VP, Marketing Strategy & Operational Excellence

Vice President, Marketing Strategy & Operational Excellence Role Overview Smartly is seeking a visionary and execution-focused Vice President (VP) of Marketing Strategy & Operational Excellence. In this key leadership role, you will connect company strategy to marketing strategy and build the underlying systems, cross-functional operating models, data-driven capabilities, and automation frameworks required to scale our global marketing organization. Reporting directly to the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), the VP of Marketing Strategy & Operational Excellence will run the operational machinery of the marketing department, overseeing the systems, processes, AI automation, and digital infrastructure that power marketing performance. This leader will be tasked with transforming Smartly’s marketing function into a highly automated, data-literate, and operationally rigorous unit capable of delivering on ambitious commercial objectives while building a healthy, sustainable, and high-performing team. This strategic leader will help determine marketing priorities, align departmental focus, build scalable operating models, and drive execution excellence across all global marketing teams. Core Mandate & Key Objectives This leader will own the operational strategy, planning process, and enablement pipelines to achieve the following core objectives: • Pipeline & Demand Scaling: Build scalable frameworks and programs to drive revenue growth and expand qualified sales pipeline globally. • Acquisition & Budget Optimization: Continuously optimize marketing spend efficiency and customer acquisition metrics across channels. • Event & Commercial Impact: Elevate commercial event strategy, standardized execution models, and pipeline attribution to maximize ROI and retention. • Funnel Performance & Conversion: Optimize lead qualification processes and end-to-end funnel conversion rates. • Brand Health & Market Validation: Expand third-party validations, industry analyst coverage, and customer reviews. • Organizational Alignment: Foster alignment around company mission and vision, elevating employee advocacy and operational clarity across teams. • Digital Discovery & Web Pipeline: Scale website conversion performance and maintain #1 AEO search engine visibility, turning owned digital touchpoints into automated engines for SALs. Key Responsibilities Marketing Strategy & Integrated Planning • Partner with the CMO and marketing leadership team to translate company goals, growth priorities, and market opportunities into actionable marketing objectives and OKRs. • Lead annual and quarterly integrated marketing planning across all sub-functions, turning priorities into a unified roadmap. • Standardize the upstream marketing briefing process for global initiatives and major campaigns. Cross-Functional Governance & Operating Models • Standardize and govern cross-functional handoffs between Product Marketing, Brand, Strategic Partnerships, and Sales teams to solve reactive work cycles and optimize resource planning. • Author and enforce clear Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and mandatory lead-time guidelines for co-marketing and platform partnership campaigns. • Oversee agency partner governance, managing relationships with external creative, strategic, and execution agencies to ensure performance, accountability, and budget efficiency. Systems Integration, Data Operations & Enablement • Partner closely with Revenue Operations (RevOps) to bridge marketing and sales funnels, ensuring single-source-of-truth reporting and attribution. • Champion data literacy across the department through structured onboarding, self-service protocols, and ongoing training. • Drive tech stack optimization and data hygiene across primary systems (CRM, Marketi