Durban: Marketing Leader – Retail (Durban) QR4471 posted by Quantum Recruitment

The Marketing Leader is responsible for end-to-end brand, digital, content, and customer experience leadership across two retail brands. This role consolidates responsibilities traditionally split across Digital Marketing, Brand Management, and Content Leadership, while also owning customer experience, in-store marketing alignment, visual merchandising support, and brand partnership management. The role requires a commercially driven, hands-on leader who can operate at both strategic and operational levels, while leading and developing a high-performing team and delivering consistent brand and customer outcomes across online and physical retail channels. Key Responsibilities: Leadership & People Management Lead, coach, and develop a cross-functional marketing and support team, ensuring clarity of roles, priorities, and performance expectations. Set direction, provide guidance, and support decision-making across the team. Foster accountability, collaboration, and a high-performance culture. Manage team capacity, workload prioritisation, and delivery timelines. Support performance management, development planning, and succession within the team. Online Customer Experience & Website Management: Own the end-to-end online customer journey, ensuring the website experience reflects the quality and service standards of the in-store experience. Design, monitor, and optimise customer pathways from landing page to purchase, driving conversion and engagement. Oversee and improve checkout UX, ensuring simplicity, security, and minimal friction. Coordinate with ecommerce, fulfilment, and support teams to ensure accurate order communication and delivery timelines. Support and intervene where returns and refunds are not processed efficiently or within agreed turnaround times. Act as a senior escalation point for post-purchase customer issues, stepping in when managerial judgment is required. Identify and implement UI and UX improvements based on customer feedback, site behaviour, and support insights. Digital Marketing Strategy & Performance: Define and lead the digital marketing strategy across paid and organic channels for both brands. Oversee planning and execution of email, SMS, and other owned channel communications to drive retention and conversion. Ensure all digital activity is on-brand, aligned with tone of voice, positioning, and visual standards. Maintain governance and oversight of paid media budgets, ensuring accurate tracking, reporting, and partner management. Take accountability for Return on Ad Spend and overall campaign performance, ensuring results meet or exceed benchmarks. Work closely with digital partners and agencies to review performance, optimise campaigns, and guide investment decisions. Brand & In-Store Marketing: Act as brand custodian, ensuring consistent brand expression across digital, in-store, and customer touchpoints. Maintain regular communication with in-store marketing teams, area managers, and stakeholders. Review, prioritise, and assess in-store marketing initiatives based on expected ROI and commercial impact. Identify underperforming stores and implement targeted marketing support to drive foot traffic and sales. Coordinate and oversee new store opening communications, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and brand alignment. Support area managers with local and regional marketing initiatives. Share weekly digital marketing content with malls to extend customer reach and awareness. Content Creation & Campaign Execution: Provide strategic oversight of content creation, working closely with buyers to support product intent and selection. Partner with buying and marketing teams to ensure content clearly communicates product value, features, and positioning. Oversee planning, booking, and coordination of photography and videography shoots. Manage the operational coordination of product movement for content creation, working with the marketing coordinator and warehouse. Own the planning and execution of large-scale seasonal and campaign shoots, ensuring deadlines, budgets, and creative standards are met. Ensure all content aligns with brand CI, tone of voice, and creative standards across all channels. Visual Merchandising Support Partner with the Merchandising Manager to support the development of visual assets aligned to campaign objectives and in-store priorities. Oversee the production, printing, and distribution of visual merchandising assets to stores. Ensure all visual elements align with brand CI, visual standards, and overall brand strategy. Act as a quality control checkpoint for in-store visual execution across the store network. Ensure stores receive the correct assets at the right time to support campaign execution Brand Partnership Management: Own and manage strategic relationships with key brand partners across both brands. Act as the primary point of contact and trusted commercial partner. Lead forward planning of digital marketing spend with brand partners, ensuring seasonal alignment and budget clarity. Ensure partner content aligns with partner CI, while remaining cohesive within the overarching company brand framework. Provide accurate monthly reporting to brand partners on spend, performance, and ROI. Ensure timeous and accurate invoicing for all agreed marketing spend. Identify opportunities to strengthen partnerships, improve performance, and drive mutual value. Key Performance Indicators Digital marketing performance and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) Online conversion rate and customer journey optimisation Brand consistency and campaign execution quality Content delivery against timelines and budgets In-store marketing impact and store support effectiveness Brand partner performance, reporting, and relationship management Team performance, engagement, and capability development Experience & Qualifications: 8 years’ experience in senior marketing, brand, or customer experience roles Proven experience leading and managing people Strong retail or consumer brand background with fashion/lifestyle preferred Experience working across online and physical retail environments Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities across more than one brand Strong commercial acumen and data-driven decision-making capability Preferred: Experience managing dual-brand or multi-brand portfolios Exposure to ecommerce platforms and digital optimisation Experience working in fast-paced, growth-oriented retail businesses This role spans two brands and consolidates multiple senior marketing disciplines so it is best suited to a leader who enjoys breadth, accountability, people leadership, and end-to-end ownership. Key Competencies Strategic thinking with strong execution capability Commercial and performance-driven mindset Strong leadership and stakeholder management High attention to detail and brand standards Confident decision-making and problem-solving Ability to manage complexity, pace, and competing priorities