Marketing Director/VP of Marketing

About Ryft

Ryft is an FCA-authorised payment institution and PCI DSS Level 1 certified payment facilitator, operating a payfac and marketplace payments platform. The business is at Series B stage with active expansion underway across the EU and US. This role joins the leadership team at a pivotal point in that growth story, with brand, demand and market positioning becoming increasingly central to commercial success.

About The Role

We are looking for a Marketing Director / VP to build and lead the marketing function at Ryft. This is a hands-on leadership role: you will set marketing strategy and budget, build and manage a team spanning multiple disciplines, and personally drive execution where it counts. You will report into the COO and work closely with the senior leadership team, translating commercial and product priorities into a marketing plan that supports B2B growth across the UK, EU and US.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Leadership

• Own the marketing strategy for Ryft, aligned to commercial targets, product roadmap and international expansion plans.
• Set clear priorities and OKRs for the marketing function, and represent marketing performance and plans to the senior leadership team and board.
• Build Ryft's brand and market position within the payments and fintech space, with a clear point of view on differentiation versus competitors and acquirers.

Budget and Resource Management

• Build, own and manage the marketing budget, with clear allocation across channels, campaigns and headcount.
• Track spend against ROI and commercial outcomes, and make the case for investment or reallocation with senior stakeholders.
• Manage relationships and contracts with external agencies, freelancers and vendors.

Team Leadership and Development

• Build out the marketing team as Ryft scales, hiring, developing and managing direct reports across relevant disciplines (e.g. content, demand generation, brand, product marketing, comms).
• Set individual and team objectives, run regular 1:1s and performance reviews, and create a strong, accountable team culture.
• Identify capability gaps and build the case for new hires or specialist support as the function grows.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with Sales, Commercial, Product and Compliance to ensure marketing activity is joined up with wider business priorities.
• Coordinate go-to-market plans for new products, partnerships and market entries (including new geographies).
• Act as a connector across disciplines, ensuring brand, content, demand and comms work as one coherent function rather than in silos.

Hands-On Execution

• Stay close to the work: this is not a purely strategic role. You will be expected to get into the detail on campaigns, content and messaging where needed, particularly while the team is small.
• Personally lead or shape flagship activity such as major campaigns, events, PR moments and thought leadership.

Stakeholder Reporting

• Report regularly to the COO and senior leadership team on marketing performance, pipeline contribution and budget.
• Present marketing strategy and results to the board as required.
• Build strong working relationships with senior stakeholders across the business, including Sales, Commercial and Product leadership.

What we are looking for

Experience:

• Proven experience in a senior marketing leadership role (Director / VP level), ideally within B2B, fintech, payments or a related regulated industry.
• Track record of building and leading marketing teams across multiple disciplines, from strategy through to hands-on execution.
• Experience owning and managing a marketing budget, with strong commercial judgement on ROI and prioritisation.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience reporting to senior leadership and/or a board.
• Comfortable operating at both strategic and hands-on levels, particularly in a scaling business where resources are not unlimited.
• Experience supporting international market expansion is a strong plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

What Success Looks Like

• A marketing function that is structured, resourced and delivering against clear commercial objectives within the first 6-12 months.
• A marketing budget that is well-managed, defensible and demonstrably linked to pipeline and brand outcomes.
• Strong, trusted working relationships with the COO, senior leadership team and board.
• A marketing team that is well-led, developing, and delivering consistently across disciplines.