Head of Digital

The Head of Digital is a senior leadership role responsible for setting and delivering Marwell Wildlife’s digital experience, data and growth strategy.

Working as part of the Marketing, Sales and Fundraising senior leadership team alongside the Heads of Marketing, Sales and Fundraising, the role will ensure digital capability supports ambitious organisational growth across visitor income, membership, fundraising, commercial sales and wider audience engagement.

The Head of Digital will own the customer-facing digital ecosystem across the full Marwell Wildlife portfolio, ensuring our different audiences can discover, understand, engage with and transact with Marwell through simple, connected and effective digital journeys. This includes our website, CRM, customer data, email, guest app, online ticketing journey, SEO/AEO/GEO, conversion rate optimisation, analytics, affiliates and online partnerships.

This role is responsible for understanding how customers and supporters interact with Marwell digitally, identifying where friction or opportunity exists and leading continuous improvement across the full customer journey.

Working directly with the Director of Marketing, Sales and Fundraising, internal teams and external technology and agency partners, the Head of Digital will turn data and insight into clear priorities, investment decisions and measurable improvements in customer experience, conversion, income and long term supporter value., Digital Strategy & Leadership

• Develop and lead Marwell’s digital strategy and roadmap , aligned to marketing, commercial, fundraising and organisational objectives.

• Translate organisational priorities into clear digital plans, KPIs and measurable targets.

• Identify opportunities to improve Marwell’s digital capability, customer experience, audience growth and commercial performance., * Act as Marwell’s digital expert , advising senior colleagues and teams across the organisation on digital opportunities, innovation and best practice.

• Stay ahead of changes in technology, digital behaviour, search, AI and emerging platforms, identifying where these can create meaningful opportunities for Marwell, making recommendations to the exec and board.

• Lead, coach and develop the Digital Marketing Executive, setting clear priorities and creating a high-performing digital function.

Website & Digital Customer Experience

• Own the strategic development and performance of Marwell’s website , ensuring it delivers an excellent customer experience and supports organisational and commercial objectives.

• Develop and continually improve customer journeys from initial discovery through to purchase, visit, repeat engagement, membership, donation or other relevant conversion.

• Lead conversion rate optimisation (CRO ), using data, testing and insight to improve ticket conversion, secondary spend and other key actions.

• Work with internal teams, developers and technology partners to prioritise and deliver website development .

• Ensure the website is technically robust , accessible, mobile-first and optimised for performance and search.

• Oversee the integration of Marwell’s website, ticketing and other digital platforms to create as seamless a customer journey as possible.

CRM, Data & Customer Growth

• Lead the development and implementation of Marwell’s CRM strategy across marketing, sales, membership and fundraising.

• Develop segmentation, personalisation and automation strategies that build stronger and more valuable relationships with visitors, members and supporters.

• Identify opportunities to improve first-party data capture and build a richer understanding of Marwell’s audiences.

• Develop customer lifecycle communications including acquisition, pre-visit, post-visit, retention, reactivation and conversion journeys.

• Work across departments to improve how customer data is captured, structured and used.

• Ensure CRM and customer data activity complies with GDPR , privacy and organisational requirements, being the DPO for Marwell Wildlife

SEO/AEO/GEO, Digital Partnerships & Conversion

• Own Marwell’s SEO/AEO/GEO strategy across technical SEO, content optimisation and search visibility, ensuring Marwell builds its authority, reach and high-quality organic traffic.

• Own Marwell’s affiliate marketing, online tourism partners and online listings - both paid and unpaid - ensuring these are accurate, optimised and developed to maximise reach, traffic and commercial return.

• Identify and develop new affiliate, referral, listing and online partnership opportunities where they can deliver incremental reach, visitors or revenue.

• Work closely with the Communications Lead and Content Creator to ensure website and digital content is optimised for audience needs and search., * Provide digital performance, conversion and attribution insight to the Head of Marketing, Communications Lead and media agencies , helping inform and optimise paid digital campaigns, while ownership of paid media strategy and delivery remains within Marketing and Communications.

• Lead conversion optimisation across Marwell’s digital customer journeys , ensuring traffic generated through marketing and other channels converts effectively into ticket sales, membership, donations and other organisational objectives.

• Ensure digital platforms, customer journeys and activity are effectively integrated with wider marketing campaigns and communications.

Analytics, Insight & Performance

• Establish clear digital KPIs and dashboards across website, acquisition, conversion, CRM, email, app and other digital channels.

• Lead the use of GA4 and other analytics tools to understand customer behaviour and identify opportunities for improvement.

• Provide clear, actionable reporting to the Director of Marketing, Sales and Fundraising.

• Move reporting beyond what happened to explain why it happened, what it means and what action should be taken.

• Develop a culture of testing, learning and continuous optimisation across digital activity.

• Use customer, market and competitor insight to inform digital priorities and investment.

Guest App & Digital Platforms

• Own the strategic development and performance of Marwell’s guest app , ensuring it enhances the visit and supports engagement and commercial opportunities.

• Identify opportunities to use digital technology to improve the customer experience before, during and after a visit.

• Oversee relationships with key digital, ticketing, CRM, website and technology agencies and suppliers.

• Ensure platforms remain effective, integrated and fit for Marwell’s future requirements.

Budget & Agency Management

• Manage relevant digital budgets , ensuring investment is focused on activity delivering the greatest organisational and commercial impact.

• Manage and nurture digital agencies, developers and technology partners, setting clear objectives and holding partners accountable for performance.

• Regularly review suppliers, platforms and expenditure to ensure Marwell is receiving strong value and appropriate capability.

General

• Work closely with the Head of Marketing and wider Marketing, Sales and Fundraising team to deliver integrated campaigns and organisational objectives.

• Build strong relationships across Marwell, particularly with IT, Sales, Fundraising, Membership, Finance, Guest Experience and operational teams., * Support the Director of Marketing, Sales and Fundraising and Head of Marketing with future planning and digital transformation.

• Ensure digital activity complies with brand guidelines, accessibility requirements, GDPR and relevant organisational policies.

• Provide out-of-hours/weekend/bank holiday digital support where required.
• Identify with and contribute to Marwell Wildlife’s mission, values and charitable objectives.

The role requires an experienced digital leader who is equally happy working strategically as they are rolling up their sleeves and getting things done; combining strong commercial and analytical thinking with the ability to translate strategy into practical delivery., * Significant experience in a senior digital marketing, digital experience, ecommerce or digital growth role.

• Proven experience of developing and delivering digital strategies that have generated measurable audience and revenue growth.

• Strong commercial understanding with demonstrable experience of improving online conversion and customer journeys.

• Significant website management and development experience, including working with CMS platforms, developers and technical partners.

• Strong knowledge of CRO and experience of using testing and optimisation to improve performance.

• Strong SEO knowledge including technical, content and on-page optimisation.

• Advanced knowledge of GA4, digital analytics, dashboards and performance reporting.

• Experience implementing or significantly developing a CRM platform.

• Experience of CRM strategy, customer segmentation, automation and email marketing.

• Experience working with online booking, ecommerce or transactional platforms.

• Strong understanding of digital marketing channels and their role in the customer journey, with experience using performance and attribution data to inform and challenge agency activity.

• Experience of digital transformation or major website development projects.
• Knowledge of UX and accessibility best practice.
• Experience of customer research, user testing or behavioural analysis.

• Understanding of emerging AI applications within marketing, search and customer experience.

• Experience managing budgets and external agencies/suppliers.

• Strong numerical and analytical skills with the ability to turn complex data into clear commercial recommendations.

• Experience leading and developing people.

• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the confidence to influence colleagues at all levels.

• Strategic thinker who is equally comfortable working hands-on.
• Experience within a visitor attraction, leisure, hospitality or retail organisation.
• Experience and desire to work in a fast-paced and varied environment.

Key Attributes

• Commercially astute and highly analytical.
• Curious and constantly looking for opportunities to improve.

• Strategic, but prepared to get into the detail and deliver projects., * Confident challenging existing approaches when data suggests there is a better way.

• Collaborative and able to build strong relationships across technical and nontechnical teams.

• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced organisation with multiple priorities.

• Passionate about using digital to improve both customer experience and organisational performance.

• Motivated by Marwell Wildlife’s conservation purpose and charitable objectives.

Other

• Out-of-hours, weekend and Bank Holiday working as required.

• The role is based at Marwell Zoo and may require walking around a large 140- acre site in varying weather conditions.

• An understanding of the Marwell values and behaviours expected within this role.

• An understanding of how this role supports the delivery of our charitable objectives.

Marwell Wildlife is dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity and other natural resources. It funds the delivery of its charitable outputs predominantly through the operation of Marwell Zoo, a successful and much-loved visitor attraction in the heart of the South Downs National Park. We employ over 250 staff and welcome over 500,000 visitors annually to our 140-acre park which includes a Grade 1 listed Elizabethan country house.