Performance Marketing Manager - Middle East & Asia

Job Description

Performance Marketing Manager – Middle East & Asia

Contract: Temporary (6 months) with the possibility to be made permanent (TBD not guaranteed)

Location: Bangalore – must work from Bangalore office not remote working

Reports to: Head of Growth Marketing Hub & Innovation – Middle East & Asia

Purpose of Role

The Performance Marketing Manager owns the paid acquisition strategy, media investment and performance across 30+ schools across the Middle East, Malaysia, India, Vietnam & Thailand, ensuring paid media generates qualified demand and enrolments at the strongest possible commercial return. The role combines deep performance-marketing expertise with portfolio-level judgement to direct investment, identify growth gaps and turn media and funnel performance into timely action.

As the specialist owner of paid acquisition within the Growth Marketing Hub, the role works within ISP Group technology, data and brand standards and partners with Regional Marketing Managers, Admissions, CRM, Digital, Creative and Growth Performance & Insights. It owns paid acquisition performance while remaining distinct from Group platform governance and Digital Marketing ownership of SEO and broader website optimisation.

Role in the Operating Model / Scope

• Owns paid acquisition strategy, online media investment and paid acquisition performance, translating portfolio growth priorities into channel strategy, allocation decisions and optimisation.

• Regional Marketing Managers own school and market business priorities and local growth requirements; this role owns the specialist paid acquisition response and its performance.

• The Director of Marketing & Growth owns overall marketing strategy and cross-market investment principles across MEA; the Head of Growth Marketing Hub & Innovation owns overall Hub capability and delivery.

• This role is responsible to phase, pace and reallocate online media investment across schools, markets and channels based on pipeline gaps, lead quality, enrolment return and available capacity, within agreed investment parameters.

• Works through agencies and specialist resources for execution, setting performance expectations and holding partners accountable for commercial outcomes.

• Owns paid acquisition and paid-funnel optimisation; partners with Digital/Web on CRO and website changes, and with Group/Data teams on platform, privacy, tracking and measurement standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Paid Acquisition Strategy & Portfolio Planning

Own the annual and in-cycle paid acquisition strategy across markets, aligning investment and channel plans to enrolment targets, phasing, school capacity, admissions calendars and local market dynamics.

• Media Investment & Commercial Return

Own online media allocation, phasing, pacing and reforecasting across the portfolio. Make evidence-based trade-offs and reallocate investment to maximise qualified demand, enrolment outcomes and return. Track invoicing and accruals, reconciling agency fees and media spend with purchase orders/invoices.

• Full-Funnel Performance & Intervention

Own paid acquisition performance from demand generation through downstream enrolment outcomes, diagnosing material gaps and acting on Marketing-controlled levers while escalating or partnering on issues owned elsewhere.

• Optimisation, Experimentation & Scaling

Lead disciplined optimisation and test-and-learn across paid acquisition, quantify commercial impact and scale successful approaches across markets without losing local relevance.

• Channel, Measurement & Performance Standards

Set the specialist approach and quality standards for paid channels, tracking, attribution and platform optimisation, ensuring investment is optimised toward lead quality and downstream outcomes within Group data, privacy and martech standards.

• Agency & Specialist Resource Leadership

Direct and challenge paid media agencies and specialist resources, setting clear commercial expectations, service standards and evidence-based ways of working, and holding partners accountable for performance.

• Cross-Hub Conversion Integration

Identify paid-funnel conversion leakage and define performance requirements or testing hypotheses across landing pages, creative, CRM and Admissions hand-offs, partnering with the relevant owners on implementation. This includes briefing the creative team when needs for improved paid media ads.

• Performance Insight, Innovation & Capability

Translate performance and enrolment data into clear portfolio recommendations and interventions, while advancing scalable performance-marketing standards, emerging platform capability, AI-enabled optimisation and shared learning across the division.

Functional Capabilities Required

• Paid Acquisition Strategy & Platform Expertise – Deep expertise across major paid platforms and the ability to set scalable channel, account, audience, bidding and optimisation approaches across markets.
• Media Investment & Commercial ROI Management – Ability to allocate, phase, reforecast and reallocate significant media investment against qualified demand, enrolment outcomes and portfolio return.
• Full-Funnel Performance & Conversion Optimisation – Ability to diagnose performance from traffic through enrolment, distinguish root causes and improve Marketing-controlled conversion levers in partnership with adjacent owners.
• Measurement, Attribution & Data Fluency – Strong working knowledge of tracking, GA4, tagging, offline conversion feedback, attribution and privacy-aware measurement sufficient to ensure reliable optimisation and decision-making.
• Experimentation & Performance Optimisation – Ability to design disciplined tests across audiences, creative, bidding, offers and campaign structures, quantify impact and scale proven approaches.
• Agency & Performance Operations – Ability to set outcome-based expectations, challenge external specialists with evidence and establish scalable standards, governance and delivery discipline.
• Emerging Performance Technology – Strong fluency in AI-enabled campaign tools, automation and evolving measurement capabilities, with sound judgement on their commercial application within Group standards.

Leadership Capabilities Required

• Commercial & Portfolio Judgement – Makes investment and prioritisation decisions based on enrolment, return and portfolio opportunity rather than platform metrics alone.
• Analytical & Root-Cause Thinking – Diagnoses complex performance problems, separates symptoms from causes and focuses intervention on the levers most likely to change outcomes.
• Ownership & Decision-Making – Takes accountability for paid acquisition performance, acts quickly on material risks and makes clear trade-offs with imperfect information.
• Influence & Constructive Challenge – Communicates performance, recommendations and investment choices clearly to senior stakeholders and challenges agencies or partners where evidence supports a different course.
• Capability Leadership – Sets high specialist standards, shares learning and builds scalable performance-marketing maturity across agencies, teams and markets.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• Significant performance-marketing / paid-media experience with deep hands-on expertise in acquisition, optimisation and lead-generation funnels.

• Proven ownership of paid acquisition across multiple markets, brands, sites or business units, balancing scalable standards with local market requirements.

• Demonstrated ownership of substantial media budgets, including allocation, pacing, reforecasting and evidence-based reallocation to improve commercial return.

• Track record of optimising toward downstream commercial outcomes such as qualified leads, sales or enrolments rather than media metrics alone.

• Strong measurement and funnel-analysis experience, including conversion tracking, attribution, offline conversion feedback and performance dashboards.

• Experience managing and challenging agencies and/or specialist resources against clear commercial KPIs and service expectations.

• Experience partnering across digital/web, CRM and customer-conversion teams to improve lead quality and end-to-end acquisition performance.

Preferred

• Experience in private education, multi-site consumer services or another considered-purchase sector; Middle East and/or South/Southeast Asia exposure is advantageous.
• Relevant degree and/or platform certifications are advantageous; demonstrated capability and commercial results are more important than formal credentials.

Core KPIs / Success Measures

• Qualified Demand & Enrolment Contribution – Performance of paid acquisition against agreed qualified-enquiry and enrolment targets and phasing.
• Paid Acquisition Efficiency & ROI – Commercial efficiency of media investment, including cost per qualified outcome and return across markets and schools.
• Funnel Quality & Conversion – Quality and downstream conversion of paid demand, with material leakage identified and addressed through the appropriate owner.
• Investment Allocation Effectiveness – Quality of budget pacing, reforecasting and reallocation decisions in response to portfolio opportunity, capacity and pipeline gaps.
• Optimisation & Scaled Learning – Measurable impact of test-and-learn activity and successful interventions scaled across relevant markets.
• Agency & Specialist Performance – Effectiveness of agencies and specialist resources against agreed commercial outcomes, service expectations and quality standards.

This person will be asked to travel to Middle East, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand from time to time, therefore they must be willing to travel.

ISP Principles

Begin with our children and students. Our children and students are at the heart of what we do. Simply, their success is our success. Wellbeing and safety are both essential for learners and learning. Therefore, we are consistent in identifying potential safeguarding

and Health & Safety issues and acting and following up on all concerns appropriately.

Treat everyone with care and respect. We look after one another, embrace similarities and differences and promote the well-being of self and others.

Operate effectively. We focus relentlessly on the things that are most important and will make the most difference. We apply school policies and procedures and embody the shared ideas of our community.

Are financially responsible. We make financial choices carefully based on the needs of the children, students and our schools.

Learn continuously. Getting better is what drives us. We positively engage with personal and professional development and school improvement.

ISP Commitment to Safeguarding Principles

ISP is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All post holders are subject to appropriate vetting procedures, including an online due diligence search, references and satisfactory Criminal Background Checks or equivalent covering the previous 10 years’ employment history.

ISP Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

ISP is committed to strengthening our inclusive culture by identifying, hiring, developing, and retaining high-performing teammates regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender expression, age, disability status, neurodivergence, socio-economic background or other demographic characteristics. Candidates who share our vision and principles and are interested in contributing to the success of ISP through this role are strongly encouraged to apply.