Job title: Global Marketing Director
Salary: Competitive
Location: Cambridge, hybrid with minimum 2 days per week at our Cambridge office
Contract: Permanent, full time
Hours: 35 hours per week
This is a rare opportunity to lead the global marketing direction of our Academic business and shape how our brand, publishing and author community are represented worldwide. You will set the strategic vision for marketing, influence decisions at the highest levels, and drive measurable growth across markets and channels—while staying anchored in what matters most: outstanding service to authors and customers. Your leadership will guide a large global function through insight‑driven, innovative and customer‑centred marketing, using the latest technologies to test, learn and scale what works.
We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world‑leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge.
About The Role
You will define and deliver a global marketing strategy that strengthens our market position, deepens our customer understanding and supports our long‑term Academic objectives. Working as part of the Academic Board, you will combine commercial focus with genuine empathy for researchers and authors, building the trust that underpins our brand. You will use insight, market intelligence and data to direct strategic choices, ensuring marketing ambitions translate into revenue impact and publishing ambitions.
You will lead senior marketing specialists across channels, services, brand and insight, building a cohesive, modern function with a shared strategic purpose. The role requires balancing long‑term vision with operational leadership—aligning strategy, execution and investment decisions to deliver high performance and measurable outcomes. You will champion use of automation and explore emerging tools (including AI) to improve effectiveness, deepen personalisation and free teams to focus on high‑value work. You will also safeguard brand integrity and ensure communications reflect Cambridge's values globally.
Key Responsibilities
* Set and lead the global Academic marketing strategy to support organisational objectives, revenue growth and long‑term brand equity.
* Build an insight‑driven approach to decision‑making and future planning, connecting customer and author needs to clear commercial opportunities.
* Maximise our global brand presence and ensure consistent, high‑quality communications that build trust with authors and customers.
* Guide senior leaders and teams across markets to deliver high‑impact activity, with clear KPIs and accountability.
* Lead a large global team, cultivating a culture that is both bold and empathetic—high standards, inclusive leadership, and a relentless focus on service.
* Direct budgets, resource planning and ROI management, and sponsor capability building in marketing technology and experimentation to improve performance at scale.
This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face‑to‑face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long‑term health condition.
About You
You bring extensive senior marketing leadership experience within a complex, global environment, with a confident approach to shaping long‑term strategy grounded in customer insight, data and market intelligence. You can hold two truths at once: that great author and customer service is non‑negotiable, and that marketing must deliver profitable growth. Strategic judgement and the ability to translate analysis into clear direction are central to how you operate.
Your background spans multiple areas of marketing, combining product, brand, digital, and customer insight expertise. You are comfortable working closely with sales and publishing teams, and you bring a practical understanding of modern marketing approaches. You are accustomed to leading large, dispersed teams and guiding them through change, encouraging accountability, high performance and a collaborative, inclusive culture. You bring a strong drive for continual improvement, actively exploring and applying new technologies including AI to enhance effectiveness, efficiency and impact across the function.
You are financially astute, comfortable managing significant budgets and making investment decisions that balance commercial impact with strategic ambition. You can build compelling business cases for innovation, prioritise ruthlessly, and measure what matters. Strong communication skills enable you to influence senior stakeholders, build strong partnerships and ensure alignment across organisational priorities.
If you meet the above minimum requirements, we encourage you to apply. Your application will be even stronger if you can also demonstrate the following desirable criteria:
Desirable Criteria
* Experience within academic publishing or a related knowledge‑based sector.
* Professional marketing qualifications (or equivalent experience).
* Experience developing global insight and measurement functions, including commercial forecasting and performance dashboards.
* Experience improving marketing operating models and capability and partnering with teams to adopt new technologies responsibly.
Rewards and Benefits
* 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
* Private medical and Permanent Health Insurance
* Discretionary annual bonus
* Group personal pension scheme
* Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary
* Green travel schemes
We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long‑term health condition, and best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria, as we would for applicants who do not have a disability or long‑term health condition.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment is an approved UK employer for the sponsorship of eligible roles and applicants under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please refer to the gov.uk website for guidance to understand your own eligibility based on the role you are applying for.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to being a place where anyone can enjoy a successful career, where it is safe to speak up, and where we learn continuously to improve together. We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of demographic characteristics (age, disability, educational attainment, ethnicity, gender, marital status, neurodiversity, religion, sex, gender identity and sexual identity), cultural, or social class/background.
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