UK

United Kingdom · Marketing · Director/VP (16-20 years)

Director of Performance Marketing / Growth

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

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  • Experience bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
  • Direct reports5-10 reports
  • Reports toVP of Marketing or Chief Marketing Officer
  • UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as VP, Growth Marketing · Head of Paid Acquisition · Marketing Director, Performance

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

OTHM Level 5 Diploma in Project Management OTHM Qualifications · Level 5 · covers 1 of 10 standards
Gateway Qualifications Level 2 Award in Digital Marketing Gateway Qualifications Limited · Level 2 · covers 5 of 10 standards
Gateway Qualifications Level 2 Certificate in Business Gateway Qualifications Limited · Level 2 · covers 4 of 10 standards
OCNLR Level 4 Diploma in Digital Marketing OCN London · Level 4 · covers 3 of 10 standards
Gateway Qualifications Level 2 Diploma in Vocational Studies Gateway Qualifications Limited · Level 2 · covers 3 of 10 standards
Gateway Qualifications Level 1 Certificate in Business and Retail Gateway Qualifications Limited · Level 1 · covers 3 of 10 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Digital Business Practices OTHM Level 5 Diploma in Project Management
Digital Marketing Gateway Qualifications Level 2 Award in Digital Marketing
Digital Analytics OCNLR Level 4 Diploma in Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing for the Digital and Creative Industries Gateway Qualifications Level 2 Diploma in Vocational Studies

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
AI Governance Fluency using AI responsibly
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Your Plan Illustration

Built for Director of Performance Marketing / Growth

4 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Digital Business Practices OTHM Qualifications · covers 1 of 10 standards Level 5
  2. Digital Marketing Gateway Qualifications Limited · covers 5 of 10 standards Level 2
  3. Digital Analytics OCN London · covers 3 of 10 standards Level 4
  4. Digital Marketing for the Digital and Creative Industries Gateway Qualifications Limited · covers 3 of 10 standards Level 2
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Director of Performance Marketing / Growth?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skill this role is being asked for

  • Ethical AI & Responsible Marketing
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Director of Performance Marketing / Growth plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

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3What this role really is

This job means owning the paid acquisition strategy for a large part of a business, deciding where money goes to win new customers and reporting on results to the board.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Ad Platforms (Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok, Programmatic DSPs) Strategic

Setting enterprise-level investment strategy across all channels, evaluating and onboarding new platforms (e.g., The Trade Desk, Connected TV), governing cross-platform data usage, and ensuring privacy compliance. You'll review high-level performance and strategic direction, not individual campaign settings.

Web & App Analytics (Google Analytics 4, AppsFlyer/Branch, Looker/Tableau) Strategic

Defining the enterprise analytics strategy, selecting and owning the relationship with BI platforms for executive dashboards, and ensuring data integrity and governance across all marketing analytics. You'll be using these for strategic insights and board reporting.

Marketing Automation & CRM (HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce) Strategic

Architecting the full lead-to-revenue data flow, integrating marketing automation data with CRM to prove marketing's revenue contribution, and using platforms like Anaplan for budget and forecast modelling. You're connecting the dots from spend to sales.

Bid Management & Optimisation Platforms (Skai, Marin Software, Custom Solutions) Strategic

Selecting and managing contracts for enterprise-level bid management platforms, focusing on portfolio-level optimisation, and integrating offline data for smarter bidding strategies. You're thinking about the big picture of spend efficiency.

Tag Management & Data Layer Governance (Google Tag Manager, OneTrust) Strategic

Overseeing the entire data layer and tagging governance strategy for the company, working with engineering on privacy-compliant data collection architecture (e.g., Consent Management Platforms). This is about ensuring our data foundation is solid and compliant.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Annual Budget Allocation (Paid Marketing) Proposes minor adjustments to a specific campaign budget, requires manager approval. Proposes channel-specific budget shifts (e.g., +10% to Paid Social), requires manager approval. Recommends budget allocation across multiple channels for a campaign, with Director input.
New Channel/Platform Adoption Researches potential new ad formats within existing platforms, presents findings to manager. Proposes testing a new ad platform (e.g., TikTok) with a small budget, requires manager approval. Leads the pilot programme for a new channel, makes recommendation for broader rollout to Director.
Team Hiring & Structure Provides feedback on junior candidate interviews. Interviews junior candidates, provides hiring recommendation to manager. Interviews mid-level candidates, provides strong hiring recommendation, helps onboard new team members.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Business Unit Revenue from Paid Acquisition
The total revenue directly attributed to your paid marketing efforts for the business unit you oversee.
Target · Achieve £15M+ in marketing-sourced revenue annually.

If the target is £15M, hitting £15.5M means you've exceeded expectations. This isn't just about leads; it's about closed deals and actual money in the bank.

Paid Marketing Budget Variance
How closely you manage and forecast your annual paid marketing budget against actual spend.
Target · Maintain less than 3% variance to the approved annual budget (£2M-£10M+).

Managing a £5M budget and ending the year at £4.9M or £5.1M shows tight control. Overspending by £500K is a serious issue; underspending means missed opportunities.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Ratio
The ratio of the long-term value a customer brings versus the cost to acquire them, across all paid channels.
Target · Improve the overall CLV:CAC ratio from 3:1 to 4:1 within 18 months for the business unit.

If our average customer brings in £300 over their lifetime and costs £100 to acquire, that's 3:1. Getting that to £400 for the same £100 acquisition cost is a huge win for profitability.

Team Development & Retention
The growth and stability of your direct reports and the wider performance marketing team.
Target · Ensure at least one promotion within your direct team annually and maintain a team retention rate above 85%.

Seeing a Senior Lead step up to a Manager role, or a Specialist become a Senior, shows you're building capability. High turnover, on the other hand, suggests problems with leadership or environment.

Strategic Influence & Board-Level Communication
Your ability to shape the broader marketing strategy and effectively communicate complex performance insights to the executive team and board.
  • You're regularly invited to C-suite and board meetings to present on growth strategy. Your recommendations for significant budget shifts or new market entries are seriously considered and often adopted. Board members actively seek your input on market trends and competitive dynamics.
Cross-Functional Integration & Collaboration
How well you integrate performance marketing with other critical business functions like Product, Sales, and Data Science.
  • You're seen as a trusted partner by the Head of Sales, working together on lead quality and pipeline conversion. Product teams consult you early on new feature launches for go-to-market planning. Data Science collaborates with your team on advanced attribution and predictive modelling, rather than just delivering data.
Innovation & Market Leadership
Your proactive identification and implementation of new channels, technologies, or methodologies that give us a competitive edge.
  • You've successfully piloted and scaled a new acquisition channel (e.g., Connected TV, niche programmatic) before competitors. Your team is known for cutting-edge testing frameworks. You represent the company at industry events, sharing insights that position us as a leader.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Driving Tangible Business Growth

You thrive on seeing your strategic decisions directly impact revenue, customer numbers, and market share. You love the challenge of finding new ways to acquire customers profitably and proving that impact with hard numbers.

Leading a successful market entry that adds £5M in new revenue within 12 months, directly attributable to your paid strategy.

Building and Leading High-Performing Teams

You get a real kick out of mentoring and developing your team, helping them grow their skills and careers. You enjoy creating a culture of experimentation, learning, and accountability.

Seeing a manager you've coached successfully lead a major cross-functional project or one of your senior specialists get promoted to a leadership role.

Solving Complex, Multi-faceted Challenges

You're energised by the big, hairy problems: how to navigate privacy changes, optimise across a dozen channels, or build a truly incremental attribution model. You enjoy the intellectual challenge of connecting disparate data points to form a coherent strategy.

Architecting a new attribution framework that finally gets Sales and Marketing to agree on the true value of different touchpoints.

What frustrates people
  • The Attribution Black Hole: You'll spend 30% of your time defending an attribution model that you know is, at best, a directionally correct guess, to stakeholders who want absolute certainty.
  • Creative vs. Conversion Battles: Constantly battling the brand team who wants beautiful, award-winning creative while you have data proving the 'ugly' direct-response ad converts 50% better.
  • The Algorithm Whiplash: Waking up to find a perfectly optimized, high-performing campaign has been decimated overnight by an unannounced algorithm update from Google or Meta, requiring an immediate strategic pivot.
  • Finance Demands Simplicity: Trying to explain the nuances of a multi-touch attribution model and incrementality to a finance team that just wants to see a simple, last-click ROAS for every pound spent.
  • Data Privacy Headaches: Navigating the ever-changing maze of GDPR, CCPA, and Apple's ATT framework, which constantly breaks your tracking, shrinks your targetable audiences, and forces you to rethink your entire data strategy.
  • The 'Magic Bullet' Expectation: Stakeholders who believe performance marketing is a vending machine where you put £1 in and get £5 out instantly, without understanding the required testing, learning, and optimization cycles, or the long-term strategic investment.
What this role does not give you
  • A predictable, unchanging work environment – the market shifts constantly.
  • Purely hands-on, individual contributor work – you'll be leading and strategising more than executing.
  • Guaranteed immediate results for every initiative – some experiments will fail, and that's part of the learning.
  • A simple, universally agreed-upon definition of 'success' – you'll be the one defining and defending it.

8Who you work with

This role directly drives the revenue growth engine for a major business unit, influencing product roadmaps, sales targets, and overall market positioning. Your decisions on budget allocation and channel strategy can make or break our quarterly and annual financial goals. Honestly, you're a key player in how the business performs.

Inside the business
  • VP of Sales
  • Chief Product Officer (CPO)
  • CFO and Finance Leadership
  • Head of Data & Analytics
  • Brand & Creative Director
  • Regional General Managers
Outside the business
  • Key Ad Platform Representatives (Google, Meta, LinkedIn)
  • Strategic Agency Partners
  • Technology Vendors (e.g., MMPs, Bid Management Platforms)
  • Industry Bodies and Regulators (for privacy compliance)

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • Proven track record of building and leading high-performing performance marketing teams, ideally across multiple geographies or business units.
  • Extensive experience (10+ years) in managing multi-million-pound paid media budgets and demonstrating clear ROI.
  • Deep expertise in advanced analytics, attribution modelling, and incrementality testing methodologies.
  • Demonstrated ability to influence C-suite stakeholders and present complex marketing strategies with confidence and clarity.
  • Strong understanding of the broader digital marketing ecosystem, including SEO, content marketing, and CRM, and how performance marketing integrates with them.
  • Experience in vendor selection, negotiation, and managing strategic agency partnerships.

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Predictive Analytics & Forecasting with AI

Moving beyond historical data, AI-driven predictive models can forecast market trends, customer behaviour, and campaign performance with much greater accuracy. This enables proactive strategy adjustments and more precise budget allocation, giving us a significant competitive edge.

Time Series Forecasting Models · Causal Inference with AI · Reinforcement Learning in Bidding · Data Fusion & Blending

  • This quarter: Partner with the Data Science team to understand their current predictive capabilities and identify gaps.
  • Next quarter: Research leading AI-powered forecasting platforms and assess their fit for our needs.
  • Month 6: Develop a roadmap for integrating more advanced predictive analytics into our strategic planning process.
  • Month 9: Champion a pilot project for an AI-driven forecasting tool within your business unit.

Quick win: Challenge your team to use existing platform-level predictive features (e.g., Google Ads performance planner) more effectively. Start asking 'what's the AI telling us?' in your weekly reviews.

Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) in Marketing

With the deprecation of third-party cookies and increasing privacy regulations, PETs like differential privacy, federated learning, and secure multi-party computation are becoming essential for maintaining effective targeting and measurement without compromising user privacy. This is the future of data-driven marketing.

Differential Privacy · Federated Learning · Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC) · Data Clean Rooms

  • This quarter: Read up on Google's Privacy Sandbox initiatives and how they impact paid media.
  • Next quarter: Engage with industry experts or consultants on the practical applications of PETs in marketing.
  • Month 6: Work with our engineering and legal teams to explore pilot projects for data clean rooms or federated learning.
  • Month 9: Develop a long-term strategy for privacy-first measurement and targeting across your business unit.

Quick win: Ensure your team is fully up-to-date on current platform privacy settings and best practices. Start discussions with your ad platform reps about their PET roadmaps.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attend industry conferences (e.g., BrightonSEO, Performance Marketing World, DMEXCO) to stay abreast of the latest trends and network with peers.
  • Participate in executive leadership programmes or an MBA to further develop your strategic and business acumen.
  • Engage in thought leadership by speaking at events, writing articles, or contributing to industry bodies.
  • Mentor emerging talent within the marketing community, not just your direct reports, to hone your leadership and coaching skills.
  • Actively seek out opportunities to learn about new technologies, especially in AI, data science, and privacy-enhancing tech, through online courses or specialist workshops.

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Ethical AI & Responsible Marketing

As AI becomes more embedded in everything from ad targeting to creative generation, the ethical implications (bias, privacy, transparency) are becoming critical. Regulators, consumers, and even ad platforms are demanding more accountability. Ignoring this is a huge reputational and legal risk.

  • Algorithmic Bias Detection
  • Data Privacy in AI
  • AI Explainability (XAI)
  • AI Governance Frameworks

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) & Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM)
  • Incrementality Testing & Experimental Design
  • Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Modelling
  • Full-Funnel Campaign Architecture & Optimisation
  • Audience Segmentation & First-Party Data Strategy

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Head of Performance Marketing (Large Enterprise)

    3-5 years in previous role

    Skills to master

    • Scaling paid acquisition across multiple product lines or regions, managing a large team (10+ people), presenting to C-suite regularly, and owning a significant portion of the marketing budget.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently exceeded multi-million-pound revenue targets from paid channels.
    • Successfully built and retained a high-performing team, with clear examples of direct report development.
    • Led a major strategic initiative (e.g., new market entry, platform migration) from concept to execution.
    • Comfortable challenging senior stakeholders with data-backed arguments.
  2. 2

    Senior Marketing Manager / Associate Director (High-Growth Scale-up)

    4-6 years in previous role

    Skills to master

    • Rapidly scaling acquisition in a fast-paced environment, making quick data-driven decisions, building out new channels from scratch, and managing ambiguity. Often involves wearing many hats beyond just performance.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Demonstrated ability to grow revenue significantly (e.g., 2x-3x year-over-year) through paid channels.
    • Proven ability to attract, hire, and develop talent in a competitive market.
    • Successfully navigated periods of rapid change or market disruption.
    • Strong entrepreneurial drive and ability to operate with limited resources.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to a Chief Marketing Officer role, shaping strategy across a whole organisation, or into general management, running a business unit.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Director of Performance Marketing / Growth is actually changing.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

Also named as a next step, with no page in the catalogue yet:

  • VP of Marketing / VP of Growth

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Digital Business Practices, worked against Director of Performance Marketing / Growth.

Digital Business Practices Level 5

Applied to your work in Director of Performance Marketing / Growth

1. To enable the learner to differentiate between various digital business models and their defining characteristics. 2. To enable the learner to evaluate the suitability of different digital technologies for effective business communication strategies. 3. To enable the learner to assess how digital technologies can contribute to the effective management and operation of organisations, projects, and smart cities. 4. To enable the learner to compare and contrast the benefits of digital interactions in both B2B and B2C contexts. 5. To enable the learner to examine the role of digital business technologies in managing complex organisational environments. 6. To enable the learner to formulate a comprehensive digital transformation strategy, considering leadership roles and data-driven insights.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

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See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Director of Performance Marketing / Growth
  • Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) & Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM)
  • Incrementality Testing & Experimental Design
  • Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Modelling
  • Full-Funnel Campaign Architecture & Optimisation
  • Audience Segmentation & First-Party Data Strategy
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

16The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Director of Performance Marketing / Growth is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. VP of Marketing / VP of Growth

    3-5 years in current role

    Strategic leadership across broader marketing functions (brand, product marketing, content, comms), owning the entire marketing P&L, and reporting directly to the C-suite.

    • Strategic Communications & PR
    • Market Research & Insights (broader scope)
    • Marketing Operations & Technology Stack Ownership

  2. Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

    5-8 years in current role (or 2-3 years as VP)

    Enterprise-wide strategic leadership, defining the company's overall go-to-market strategy, balancing brand and performance investments for long-term sustainable growth, and serving as a key member of the executive leadership team.

    • Corporate Communications
    • Global Market Expansion Strategy
    • Customer Experience (CX) Strategy
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, as a Director, your time is precious. You're not meant to be bogged down in manual tasks. AI isn't here to replace you; it's here to amplify your strategic thinking and free you up to tackle the really big challenges. Imagine cutting down on reporting, analysis, and even creative ideation, giving you more headspace for vision and leadership.

In this role, AI becomes your strategic co-pilot. You'll be using it, and guiding your team to use it, to automate the mundane, surface insights faster, and even explore new growth opportunities that would otherwise take weeks of manual effort. It's about making smarter, quicker decisions and empowering your team to deliver more impact.

Strategic Narrative & Board Report Drafting

Feed raw performance data, key initiatives, and strategic objectives into an AI model to instantly generate first drafts of executive summaries, board reports, and investor updates. This frees you from the tedious writing, letting you focus on refining the narrative and adding your unique insights.

Predictive Modelling & Scenario Planning

Use AI-powered tools to run complex 'what-if' scenarios for budget allocation, forecast market shifts, and predict campaign performance. This helps you make more informed strategic decisions, anticipate risks, and present data-backed recommendations to the C-suite with confidence.

Competitive Intelligence & Market Trend Analysis

Deploy AI to continuously monitor competitor ad spend, creative strategies, and market sentiment across various platforms. Get automated alerts on emerging trends or competitive threats, allowing you to quickly adapt your strategy and maintain a competitive edge.

Automated Team Performance Reviews & Feedback

Leverage AI to summarise team performance metrics, project contributions, and even draft initial feedback points for your direct reports. This streamlines your management duties, ensuring consistent, data-driven feedback and more time for meaningful coaching conversations.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director of Performance Marketing / Growth?

Common routes in include Head of Performance Marketing (Large Enterprise) (3-5 years in previous role) and Senior Marketing Manager / Associate Director (High-Growth Scale-up) (4-6 years in previous role). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director of Performance Marketing / Growth progress to?

This role can lead on to VP of Marketing / VP of Growth (3-5 years in current role) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) (5-8 years in current role (or 2-3 years as VP)), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Director of Performance Marketing / Growth?

Increasingly, Ethical AI & Responsible Marketing. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

Read the Zavmo manifesto to understand how you will be taught Meet your tutors

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17Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 7

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

 More jobs in marketing

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.
If you leave this industry

The skills built as a Director of Performance Marketing carry across tech, e-commerce, SaaS and any business built on digital acquisition. Some move into consulting, start-ups or venture capital, advising on growth.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.