Marketing Planning Manager

Purposeful vision. Agile planning. Steadfast persistence.

MARKETING PLANNING MANAGER

Salary: £38,000 - £42,000 per annum + Benefits

Reports to: Senior Marketing Strategy & Planning Manager (Paid Media)

Department: Marketing, Fundraising & Engagement

Contract: Fixed Term Contract until November 2026

Hours: 35 hours per week (we are open to Compressed Hours / Flexible working patterns)

Location: Stratford, London w/ high-flex (1 – 2 days per week in the office)

Closing date: Monday 3 March 2025

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment.

Interview date: week commencing 3 March / 10 March

Interview process: initial Competency based interview with potential second stage and task.

Please note: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That’s why we’re looking for someone talented, someone who shares our vision, someone like you.

We have an exciting opportunity for a highly organised marketeer to join Cancer Research UK’s Marketing Planning Team to play a key role in supporting our audience-led marketing strategy and planning function. Using your integrated marketing expertise, you will take a centralised view across our marketing, audiences, channels, and performance to ensure all activity is insight led, balanced, well-timed and has maximum impact. This is your chance to support the delivery of high profile and impactful campaigns, helping to bring everyone closer to our purpose, transforming Cancer Research UK into an influential and impactful force in society, inspiring audiences to help us beat cancer.

You will act as a central point to consult closely with marketing agencies and internal stakeholders on campaigns and activity to ensure optimal strategic alignment and fully integrated planning. You will also support the annual marketing planning process in setting overarching marketing objectives, key performance indicators, forecasts, and budgets, translating these into an all-channel strategic brief for the cross-portfolio marketing plan, alongside campaign briefs. To be successful you must have a strong understanding of fully integrated end-to-end marketing campaigns and enjoy working with a range of stakeholders across a wide variety of projects.

What will I be doing?

• Supporting the annual marketing planning process in setting overarching marketing objectives, key performance indicators, forecasts and budgets; translating these into an all-channel cross-portfolio marketing plan.
• Consulting with agencies and internal teams on paid marketing campaigns and activity to ensure optimal strategic alignment and fully integrated campaign planning across audiences, channels and products.
• Working closely with the Commercial and Operations function to support the end-to-end marketing workflow including managing key stakeholder and agency/supplier relationships.
• Working closely with the Marketing performance team and wider marketing teams to gather actionable insights and learnings from past campaigns.
• Analysing campaign results, evaluating performance against targets while spotting opportunities to optimise activity, innovate and increase efficiency.
• Taking a future-facing view of marketing trends and developments as well as competitor activity, the consumer landscape and data insight to ensure Cancer Research UK’s marketing and communications stay ahead of the curve and are data and insight driven.

What skills are you looking for?

• Strong understanding of paid media channels; Audio Visual, Out Of Home, Digital with a particular focus on Paid Search and the role of the different channels in integrated campaign planning. Experience working in an Agency environment would also be highly advantageous.
• Excellent project management and communication skills with experience of managing and improving priority workstreams involving multiple teams and stakeholders.
• Media planning expertise and experience delivering multi-channel marketing campaigns across a broad portfolio.
• Experience of leading communications to manage and motivate suppliers and agencies to drive maximum value from relationships.
• Relevant experience of building positive working relationships and influencing others and working effectively as part of a matrix team.
• Commercially aware with budget management experience.
• Awareness of direct marketing channels and their role in the end-to-end marketing journey.

What will I gain?

Each and every one of our employees contributes to our progress and is supporting our work to beat cancer. We think that’s impressive.

In return, we make sure you are supported by a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools, policies and processes to enable you to do your job well.

Our benefits package includes a substantial retirement plan, a generous and flexible leave allowance, discounts on anything from travel to technology, gym membership, and much more.

We don’t forget people have lives outside of work too and so we actively encourage a flexible working culture.

Our work – from funding cutting-edge research to developing public policy – will change the world. It’s exciting to be part of our team.

How do I apply?

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly and objectively.