Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Whitecliffe

About The Position

Whitecliffe Global Group is a dynamic, growing international education group operating across New Zealand, Australia, Germany, and Canada. Comprising a portfolio of distinguished higher education institutions, the Group is united by a shared commitment to creative, design-led, and professionally focused education that prepares graduates for careers in a rapidly changing world. At a pivotal moment in its global growth story, Whitecliffe is investing in brand, digital infrastructure, and marketing capability to strengthen its position as a recognised leader in international higher education. This is a newly created senior executive position reporting directly to the Executive Chairman. The CMO will be Whitecliffe's most senior marketing voice — responsible for building and executing a unified, high-impact marketing strategy across all four countries. You will lead a distributed team of in-country marketing professionals and centralised Group functions, bringing coherence, rigour, and creative ambition to brand positioning, digital marketing, PR, communications, and web presence.

Requirements

Seasoned marketing executive with a track record of leading integrated marketing functions across complex, multi-brand or multi-market environments.
Substantial senior marketing leadership experience at Group, multi-brand, or multi-market level
Proven capability across digital marketing, SEO, brand management, and communications
Experience leading and developing distributed, cross-cultural marketing teams
A track record of building and executing strategies that deliver measurable brand outcomes
Experience managing significant marketing budgets and demonstrating ROI
A relevant tertiary qualification (or equivalent professional experience)
Strategic thinker with strong execution ability
Excellent executive-level communicator
Data-driven with strong analytical instincts
Commercially astute and outcome-focused
Highly collaborative across cultures and geographies
Strong creative sensibility and brand standards
Resilient and energised by complexity
Strong stakeholder management skills

Nice To Haves

Experience in higher education or a regulated sector
Exposure to multiple international markets
German language skills an advantage

Responsibilities

Own and lead the Group-wide marketing strategy aligned with institutional priorities across all four countries
Provide executive direction to in-country marketing teams in NZ, Australia, Germany, and Canada
Build strong working relationships with each institution's CEO and the VP Global Sales
Report regularly on performance and strategy to the Executive Chairman
Lead the development and stewardship of the Group's brand architecture across all institutions and markets
Ensure brand consistency, integrity, and quality across all touchpoints
Champion differentiation strategies and govern brand guidelines for all countries
Lead Group digital marketing strategy — SEO, SEM, paid media, email, social, and content
Drive data-led optimisation and continuous improvement across all channels
Oversee digital advertising spend and ROI across the Group
Own the Group web strategy and executive oversight of all institutional websites
Lead major website projects including redesigns and platform migrations
Govern digital brand standards and agency/vendor relationships
Develop and lead the Group's SEO strategy across all markets with clear performance benchmarks
Embed technical, on-page, and off-page SEO into all digital and web activity
Build internal SEO capability across content and marketing teams
Lead Group PR strategy and manage media relationships across all four markets
Oversee press releases, thought leadership, and executive communications
Develop crisis communications frameworks and support institutional CEOs
Lead development of compelling content that supports brand awareness and engagement
Oversee Group content calendar, editorial standards, and creative quality
Source authentic institutional stories and build compelling Group narratives
Recruit, lead, develop, and retain a high-performing distributed marketing function
Build a culture of collaboration, accountability, and creative excellence
Foster strong relationships between Group marketing and in-country institutional leaders
Own the annual Group marketing plan and budget across channels and countries
Establish robust performance frameworks, dashboards, and KPIs
Manage agency, supplier, and technology vendor relationships