Director-Marketing

Cedar is a global strategy consulting, research and analytics firm with a 40-year track record and clients across multiple industry sectors. Since 1985, our teams have assisted clients in strategy, process innovation, strategic human capital and business technology, among others, with a strong focus on the Financial Services sector. As a full-suite management consulting firm, Cedar assists clients across these areas in an integrated fashion — from strategy formulation to execution and implementation.

The firm's heritage includes being part of the former US$1 billion Renaissance Worldwide, whose leadership included the creators of the Balanced Scorecard — the world's leading strategy-deployment and performance-management tool, used by organisations globally. Cedar's specialist Financial Services practice serves as the firm's centre of excellence, offering innovative advisory, research and accelerator capabilities to players across the global Financial Services ecosystem.

Cedar's group unit, UK-headquartered IBS Intelligence (IBSi), is a leading global pure-play FinTech research, news-analysis and advisory firm; for over 30 years it has been the definitive source of independent, in-depth analysis of global financial-technology markets, and its annual Sales League Table is considered the global industry barometer of banking-technology suppliers. The Cedar-IBSi platform also runs Cedar-IBSi FinTech Labs, a BankTech / B2B FinTech accelerator home to 70+ FinTechs since 2017; and Cedar's independent venture capital fund, announced in 2023, backs founders building AI-first enterprise technology for the Financial Services industry.

The Director, Marketing leads Cedar’s marketing function end-to-end — owning brand, demand generation, thought leadership, and the digital presence that position Cedar as a leading global management consulting firm. The role exists to translate the firm’s strategy and practice expertise into a clear, consistent market voice, to build a pipeline of qualified opportunities for the partners and practice leaders, and to ensure every client-facing touchpoint reflects Cedar’s 40-year heritage and its credibility in Financial Services. Operating across practices and geographies, the role safeguards brand integrity, message discipline, and marketing governance across the firm.

This is a senior, hands-on leadership role that combines strategy with execution. On brand and positioning, it owns the Cedar identity, messaging architecture, and the firm’s thought-leadership and research-led content programme. On demand generation, it plans and runs integrated campaigns, account-based marketing for priority sectors, events and webinars, and the digital and social channels that drive awareness and lead flow. On infrastructure, it owns the website, marketing technology stack, CRM alignment with business development, and the analytics that measure marketing’s contribution to pipeline and revenue. The role carries significant partner and practice-leader exposure, manages the marketing team and external agencies, and is accountable for the quality, consistency, and governance of all of Cedar’s outbound communication.

Brand, Positioning & Thought Leadership

–  Own and evolve the Cedar brand, visual identity, and messaging architecture across all practices and geographies.

–  Lead the research-led thought-leadership programme — reports, points of view, bylines, and insights — with a strong focus on Financial Services.

–  Ensure message consistency and brand governance across every client-facing and public touchpoint.

Demand Generation & Campaigns

–  Plan and execute integrated marketing campaigns aligned to practice and sector priorities.

–  Design and run account-based marketing programmes for priority clients and target sectors.

–  Generate and nurture a qualified pipeline in partnership with business development and the practice leaders.

Digital, Content & Social

–  Own the website, SEO, email marketing, and the firm’s social and LinkedIn presence.

–  Direct the content calendar across formats — web, social, video, collateral, and sales enablement material.

–  Manage the marketing technology and analytics stack and its alignment with the CRM.

Events, PR & Communications

–  Lead events, webinars, conferences, and speaking engagements that raise the firm’s profile.

–  Manage public relations, media relationships, awards, and rankings submissions.

–  Support internal communications and partner / practice-leader visibility programmes.

Team, Budget & Governance

–  Lead, mentor, and build the marketing team, and manage external agencies and vendors.

–  Own the marketing budget, plan, and reporting, and demonstrate return on marketing investment.

–  Maintain brand, compliance, and data-privacy governance across all marketing activity.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, communications, or a related discipline. A postgraduate qualification (MBA or equivalent) in marketing or management is advantageous.

Experience: A minimum of 12 years in marketing, with a significant portion in B2B, professional services, consulting, technology, or financial services. Proven experience leading a marketing function, building brand and demand-generation programmes, and managing teams, budgets, and agencies. Exposure to global or multi-geography marketing and to Financial Services is strongly preferred.

Functional & technical skills: Brand & positioning; Integrated campaign & demand generation; Content & thought-leadership development; Digital marketing (website, SEO, email, social); Marketing automation & CRM; Analytics & reporting; Budget management; Agency & vendor management.

Industry & domain knowledge: B2B / professional-services marketing; Consulting and advisory go-to-market; Financial Services and FinTech landscape; Account-based marketing; Events and PR.

Behavioural competencies: Strategic thinking, Ownership, Stakeholder management, Communication & storytelling, Creativity with commercial discipline, Collaboration, and Planning & organisation.

Expectations: Own the marketing strategy, brand, and function; Build and lead a high-performing marketing team; Partner closely with partners, practice leaders, and business development; Demonstrate marketing’s contribution to pipeline and revenue; and serve as the custodian of Cedar’s brand and market voice.

Safeguards client, firm, and market-sensitive information and material non-public information, maintaining brand, compliance, data-privacy, and conflict-of-interest requirements across all marketing and communications activities.

Internal: Partners, Managing Partner, practice and sector leaders, business development, the consulting teams, and the wider Cedar–IBSi platform.

External: Clients and prospects, media and analysts, event partners, marketing and creative agencies, technology vendors, and industry bodies.

Progression: Subject to sustained performance, demonstrated capability, business requirements, and the availability of suitable opportunities, the role may progress towards a senior marketing-leadership or wider go-to-market leadership position.

Success (first 12–18 months): Brand and messaging are refreshed and consistently applied; A repeatable demand-generation engine is in place and contributing to pipeline; The thought-leadership and digital presence are visibly stronger; and the marketing team and its reporting are well-established and trusted by the partners.