Overview

Hello, we’re Starling. We built a new kind of bank because we knew technology had the power to help people save, spend and manage their money in a new and transformative way. We’re a fully licensed UK bank with the culture and spirit of a fast-moving, disruptive tech company. We’re a bank, but better: fairer, easier to use and designed to demystify money for everyone. We employ more than 3,000 people across our London, Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester offices.

Starling is an multi-award-winning, fully licensed, and regulated UK bank, built from the ground up to be different. We were founded on the belief that banking should be fair, simple, and designed to help people manage their money better. As a leading digital bank, we have an app-first approach, a relentless focus on customer experience, and a mission to change banking for good.

We are a high-growth, fast-paced company looking for a leader who is as passionate about our mission as we are. If you want to be at the forefront of the fintech revolution and make a tangible impact on millions of customers, this is the place for you.

We are seeking a commercially astute and data-driven Director of Growth Marketing to be the engine of our customer acquisition and engagement strategy. This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for architecting and executing the multi-channel strategies that will fuel the next stage of Starling’s exponential growth.

You will be a strategic leader with a proven track record of scaling customer acquisition in a fast-paced, digital-first business. You will lead a talented, multi-disciplinary team, fostering a culture of experimentation, data-driven decision-making, and relentless optimisation. This role is a unique opportunity to own the end-to-end growth funnel, from attracting new customers to deepening relationships with our existing base of millions across both our Retail and SME banking products.

Key Responsibilities

1. Growth Strategy & Leadership

  • Architect and own the overarching growth marketing strategy, aligning with Starling’s ambitious business objectives and financial targets.
  • Define, own, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) and a comprehensive measurement framework, including Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Lifetime Value (LTV), payback periods, channel-level ROAS, and customer engagement metrics.
  • Lead, mentor, and inspire a high-performing team across Web & SEO, Performance Marketing (Paid Digital), Customer Engagement (CRM), and Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO). Foster professional development and build a world-class growth function.
  • Manage the growth marketing budget, ensuring efficient allocation of resources to drive maximum return on investment and sustainable growth.
  • Collaborate closely with executive leadership and cross-functional partners in Product, Data, Engineering, and Commercial to ensure a cohesive and integrated approach to growth.

2. Acquisition & Channel Management

  • Paid Digital:
    • Spearhead the paid media strategy across all digital channels (e.g., PPC, Paid Social, Programmatic Display, Video, Affiliates).
    • Drive a rigorous, data-led approach to campaign optimisation, audience segmentation, and creative testing to continually improve efficiency and scale.
    • Oversee the management of our in-house buying platforms and strategically manage relationships with external media agencies and partners.
  • Web & Organic Search:
    • Champion the strategy for our primary digital asset, starlingbank.com, transforming it into a best-in-class acquisition and customer support engine.
    • Lead the comprehensive organic search (SEO) strategy, encompassing technical SEO, content strategy, off-page authority building, and App Store Optimisation (ASO) to dominate search rankings for key terms.
    • Oversee our digital footprint on crucial third-party platforms, including Google My Business and key review sites, to manage our online reputation and local search presence.
  • MarTech & Emerging Channels:
    • Continuously evaluate and evolve our MarTech stack (Analytics, CDP, Automation tools) to unlock new capabilities and drive efficiency, working in close partnership with Data and Engineering teams.
    • Foster a culture of innovation by identifying, testing, and scaling new and emerging channels to diversify our acquisition portfolio.

3. Customer Engagement & Retention

  • Develop and lead a sophisticated customer lifecycle marketing strategy to increase product adoption, drive engagement, and reduce churn.
  • Oversee the creation and optimisation of multi-channel engagement programmes (email, push notifications, in-app messages) for all customer segments, including Retail, Sole Trader, and Limited Company (SME) accounts.
  • Utilise data and customer insights to build highly personalised and automated communication journeys that deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time.

4. Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) & Experimentation

  • Champion a robust, company-wide experimentation programme to systematically improve conversion rates across the entire customer journey, from first ad impression to in-app onboarding and feature adoption.
  • Define the user research and testing roadmap, employing methodologies such as A/B/n testing, multivariate testing, user interviews, and session analysis to uncover actionable insights.
  • Translate quantitative and qualitative data into hypotheses that drive iterative improvements to our web and app experiences.

Requirements

  • Essential:
    • Extensive Leadership Experience: In marketing with a track record in a senior leadership role (Director, Head of) within a high-growth, digital-first B2C or B2B environment.
    • Proven Growth Expertise: A demonstrable track record of scaling customer acquisition through the management of multi-million-pound budgets across a diverse mix of marketing channels.
    • Multi-Disciplinary Team Management: Experience leading and developing high-performing, specialist teams across Paid Media, SEO, CRM, and CRO.
    • Data-Driven & Analytical: Deeply analytical mindset with the ability to move fluidly between high-level strategic thinking and granular performance analysis. Expertise with web analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics 4), data visualisation tools (e.g., Looker, Tableau), and experimentation platforms.
    • Commercial Acumen: Strong understanding of unit economics and the ability to build robust forecasts, business cases, and report on performance to an executive audience.
    • Inspirational Leadership: A natural ability to coach, mentor, and motivate senior team members, fostering a collaborative, accountable, and test-and-learn culture.
  • Desirable:
    • Industry Expertise: Experience within financial services, fintech, or another regulated industry is highly advantageous.
    • Technical Acumen: Strong familiarity with modern marketing technology stacks, including Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), marketing automation tools (e.g., Braze, Iterable), and major advertising platforms.
    • Brand & Performance Synergy: An understanding of how to balance long-term brand building with short-term performance marketing objectives to create a sustainable growth model.

Benefits

  • 25 days holiday (plus take your public holiday allowance whenever works best for you)
  • An extra day’s holiday for your birthday
  • Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off
  • 16 hours paid volunteering time a year
  • Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme
  • Life insurance at 4x your salary & group income protection
  • Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton
  • Generous family-friendly policies
  • Incentivised refer a friend scheme
  • Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks
  • Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing

About Us

You may be put off applying for a role because you don’t tick every box. Forget that! While we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we’re always open to discussion. So, if you’re excited about working with us, but aren’t sure if you’re 100% there yet, get in touch anyway.

We’re on a mission to radically reshape banking – and that starts with our brilliant team. Whatever came before, we’re proud to bring together people of all backgrounds and experiences who love working together to solve problems.

Starling is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Starling are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

By submitting your application, you agree that Starling may collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we may process, where we may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.

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