Director Global Growth

eBay Classifieds Group (eCG) is an innovative leader in online classified advertising, with ten brands that span the globe. To ensure continued traffic – of high quantity and high quality – across all brands, eCG is in search of a new Director Global Growth. This person will lead the process of improving and centralizing eCG’s data-driven online marketing strategy.

Online Marketing at eBay Classifieds Group

eBay Classifieds’ sites, including Marktplaats and Gumtree, help people find whatever they are looking for in their local communities – whether that be a job, an apartment, a concert ticket, or new friends. Every connection made or item found makes a difference, by creating a world where people share more and waste less. eBay Classifieds Group combines the entrepreneurial energy of a start-up with the resources and trusted leadership of a major corporation. As an online marketplace, the importance of a cutting-edge online marketing strategy cannot be underestimated.
eCG therefore has a central Product & Tech department that is, among other things, responsible for a large share of the analytics, modeling, and tech tools that are a part of eCG’s global online marketing strategy. Meanwhile, the ten different brands or businesses within eCG have local marketing teams. These local teams work together with the central teams when it comes to data analytics and online marketing strategy, while each individually being responsible for the creative aspect of marketing and branding.

The Vacancy: Director Global Growth

eCG has the ambition to further develop and centralize its online marketing strategy. This needs to happen in such a way that the local teams are supported with the best possible central guidance from a product & technology perspective, while maintaining the space and freedom to run their businesses’ brands individually and creatively. The Director of Global Growth is going to realize this ambition.
“The team setup around this Director role is unique. On the one hand, the Director has five direct reports in the central team. On the other hand, there is a need for strong connections to the local or brand-specific marketing teams. The new Director needs to be not only a great online marketing strategist who understands the role of data and technology, but also a strong stakeholder manager who builds connections in a global organization.” – Brent McLean, CPTO

The Director of Global Growth will lead part of the central Product & Tech department, with the scope of five teams.

The SEO Team is responsible for traffic optimization through unpaid search. In a changing SEO landscape, the Director of Global Growth will need to have a good base level understanding of the possibilities and technology that are associated with SEO optimization. The actual technological SEO expertise is present within the team and does not need to be a part of the Director’s essential skillset. Not only is the SEO team on top of its game when it comes to designing and implementing the SEO strategy; the team is also tasked with educating the Group on changes and developments on the SEO front.

The SEA Team, then, is responsible for the paid search functions. A Director with a strong strategic spike will help make this team successful in optimizing ROI for SEA across all businesses and regions. The focus of this work is both operational and strategic – optimizing spend efficiency, helping the individual business teams carve out their optimal SEA strategies, creating dashboards to measure return on investment in the different businesses, and ensuring a more uniform and strategic way of working across the SEA teams overall.

Continuing, the Marketing, Tech and Data Strategy Team is a thought partner and leader within the eCG marketing community with a strong focus on the total customer journey. This team leads the technological side of the marketing strategy, and supports the businesses in upgrading their marketing and data technology. Part of this work is based on an intensive data strategy project that was done recently – the central team is looking to roll out new customer strategy projects now, as a natural consequence of this earlier project. Across the Group there is a need to gather more customer data, and the Marketing, Tech and Data Strategy Team will design how this should be done. The focus there will be on a greater degree of standardization from a strategy and tech perspective.

The Media and Mixed Modelling Team, on the other hand, has a more day-to-day operational focus. They use a newly built model that gives very specific insight in where (which channel) money is spent most effectively, both offline and online. As such, it is considered the holy grail of marketing spend insights within eCG. This team models marketing data on a daily basis and thereby provides guidance on optimal budget allocation on a rolling basis.

Finally, the Growth Hacking Team sits in the space between Marketing and Product, and is responsible for crafting an understanding as to the key factors behind traffic retention and return on eCG sites. The Growth Hacking Team may or may not be in scope for the Director of Global Growth, depending on his or her specific background and interests.

The ideal candidate

A successful Director of Global Growth demonstrates sharp strategic insight into the world of marketing technology. He or she does not need to be a tech expert, but has made him- or herself comfortably familiar with the possibilities and challenges of the aforementioned tools and approaches. Given the seniority and global scope of this role, the Director should be able to provide guidance and flexibly switch between an executive and a supporting approach – depending on the situation and the team or business. The connectedness to the local marketing teams require strong stakeholder management and relationship building, while the presence of several direct reports and corresponding teams calls for trusting and trusted leadership. He or she not only drives growth by implementing a well-thought-out marketing technology strategy across the global organization, but also by facilitating individual and professional growth for the relevant team members.

eBay works with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
Contact Marlies Hoogvliet at marlies.hoogvliet@topofminds.com for more information.