[Hiring] Deputy Head of Candidate Marketing at QS Quacquarelli Symonds

The role

The Deputy Head of Candidate Marketing supports the Head of Events & Candidate Marketing in driving the global candidate marketing strategy, ensuring operational excellence, and fostering a high-performance, client- and candidate-centric culture. This role acts as a key partner to the Head, providing leadership to regional marketing directors and teams, and ensuring the effective execution of marketing initiatives across all regions.

Role responsibilities

Leadership & Team Development

• Support the Head of Candidate Marketings in cultivating a high-performance culture within the Candidate Marketing teams, promoting collaboration and alignment with QS values.
• Mentor and manage regional marketing directors, fostering professional growth and a digital-first, innovative mindset.
• Act as a deputy and stand-in for the Head as required, ensuring continuity of leadership and decision-making.

Strategy & Planning

• Translate the global candidate marketing strategy into actionable regional plans, ensuring alignment with business objectives and KPIs.
• Lead the development and implementation of scalable, candidate-centric marketing and social media plans across regions.
• Collaborate with the Head and regional leaders to build strategic marketing plans that prioritise quality lead delivery and meet regional volume targets.#

Market Intelligence & Reporting

• Consolidate and analyse market intelligence and performance data from regional teams to inform global strategy and identify growth opportunities.
• Deliver insightful trend and data analysis to the Head and global stakeholders, emphasising actionable opportunities to enhance ROI.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and channels, providing actionable insights to optimise candidate quality and conversion rates.
• Collaborate with data analytics and product teams to ensure robust data collection, integrity, and reporting on candidate pipelines and outcomes.
• Monitor and report on the impact of new marketing initiatives on candidate quality, ensuring continuous improvement and alignment with business goals.
• Support the development of predictive models and segmentation strategies to enhance targeting and improve the quality of candidate pools.

Operational Excellence

• Oversee the optimisation of marketing operations with a strong focus on candidate quality, efficiency, and scalability, leveraging automation, analytics, and best practices.
• Support the development and management of an innovation agenda for candidate marketing, ensuring QS remains at the forefront of industry trends.
• Ensure robust risk management and compliance processes are embedded across marketing activities.

Stakeholder & Customer Success

• Foster effective collaboration with internal stakeholders (sales, events, digital, customer success) to deliver integrated campaigns and exceptional candidate/client experiences.
• Support account management and customer service operations, identifying opportunities for service enhancement through technology and process improvement.

Other duties

• Any other duties that fall within the purpose and scope of the role.

Key skills and experience

• Significant experience in higher education marketing and student recruitment, with a proven track record in multi-regional or global roles.
• Strong leadership skills, with experience managing and developing diverse, cross-functional teams.
• Expertise in digital marketing, content strategy, and data-driven decision-making.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• High emotional intelligence, adaptability, and a passion for building high-performing teams.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on operational execution.