Director of Loyalty Marketing

Job description

Job Description Purpose of the role To lead the loyalty marketing strategy, strengthen customer engagement, and drive long-term growth by delivering a differentiated loyalty ecosystem that increases card usage, customer value, and competitive advantage. Role Summary This Director role leads the end-to-end loyalty marketing strategy and program direction for Barclays’ Loyalty Ecosystem, designed to increase customer loyalty, card usage, and engagement through curated third-party shopping and dining offers, exclusive experiences, and co-brand offers . The Director of Loyalty Marketing will set the vision, strategy , and decision framework for how Barclays’ Loyalty Ecosystem is presented to customers across digital and traditional channels . The role will oversee a Vice President of Loyalty Marketing and two Managers of Loyalty Marketing , ensuring marketing plans, offers , and customer experiences are clear, compelling, personalized, compliant, and aligned to business outcomes . Operating at the intersection of Marketing, Data & Analytics, Product, Technology, Legal, Risk, and Compliance , this role establishes program priorities, approves key marketing decisions, and guides the team in translating business objectives into customer-facing campaigns, personalized experiences, and engagement strategies . The role also defines how customer data and behavioral insights are responsibly used to deepen customer relationships and improve program performance . The Director serves as the senior orchestration point for the loyalty marketing program , balancing growth, customer experience, creativity, data-driven decisioning, regulatory requirements, operational discipline, and team leadership. Accountabilities Development and implementation of marketing strategies and delivery that aligns with the banks business objectives and are informed by market research, customer needs and competitive landscape. Collaboration with product development, sales, and other departments to align marketing efforts with overall business objectives, to achieve specific, well defined outcomes, as needed. Development of compelling and targeted content for various marketing channels, including print, media and related collateral, if needed. Analysis of data to make informed decisions and optimize marketing strategies, use of data analytics tools to measure and report on the performance of marketing campaigns. Management of the marketing budget, allocating resources to maximise ROI. Defines marketing vision, sets goals, clarifies objectives and works across organisations to achieve specific, well defined outcomes. Director Expectations To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide.. They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions.. Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function. Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately. Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence. Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate. Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives. Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives. Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations. Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area. Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally. Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions. Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division. All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others. All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave. Strategic Responsibilities Marketing & Campaign Strategy Set and own the loyalty marketing aligned to goals for card usage, customer retention, engagement frequency, spend growth , and customer value . Define clear customer value propositions for program mechanics including the shopping portal, dining offers, bonus cashback , and exclusive experiences . Establish program success metrics and decision rights tied to engagement, activation, incremental spend , customer retention, and long-term loyalty . Digital Creative Development & Channel Execution Set the direction for customer-facing marketing assets and oversee team delivery in partnership with internal Centers of Excellence Approve creative direction and ensure execution is consistent, compliant, customer-centered, and optimized across channels . Guide UX, brand, and channel teams in using performance insights to improve messaging , visual treatments , and the overall customer experience. Email Marketing & Contact Strategy Set the email marketing strategy , including cadence, targeting, lifecycle triggers, and suppression logic , and oversee execution through Centers of Excellence . Define the customer contact strategy to balance engagement with customer fatigue, ensuring communications are timely , relevant, and additive. Align loyalty communications with enterprise marketing priorities and broader customer communication plans. Personalization, Data & Offer Targeting Set the strategy for using credit card transaction data and behavioral insights to personalize offers, messaging, and recommendations. Define and approve use cases for segmentation, targeting, and next-best-offer strategies , ensuring alignment with data privacy, risk, and compliance standards. Review program performance and direct refinements to personalization logic based on customer response, engagement patterns, and business results . Gamification & Engagement Design Set the vision for gamification and engagement design, including progress tracking, milestones, challenges, streaks, and bonus unlocks to increase repeat engagement and sustained card usage. Direct Product and Technology partners to ensure gamified experiences are intuitive, motivating, scalable, and clearly communicated to customers. Set measurement expectations for engagement mechanics and guide the team in iterating based on customer behavior, business outcomes, and control requirements. Skills & Experience Required 5-10 years of demonstrated leadership experience in loyalty marketing, digital marketing, or customer engagement . Strong experience setting strategy across email marketing, digital channels, lifecycle marketing, and customer contact management . Demonstrated ability to use customer data , insights , and performance metrics to shape strategy, guide investment decisions, and improve customer outcomes . Experience leading teams and senior cross-functional stakeholders through complex initiatives, with clear ownership of decisions, trade-offs, and business outcomes. Preferred Experience in financial services, payments, or highly regulated industries. Experience with credit card rewards, cashback programs, shopping portals, dining offers, merchant -funded offers, or co-brand loyalty programs . Familiarity with gamification , behavioral design , or experimentation to drive customer engagement and repeat usage . Comfort setting direction and making decisions in environments with regulatory , risk, compliance , and control considerations . Role Characteristics Senior strategic marketer and people leader with a strong bias toward measurable business and customer outcomes . Comfortable setting enterprise-level direction while ensuring the team delivers high-quality execution. Operates with high ownership, sound judgment, strong decision discipline, and resilience in complex, cross-functional enterprise environments.