At AQA, we’re committed to advancing education and we’re committed to our people. As the largest provider of academic qualifications in the UK, we mark over seven million GCSEs and A-levels each year and it’s our people who make this happen.

Sales and Marketing CRM Manager

Manchester

£46,000 - £51,000

Hybrid working

Can you kick start a new role and become the Subject Matter expert at AQA in the Sales and Marketing journey?

You are looking for a leadership role where you have autonomy to help us build the right processes within our complex CRM system. You’ll be comfortable working with a degree of ambiguity, but will bring creativity and practical hands-on experience to this newly created role

You will be pivotal in reviewing the status quo and ensuring we can seamlessly connect our customers through our CRM systems from the Marketing they receive, right the way through to Sales and ultimately onto ‘in-life’ servicing.

Get stuck in to reviewing our current processes and showing us what is in the ‘art of the possible’ regarding linking up our Sales and Marketing CRM functionalities to make sure we are delivering the best customer journey. With your exceptional leadership behaviours and ability to influence teams you will thrive on the getting into the detail and looking at what can be achieved. You’ll be hands-on and delivery focusses too, creating a customer focused roadmap across our key systems for the future.

Purpose

Reporting into our Head of Service Development and alongside Sales and Marketing, you will play a pivotal and influential role feeding into one of AQAs key strategic aims. You will be defining and implementing end-to-end customer sales process improvements to attract, engage and retain our customers through optimising our use of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and related systems.

This role will also provide Subject Matter Expert (SME) input as required, on Centre Services and Enhanced Results Analysis offerings (AQA systems). The role is responsible for interpreting customer needs, feeding those requirements into a systems roadmap, and partnering with our technical specialists for execution.

What's in it for you?

• This role will put you at the heart of our business driving quality and productivity in a role with real influence and ability to effect change.
• A real and tangible impact on the lives of students and teachers across the UK.
• A focus on personal and professional growth and development.
• Access to an enhanced Contributory pension scheme which could you see you paying in 7% and AQA contributing 11.5% (Other options available).
• Life Assurance, BUPA PMI, Health cash plan, 35 hour working week, 25 days holiday + Bank Holidays + Christmas off increasing with services.
• The ability to unwind and focus on self-care through the full Headspace App and our Employee assistance and wellbeing programmes.

What you'll do

• You will define, develop and implement comprehensive CRM strategies and processes, with a real focus on each Customer journey touchpoint through Sales and Marketing and hand them off to our technical CRM team to implement. This role is not responsible for technical implementation or development within CRM – this is a business area led role, and you’ll be the lead SME defining the processes and best practise.
• Feed into the optimisation of current CRM platforms and bespoke internal systems. You will bring the Sales and Marketing voice to the improvement roadmaps
• Utilise customer data to conduct in-depth analysis, segmentation, and profiling.
• Press forward innovative initiatives and ideas, being able to bring these to life using our CRM platform
• Train and embed new processes and ways of working within Sales and Marketing
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to plan, execute, and measure targeted CRM campaigns.
• Continuously monitor and analyse campaign performance, KPIs, and customer engagement metrics.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support teams to align CRM strategies with business objectives.

What you need to succeed

• Working closely with internal stakeholders across Sales, Customer Services, Marketing, Product, Curriculum and Events functions to understand and articulate business requirements in line with desired end-to-end customer journeys and strategic objectives
• You will have seen this done and implemented a similar process review and improvement programme within a sales focused environment connecting seamlessly with marketing.
• Experience implementing Sales and Marketing automation systems, MS Dynamics or a similar system. Experience with ClickDimensions is a significant advantage
• Be the customer sales journey Subject Matter Expert (SME).
• An ability to identify best practice and drive change in a complex organisation
• Strong business partnering, analytical skills and problem-solving abilities.
• Change management skillset post-implementation training and mentor team members.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to derive actionable insights from complex data sets.
• Critical to be data driven, identifying and closing gaps in data collection, leveraging insights to ensure informed decision making.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and deliver results.

What next?

If the role looks of interest apply via our website. Every application will be provided with a written response.

We are reviewing applications as they come through and reserve the right to close this role early.

#Pro22

Recruitment Agencies

We have a preferred supplier list (PSL) in place.

Unsolicited CVs will be treated as a gift. We will not be subject to or liable under your terms and conditions for agency fees.

Full Job Description

Summary

Purpose:
CRM Manager will play a pivotal role in defining and implementing end-to-end customer sales process improvements to attract, engage and retain our customers through optimising our use of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and related systems.

This role will also provide Subject Matter Expert (SME) input as required, on Centre Services and Enhanced Results Analysis offerings. The role is responsible for interpreting customer needs, feeding those requirements into a systems roadmap, and partnering with our technical specialists for execution.

CRM Manager will drive business area requirements, ensure their clear alignment with strategic goals and act as change manager within the business to
ensure the effective and successful embedding and adoption of all process improvements.

Successful achievement of this remit will require close partnering with marketing, sales, product, curriculum and customer service teams.

Activities:

The role holder will be expected to be responsible for the following:

Leading the definition and implementation of customer sales journeys using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform and other interconnected systems such as ClickDimensions and other marketing automation platforms.
Working closely with internal stakeholders across Sales, Customer Services, Marketing, Product, Curriculum and Events functions to understand and articulate business requirements in line with desired end-to-end customer journeys and strategic objectives
Be the customer sales journey Subject Matter Expert (SME) on other customer facing and operational systems throughout the business. The SME will champion the customer sales processes to ensure they are optimised across all relevant platforms.
Working with the organisations technical teams to design, test, and implement updates to CRM and other strategic systems such as marketing automation and customer success platforms, which support delivery of our strategic objectives.
Playing a key role in our customer data strategy
Monitor CRM trends, Microsoft Dynamics updates marketing automation platform updates, new technologies and recommend new system options where tangible benefits can be realised.
Lead the Customer and Product Business and Performance Analyst to develop detailed reports and provide data-driven insights.
Liaise with technical specialists for the execution of the sales elements of the system roadmap for Microsoft Dynamics and other interconnected systems.
Provide expert change management support and post-implementation training to team members to ensure the successful adoption and embedding of business process change.
Provide timely and accurate reporting as determined by the needs of the business
Maintain strong, professional relationships with key internal and external vendor partners
Participate in special projects and perform other duties as required.
Acts to consistently ensure data quality and integrity is maintained at all times in line with regulatory best practices


Skills and experience:

To succeed in this role the ideal candidate will demonstrate:

An ability to identify best practice and drive change in a complex organisation
Strong understanding and experience of CRM and marketing automation best practices and functionality. Clear understanding of the sales and marketing features of MS Dynamics CRM and how these can be best exploited
Strong business partnering, analytical skills and problem-solving abilities.
Change management skillset, to ensure changes delivered are fully adopted and embedded
Proven ability to provide post-implementation training and mentor team members.
Excellent communication skills.
Demonstrated project management skills.
Experience with marketing automation systems implementation is highly desirable.


Person Specification:

We believe the type of person best suited to this role is as follows:

Experienced marketing and sales automation professional who has a strong understanding and hands on experience of CRM platforms and marketing automation tools (Dynamics 365, Click Dimensions, Dynamics Marketing preferred) and how to best apply the sales and marketing features and best-practise processes
Proactive nature, a change maker.
An ability to understand the business and recommend best practice for implementation.
Possess excellent communication and project management skills.
Have track record of interpreting business needs to define solutions.
Team player, able to mentor, motivate and train others.
Have an unwavering commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.
Have a sense of urgency for goal achievement in a fast-paced environment, agile and resilient, deciding and delivering at pace.
Must assume responsibility for risk and outcomes.
Have a strong commitment to achieve results.
High ethical standards.

Need to know (to be successful in this role, you will need to know):

Being successful in this role means applying your knowledge of Dynamics CRM and best practice from other industries/ organisations to transform how AQA attract, engage and retain customers.
It’s critical to work collaboratively and influence at all levels of the business to drive forward business change.
You must develop a detailed understanding of the required business processes across multiple areas of the business (Sales, Marketing, Events, Curriculum) and be able to work with the relevant technical and support teams to deliver change.
It’s critical to be data driven, identifying and closing gaps in data collection, and leveraging insights from the systems to inform business decision making. This is not a technical role.
You should have a high degree of knowledge about the use of the system in a sales and marketing context but we do not expect a background in customisation or database administration.