February 2026
Role: Head of Marketing
Location: Hybrid – Brighton or Sheffield
Hours: 35 hours per week
Reports to: Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
Salary: TBA
- Background
WaterBear is a growing specialist college of music based in Brighton, delivering undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications both on-site and online. With ambitious growth plans and future multi-site expansion, WaterBear is strengthening its operational leadership structure.
The Head of Marketing is a senior operational role, responsible for delivering marketing performance, leading the marketing team, and ensuring disciplined execution of strategy set by the CMO. This is a hands-on leadership position focused on implementation, performance management, team leadership and measurable results.
- Role Purpose
The Head of Marketing is responsible for:
- Operational delivery of the agreed marketing strategy.
- Driving student recruitment through effective campaign execution.
- Leading, managing and developing the marketing team.
- Confidently handling people management and (with support) HR-related matters within the department.
- Ensuring marketing performance is measurable, accountable and aligned to commercial objectives.
- Key Responsibilities
Marketing Delivery & Performance
- Execute the marketing strategy set by the CMO, ensuring campaigns are delivered on time and to budget.
- Own and manage the marketing activity plan across digital and traditional channels.
- Oversee paid media activity including PPC, paid social and other digital acquisition channels.
- Monitor KPIs weekly and monthly, taking corrective action where performance falls short.
- Produce clear, data-driven performance reports for senior leadership
Leadership & Team Management
- Provide strong day-to-day leadership to the marketing team.
- Set clear objectives, manage workloads and hold team members accountable for delivery.
- Lead performance reviews, development conversations and training plans.
- Manage HR matters confidently and professionally, escalating appropriately where required.
- Foster a culture of professionalism, pace and accountability within the team.
Brand & Content Oversight
- Ensure all marketing communications reflect WaterBear’s brand values and tone of voice.
- Oversee the production of high-quality content across web, email, social and print.
- Maintain full oversight of the WaterBear website, ensuring accuracy, optimisation and continuous improvement.
Budget & Operational Control
- Manage the marketing budget in collaboration with the CFO and CMO.
- Ensure disciplined spend management and clear ROI accountability.
- Oversee agency relationships and external partners to ensure performance standards are met.
Recruitment & Engagement Activity
- Oversee acquisition events including Open Days, UCAS events, careers fairs and school visits.
- Work closely with the Recruitment team to ensure marketing activity supports conversion and enrolment targets.
- Person Specification
Essential
- Proven experience in operational marketing leadership.
- Strong people management experience, including performance and HR-related matters.
- Experience delivering measurable recruitment or lead-generation campaigns.
- Solid understanding of digital acquisition (SEO, PPC, paid social).
- Strong analytical capability and confidence working with performance data.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- High levels of organisation, accountability and delivery focus.
- Experience within the UK creative industries or education sector.
Desirable
- Experience within the music industry.
- WordPress knowledge.
- Content production (photo/video) capability.
- Degree-level qualification.
- Working Culture
WaterBear values high performance balanced with wellbeing. We believe professionals perform best when expectations are clear, accountability is strong, and support for development is embedded. Coaching and professional development may be provided where appropriate.
