the full spectrum of insurance: broking, reinsurance, underwriting, risk consultancy and employee benefits. Howden is the largest insurance broker in the UK by reach and the second largest by revenue and we have exciting plans for further growth, with marketing playing a key role in raising brand awareness and driving lead generation.

Howden UK&I

With revenues of over £500mn and 4,800 colleagues we look after the insurance needs of c1.1mn clients, offering everything from personal home and car insurance, to businesses programs for sole traders to FTSE 250 companies from over 220 branches and sites across the UK and Ireland. We also serve the needs of HNW clients, offer mortgage and debt advice through specialists, as well as Health and Benefits programs for a multitude of employers. Our model is unique - there is no one offering the reach and access that we do at anything like this scale.

This 'end to end' insurance offering is delivered through five key pillars: Consumer, Commercial, Health and Benefits, Mortgage and Debt Advisory and Ireland. Each pillar has unique client sets and offers different products to their target markets.

We have grown by acquisition, and have recently branded our acquired businesses (primarily A-Plan and Aston Lark) as Howden. Our ongoing growth objectives are built on the existing strong underlying organic growth, M&A and talent acquisition.

An aim for the next twelve months is to become consciously 'Famous for client service', building on our reputation for high quality advice delivered in a positive, can do way so that currently delivers a 4.8/5 on Trustpilot, from over 40,000 reviewers.

Role

We are looking for a high performing marketing director for this business. As part of the retail leadership team, this role will be responsible for aligning the marketing for the five pillars, delivering pillar appropriate marketing activities within a common framework, as well as working with the pillars to determine how marketing can support their strategic goals and growth targets.

HUK&I Retail works closely with the Howden Specialty business, and the role will work closely with them to ensure a cohesive marketing approach and cross sales strategy, and to identify synergies where appropriate.

The candidate

To be successful in the role, you are a confident self-starter who can work independently and in a team. You will be comfortable with ambiguity and navigating a large organisation with multiple stakeholders and priorities. You will be a good listener and able to collaborate effectively with different parts of the business, support functions and geographies. You will have experience in successfully leading and managing a marketing and communications team and have strong commercial acumen which can translate into effective best marketing practices, ROI measurement and supporting future investment cases.

You will be adept at managing expectations, guiding and influencing decision-making and taking stakeholders with you. You have excellent collaboration skills with colleagues at all levels in the organisation.

The position is based in London. You will report to the retail CEO with and be a member of the Marketing Forum, Chaired by the Group Head of Marketing.

Key responsibilities

• Understand the business strategy and work with pillar business and marketing leads to develop an integrated marketing plan for the retail business, taking into consideration the differing target audiences
• Work closely with the speciality marketing lead to build a cohesive marketing plan for the full UK business
• Build strong relationships with local & global business and marketing leads to assess campaign opportunities and plan activity accordingly
• Develop hard working plans and collaborate with the wider network of marketing and communications functional experts where appropriate, including (but not limited to) events, sponsorship, digital, brand, content, and social media
• Work with the global functions to ensure brand consistency and best practice alignment
• Own and oversee the marketing budget and ROI on spend
• Develop and define measurements of success and KPIs to assess campaign performance
• Lead on reporting cross retail pillar results to senior stakeholders and building the profile of how marketing campaigns can support business goals
• Identify any gaps within the retail marketing function and suggest solutions
• Attend the UK&I Marketing Forum along with key colleagues from Group Marketing, Comms and specialty
• Build a sense of marketing community across all pillars within UK&I retail

Experience

• Experienced in leading and delivering marketing communications in a complex matrixed environment; ideally within the financial services sector or other regulated industries
• An understanding of PR and communications (internal and external)
• Given the breadth of the role, a minimum of 10 years marketing experience
• Team-oriented approach with ability to take the initiative, prioritize and manage multiple tasks simultaneously to meet stakeholder expectations and deadlines across multiple projects
• Ability to interact and communicate across a variety of stakeholder groups (technical subject matter experts to business owners) with the ability to present complex information in easily understandable format and tailored to the audience
• Ability to think strategically and execute tactically
• An excellent communicator (verbal and written)
• An enthusiastic team player
• A lateral thinker; able to find creative solutions

Our Culture: People First

We've travelled far since opening our first office in 1994. Back then we were local experts - based in London, with direct access to the world's biggest insurance market. We're still locals, and we still deliver the right advice and the right insurance to our clients. But now, we're local all over the world. With 15,000 global colleagues and a partner network spanning more than 100 territories, we are the largest independent insurance broker in the world. But our values haven't changed since day one, when we set out to create a company grounded in:

• An employee-ownership model

• Aligned external investors

• The trust and integrity born of friendship

• Expertise

• Independence

Our focus on being a people-first business has always been at the very heart of Howden. Our vision was to create an independent business with a unique culture; one that would survive and thrive as a business controlled by the people working for it. Our employee ownership model sets us apart in the market. It's created a culture of collaboration and innovation, where we're driven to think bigger and empowered to challenge convention.

Our flat structure and entrepreneurial spirit help us attract the best people and empower them to be the best version of themselves. And when we bring in and nurture great talent, more follows. That makes us better - and that's better for everyone.

Diversity & Inclusion

At Howden we consider our people our chief competitive advantage and as such we treat colleagues, candidates, clients, and business partners with equality, fairness and respect, regardless of their age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or family circumstances.