Performance Marketing Lead

ABOUT ALU

At the African Leadership University (ALU), we're more than just an institution—we're a catalyst for transformation. Our mission is to develop a new generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders who will shape Africa's future. Through our innovative curriculum, focus on experiential learning, and vibrant pan-African community, we empower students to become changemakers, problem-solvers, and innovators. At ALU, we're not just teaching; we're nurturing the leaders who will drive Africa's progress and prosperity in the 21st century

We are dedicated to fostering an open yet secure environment, balancing the safety of students, staff, and visitors with respect for individual rights, and safeguarding responsibilities.

HOW WE WORK

The ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new.

The African Leadership University is committed to ensuring the safety and Well-being of all students under our care. As part of this commitment , we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place , which outlines our Zero-tolerance approach to any violation of safeguarding.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Performance Marketing Lead is responsible for developing and executing integrated marketing campaigns that drive both measurable acquisition outcomes and a unified ALU brand narrative. The role balances performance-driven media with brand awareness, storytelling, and lifecycle communications, ensuring that every campaign reinforces a consistent ALU identity while delivering measurable results across leads, applications, and enrollments.

Sitting within Marketing Operations, this role oversees paid media, brand awareness campaigns, and email marketing across ALU, ALCHE, ALUSB, executive education programs, and centres of excellence. It is a strategic and hands-on role that connects audience insight, creative execution, and data to build campaigns that resonate and convert.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Brand Awareness & Storytelling

• Lead the development and execution of brand awareness campaigns that communicate a unified ALU story across all entities, stakeholders and programmes.
• Partner with the content and creative teams to produce campaigns that reflect ALU’s mission, value proposition, and student impact.
• Develop always-on brand presence strategies across digital and social channels to build recognition and affinity among prospective students, partners, and stakeholders.
• Translate institutional messaging into compelling, audience-specific campaign narratives.
• Ensure all campaigns, paid or organic, present a coherent and differentiated ALU brand voice.

Integrated Campaign Planning & Execution

• Lead the planning, execution, and optimisation of integrated marketing campaigns, spanning brand, performance, and email tied to organisational objectives and intake calendars.
• Collaborate with Marketing Operations, Content, and Events teams to develop demand-generation and awareness campaigns with clear goals, audiences, and KPIs.
• Gather assets, insights, and content from internal stakeholders to inform campaign development.
• Conduct audience research and message testing to continuously refine campaign positioning and relevance.
• Build scalable campaign frameworks and reusable playbooks that serve both acquisition and brand objectives.

Email Marketing

• Own and manage the end-to-end email marketing function, including lifecycle campaigns, nurture flows, newsletters, and re-engagement programmes.
• Design and execute segmented email campaigns that guide prospective students through the admissions funnel, from awareness to application to enrolment.
• Maintain and grow a healthy, segmented email database, ensuring compliance with data governance and privacy standards.
• Monitor email performance metrics including open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, deliverability, and list health.
• A/B test subject lines, content, send times, and audience segments to continuously improve email effectiveness.
• Partner with the content team to develop compelling, brand-consistent email copy and design assets.

Paid Media & Performance Marketing

• Manage paid media channels (search, social, display, video) with a focus on efficiency, audience targeting, and measurable outcomes.
• Adopt a test-and-learn approach to paid channel optimisation, proactively reporting on and improving performance.
• Manage campaign budgets to ensure spend is allocated efficiently across brand and conversion objectives.
• Own campaign attribution models and ensure accurate tracking across the full funnel.
• Create and maintain paid campaign playbooks that reflect best practices and institutional learnings.

Reporting & Insights

• Provide regular, actionable reports on campaign performance across brand, email, and paid media channels.
• Track and communicate performance against agreed KPIs to internal stakeholders and leadership.
• Use data to surface insights that inform future campaign strategy, creative direction, and channel investment.
• Ensure all marketing activity meets brand, compliance, and data governance guidelines.
• Stay current on marketing trends, platform updates, and best practices, bringing proactive recommendations to the team.

Qualifications & Experience

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or a related field is required.

Experience

• Minimum 4 to 6 years of progressive experience in digital or integrated marketing, with a strong track record across both performance and brand campaigns.
• Demonstrable experience managing end-to-end email marketing programmes, including marketing automation platforms (e.g. HubSpot, Mailchimp, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or equivalent).
• Hands-on experience running paid media campaigns across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and other relevant platforms.
• Experience in higher education, EdTech, or mission-driven organisations is desirable but not required.
• Prior experience working in a cross-functional environment, collaborating with creative, content, data, and admissions teams.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong understanding of brand marketing principles and the ability to balance awareness and acquisition objectives.
• Analytical mindset with proficiency in campaign reporting tools (Google Analytics, Meta Ads Manager, CRM dashboards, etc.).
• Excellent written communication skills, with an eye for brand-consistent, audience-appropriate messaging.
• Comfortable working with marketing automation and CRM tools for email segmentation and lifecycle management.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple campaigns simultaneously.
• Collaborative, curious, and proactive with the ability to work autonomously and influence without authority.

Success Metrics

Performance in this role will be measured against a balanced set of brand and acquisition indicators:

Brand & Awareness

• Reach and engagement across brand awareness campaigns
• Brand sentiment and recognition (tracked through surveys or social listening)
• Content engagement rates across paid and organic channels

Email Marketing

• Email open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates
• Email-to-application conversion rate
• List health, deliverability, and database growth
• Nurture flow effectiveness and drop-off rates

Paid Media & Acquisition

• Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) growth
• Application and enrolment contribution from paid channels
• Cost per Lead (CPL) and Cost per Acquisition (CAC)
• Funnel conversion rates by channel and programme
• Campaign attribution accuracy and paid media contribution to pipeline