Head of Brand, Marketing & Guest Experience - Lakeside Shopping Centre

Purpose of the Role

The Head of Brand, Marketing & Guest Experience is a senior strategic leader responsible for shaping the centre’s brand identity, driving marketing excellence, elevating customer experience and strengthening retailer performance across all touchpoints.

This expanded role has strategic oversight for Brand, Marketing, Customer Experience, Retail Engagement, Community Partnerships and Commercialisation alignment. As a key member of the centre’s leadership team, the post-holder influences destination strategy, commercial performance, stakeholder engagement and the centre’s position within the local community.

The role provides direct line management of the Retail Brand Ambassador, Commercialisation Manager, Senior Marketing & Community Executive, Marketing & Community Executive and the Customer Services Team, ensuring their outputs contribute to a unified, insight-led, customer focused strategy.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Brand, Marketing & Communications Leadership

• Lead the development and delivery of a multi-year brand and marketing strategy aligned to business plan, commercial priorities and client expectations.

  Own the annual marketing plan and budget, with KPIs across brand visibility, campaign ROI, customer satisfaction, digital engagement and retailer participation.

• Oversee the Senior Marketing & Community Executive and Marketing & Community Executive to deliver high-quality campaigns, social content, retail-facing comms, community programmes and media activity.

• Direct the development of integrated marketing campaigns, seasonal activations and brand-led destination experiences.

• Lead digital strategy including website optimisation, CRM/email strategy, social media growth and content performance.

• Oversee PR, media relations and influencer strategy, acting as spokesperson when required.

• Ensure consistent brand expression across marketing, customer service, operations, commercialisation and onsite experience.

Customer Experience Strategy & Leadership

• Own and implement the centre’s Customer Experience (CX) strategy, aligning guest journey, tone of voice, service standards and operational delivery to brand expectations.

• Lead the Customer Services team to deliver exceptional guest service, effective complaint resolution and consistent brand representation.

• Use customer feedback, insight analysis and service metrics to drive continuous improvement.

• Partner with Operations, Security and Environmental Services to ensure a safe, clean, welcoming and brand aligned physical environment.

• Drive culture, training and behaviours that reinforce the destination's brand and service values.

Retailer Engagement, Insight & Performance Integration

• Provide senior leadership to the Brand Ambassador, ensuring retailer insight, sales reporting and performance trends inform marketing and commercial planning.

• Oversee the retailer engagement strategy, including newsletters, opportunity packs, store visits, engagement forums and partnership initiatives.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with Store Managers, Area Managers and Head Office teams.

• Ensure high-quality reporting of sales, footfall and trends, presenting insights to the Centre Director and clients.

• Contribute and own the brand and Marketing elements of the retail merchant association meetings.

Commercialisation Alignment & Destination Appeal

• Line manage and guide the Commercialisation Manager to ensure commercial activity enhances customer experience and aligns with brand and destination strategy.

• Ensure mall activations, kiosks, pop-ups and brand partnerships deliver strong commercial value and visual quality.

• Build strong collaboration between commercialisation, marketing and operations to maximise revenue, vibrancy and guest appeal.

Events, Activations & Community Strategy

• Oversee the annual events and activations calendar to ensure alignment with brand strategy, commercial aims and customer experience objectives.

• Lead the Senior Marketing & Community Executive and Marketing & Community Executive in delivering impactful community and charity programmes that strengthen the centre’s role within the region.

• Develop and implement a strategic framework for community partnerships, focusing on:

  • Local charities and fundraising initiatives

  • Schools, colleges and youth engagement

  • Cultural and arts organisations

  • Environmental, health and social impact projects

  • Programmes that support local residents, families and community groups

• Ensure that community programmes and charitable partnerships are aligned to brand values, support client ESG priorities, enhance local reputation and build long-term goodwill.

• Integrate retailer participation into community and charity initiatives to maximise reach and impact.

• Ensure all events and community activations comply with Health & Safety, operational and crisis management requirements.

Crisis Communications, Reputation & Stakeholder Management

• Develop strong relationships with external stakeholders including local authorities, community leaders, schools, charities, colleges and media.

• Represent the centre at senior stakeholder meetings, community forums, business groups and client presentations.

  Champion the destination’s role as a key community hub, ensuring strong alignment with regional priorities and social value commitments.

Leadership, People Management & Cross-functional Collaboration

• Provide senior leadership and line management for:

  • Brand Ambassador

  • Commercialisation Manager

  • Senior Marketing & Community Executive

  • Marketing & Community Executive

  • Customer Services Team

• Set clear objectives, development plans and performance expectations for all direct reports.

• Drive a high-performance, collaborative and innovative team culture.

• Ensure alignment across Marketing, Customer Service, Retail, Operations and Commercialisation functions.

• Contribute to business planning, client reviews, reporting cycles and senior leadership decision-making.

Duty Management

• Participate in the Duty Manager rota of one weekend in four, including occasional evening, weekend or peak-trading cover as required.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

Candidates will be required to demonstrate the following:

Essential:

· Senior leadership experience in brand, marketing, community strategy, customer experience or multi-disciplinary destination roles.

· Proven ability to lead teams across marketing, community engagement, customer service, retail engagement or commercial functions.

· Strong strategic planning capability and experience influencing senior stakeholders.

· Experience developing community strategies or delivering impactful, multi-partner community programmes.

· Strong commercial awareness and ability to interpret insight from sales, footfall and customer data.

· Excellent communication, presentation and media handling skills.

· Extensive agency management experience across PR, creative, digital and media.

· Demonstrable ability to manage complex workloads and deliver strategic initiatives in fast‑paced environments.

Desirable:

· Experience within large shopping centres, retail destinations or mixed-use environments.

· Experience leading CSR, ESG, community engagement or charity partnership programmes.

· Qualifications in marketing, brand leadership, customer experience or community strategy.

Working Hours - 40 hrs per week (5 out of 7 to include duty management)

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Please see our Benefits Booklet for more information.