VP Content Marketing - Workday Product

Job Profile 

As VP of Content Marketing in the Workday Products business unit, your primary responsibility will be to define, create and implement plans to create compelling  customer-first content across a diverse range of formats including web, ebooks, white papers and social media postings which will position Kainos Workday Products as the thought leader in our spaces and serve as a competitive differentiator for us in the market. At the core of the plan will be a strategic calendar which defines a cadence of output across the fiscal year, creating and aligning on major market moments including 1st/3rd party events and GTM milestones. The content will extend across the customer lifecycle from initial consideration and awareness through to successful usage and drive retention, cross-sell and up-sell. 

Your key responsibilities will include: 

• Content Strategy & Editorial Calendar:  Establish and orchestrate the overall conten approach for the business unit: the themes we will showcase; the narratives we will build from the themes; the output formats we will use and position this in the context of an overall calendar which creates powerful “always on” communications momentum for the business. This needs be aligned with overall product and campaign goals but extends beyond classic lead generation to drive awareness, preference and competitive differentiation for our business. 
   

• Deep understanding of key personas: Within our customers and their buying groups, it will be critical to be able to position our content in the most effective way to align with the needs of key personas. This initially covers working out who the right personas we need to reach are and having a rich point of view on their challenges, issues and key concerns which form the basis of our messaging. It also covers how and where to land it via the right channels – including industry channels (events, podcasts for instance) which will yield the maximum impact for the content we produce. 

• Social Content Strategy: Our business features strong dynamic activity across social channels such as LinkedIn, Reddit and others. The role will be expected to define effective strategies to uplift our presence, with more frequent content sharing, activity monitoring (e.g. for forums) and counter-balancing competitor initiatives. The role will also lead our decision on how best to handle this including selective usage of agencies where needed. 
   

• Set up 3rd party partnerships for syndication: Establish an effective 3rd party syndication strategy: recommend which 3rd parties (analysts, media outlets, other publishers) are best positioned to serve our objectives and build a commercial model to enable their delivery of key content pieces for our business. Develop deep insights into how to best use 3rd parties for research to make the content more impactful. Regularly review the effectiveness of their work and recommend updates where appropriate. 
   

• Build Customer Case Studies: Review the current case study library and recommend updates to the approach, including clarity on business outcomes aligned with the key personas above. Develop these into different formats to help drive and build the content calendar above and ensure maximum coverage and impact. Ensure sales teams have clarity of how and when they can be used externally. 
   

• Define metrics of success: The leader should establish measurable outcomes for the content work. It should start with simple metrics such as downloads, impressions and sharing, but the lead will work with our VP, marketing operations to assess the impact of the content work in lead/contact acquisition and nuture, including where the content drives impact across the seller journey, especially in early-stage awareness and late stage retention. This should also extend into the ROI analysis of 3rd party content/syndication. 
   

• Putting people first & developing others: The lead will be responsible for building and developing a specialist content team and for organising the work across the team. As a result, you’ll manage, coach and develop several staff, with a focus on managing employee performance and assisting in their career development, supporting a culture of wellbeing and inclusion. This role will also require close management of a number of key vendor relationships, particularly around 3rd party syndication. You’ll be expected to ensure these vendors deliver on time and to budget and we can consistently show strong impact from their work, and escalate where necessary if issues emerge. 

Minimum (essential) requirements:  

• Proven experience in a senior Content Marketing or Go-to-Market leadership role within a technology or professional services environment, with clear evidence of commercial impact. 

• Deep understanding of Content Marketing, the distinctions between content and product marketing and how it can be deployed to drive scaled growth in a SaaS environment 

• Demonstrated ability to create and drive compelling narratives/stories 

• Clear experience in leveraging B2B social (e.g. LinkedIn platform) to drive awareness and thought leadership for key personas  

• Experience of partnering closely with Product Marketing, Campaign Owners and senior leadership to drive high-performing peer relationships and team outcomes 

• Proven ability to build, mentor and scale high-performing teams in a growth organisation. 

• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with the executive presence to influence at senior leadership and board level. 

Desirable:  

• Degree or higher in Marketing, Business Communications or a similar relevant discipline.  

• MBA or other relevant post-grad qualification. 

• Journalism experience, ideally in technology and/or business context 

• Significant technology/ SaaS experience. 

• Experience within the Workday ecosystem.