Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for E‑Marketing Director

🎯 Role Definition

The E‑Marketing Director will lead the digital marketing strategy of the organisation, driving growth, brand visibility and customer engagement across online channels. You will be accountable for defining and executing the digital roadmap—including website, email, social, e‑commerce, SEO/SEM, marketing automation and performance analytics. This role demands strategic vision, leadership of a multidisciplinary team, strong collaboration with product, sales and technology functions, and a proven track‑record of digital transformation. Your mission is to maximise marketing ROI, optimise customer journeys and ensure digital channels contribute measurably to business success.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Digital Marketing Manager
Head of Digital Marketing
Director of Growth & Acquisition

Advancement To:

Vice President of Marketing
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
Global Director of Digital Strategy

Lateral Moves:

Director of Customer Experience & Digital Channels
Director of E‑Commerce & Digital Growth
Director of Demand Generation & Digital Operations

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Define and champion the overall e‑marketing vision and strategy aligned with business goals, brand positioning and customer lifecycle targets.
Lead development and execution of multi‑channel digital marketing plans including web, mobile, email, social, content, SEO/SEM, affiliate and paid media channels.
Oversee the digital customer journey from awareness through acquisition, engagement, retention and advocacy to maximise lifetime value.
Manage and optimise the e‑commerce funnel (where applicable) including landing pages, conversion optimisation, checkout flows and post‑purchase experience.
Build and lead a high‑performing digital marketing team—hire, mentor, develop and manage performance of digital, content, social and automation professionals.
Oversee planning and management of the e‑marketing budget—forecasting, resource allocation, spend optimisation, ROI and marketing performance metrics.
Set, monitor and report on key digital marketing KPIs including traffic growth, conversion rates, cost per acquisition (CPA), return on ad spend (ROAS), customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV).
Partner with product, sales, analytics and technology teams to ensure digital marketing efforts are integrated and support business growth, product launches and customer experience.
Lead marketing automation platform strategy and execution—to include segmentation, journey mapping, lead‑nurture automation and lifecycle marketing programmes.
Develop and implement SEO strategy—including on‑page, off‑page, keyword strategy, link building and organic content performance to drive sustainable traffic growth.
Oversee paid media strategy and execution—PPC, display, programmatic, social ads—and implement testing, optimisation and budget reallocation to maximise performance.
Ensure brand consistency and digital brand integrity across all channels, globally when relevant, ensuring brand voice, visuals, messaging and customer experience are maintained.
Conduct market research, customer insights, competitor analysis and digital trend monitoring to inform strategy, identify opportunities and threats, and refine digital plans.
Collaborate with external agencies, partners, vendors and technology providers to amplify digital reach, improve capabilities and drive performance.
Develop, implement and supervise content marketing strategy—blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics, social assets—that supports organic growth, SEO, thought leadership and brand engagement.
Lead technology transformation initiatives for marketing—evaluate, implement and integrate MarTech stack components (CRM, MAP, CMS, analytics) to drive automation, insights and scalability.
Ensure data governance, tracking and analytics frameworks are in place—tagging, tracking pixels, attribution models, dashboards and marketing performance reporting.
Present clear, compelling reports and strategic recommendations to senior leadership (C‑suite, board) showing digital marketing impact and growth trajectory.
Identify and manage digital risk areas including compliance (GDPR, CAN‑SPAM), deliverability, data privacy and security across digital marketing channels.
Foster culture of innovation—drive testing, A/B, experimentation, new channel pilots and continuous improvement across digital marketing operations.

Secondary Functions

Support ad‑hoc digital marketing analysis, exploratory pilot campaigns and cross‑functional innovation projects.
Contribute to the organisation’s digital marketing roadmap, process improvements, automation initiatives and digital maturity advancement.
Collaborate with business units to translate digital marketing analytics/capabilities into infrastructure, platform and process requirements.
Participate in agile planning forums and senior leadership forums to drive alignment and integration between marketing, product and technology.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Strong proficiency in digital marketing channels: SEO, SEM/PPC, display, social advertising, email marketing, content marketing.
Deep experience with marketing automation platforms (MAP), CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot), CMS, MarTech stack integration.
Advanced analytical skills: ability to interpret large datasets, build dashboards, develop attribution models, monitor ROI and extract actionable insights.
Budget management and forecasting: ability to allocate resources, optimise spend, manage multi‑million dollar digital budgets and deliver high ROI.
Experience in conversion rate optimisation (CRO), A/B testing, user funnel optimization and digital experience improvement.
Strong competence in web analytics and tools such as Google Analytics (including GA4), Adobe Analytics, Tag Manager, SEO tools (SEMrush, Ahrefs).
Leadership of digital media buys: managing paid search, programmatic buy, retargeting, social ads with performance optimisation.
Ability to manage digital transformation projects: MarTech implementations, process automation, data integration and cross‑functional system change.
Excellent content strategy, brand voice development and digital storytelling skills across web, mobile and social platforms.
Technical understanding of digital properties: website architecture, mobile UX, e‑commerce platforms, tracking implementation and data flows.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinker with commercial acumen: able to link digital marketing efforts to business growth, revenue and customer retention.
Strong leadership and team‑building capabilities: inspire, mentor, manage senior managers and develop a high‑performance culture.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills: articulate digital strategy to C‑suite, board, cross‑functional partners and external agencies.
Data‑driven and results‑oriented mindset: make decisions based on insights, test, iterate and optimise continuously.
Influential and collaborative: able to work across product, sales, technology and creative teams to align digital efforts and drive change.
Adaptability and innovation orientation: embrace emerging digital channels, technologies and trends and drive adoption.
Project management and organisational skills: oversee multiple concurrent projects, deadlines and budget constraints with clarity and accountability.
Customer‑centric and experience‑focused: understand the end‑to‑end customer journey, user behaviour and tailor digital touchpoints accordingly.
Creative problem solver: able to craft compelling campaigns, tackle complex challenges and pivot when required.
High integrity and risk‑awareness: ensure compliance, data privacy and brand safeguarding in digital operations.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, Digital Media or related field.
Preferred Education:
Master’s degree (MBA or MSc) in Marketing, Digital Strategy or related field; certifications in analytics, marketing automation, digital leadership.
Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing
Digital Marketing / Communications
Business Administration
Information Systems / Technology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:
10 – 15 years of progressive experience in marketing or digital marketing, including 5‑10 years in leadership roles responsible for digital strategy and performance.
Preferred:
Track record of driving measurable growth via digital channels, prior experience leading large digital teams, managing global digital budget, transforming marketing operations and scaling digital programs across markets.