| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Marketing |
| Level | Senior management |
| Reports to | Chief Marketing Officer |
| Direct reports | Performance Marketing Manager, SEO Manager, Social Media Manager, CRM Manager |
| Experience | 10 to 14 years in digital marketing, including 4 years leading multi-channel digital teams |
Head of Digital Marketing job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Head of Digital Marketing
Department: Marketing
Reports to: Chief Marketing Officer
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Head of Digital Marketing owns every paid, owned and earned digital channel: search, social, display, video, email, the website and the marketing technology behind them. They set the digital plan and budget, lead specialists and agencies, and answer for the leads, sales or app installs that digital brings in at an agreed cost. The role reports to the CMO or Head of Marketing and is common in e-commerce, education, real estate, financial services and consumer brands.
Key responsibilities
- Build the annual digital marketing plan with channel budgets, lead or sales targets and cost ceilings for each business line.
- Allocate spend across search, social, video, display and affiliate channels, and move money every month toward the lowest cost per acquisition.
- Own the website and landing page roadmap with the tech team, covering page speed, forms, tracking and conversion improvements.
- Set up and govern the measurement stack of analytics, tag management, conversion tracking, consent and the dashboards used by marketing and sales.
- Lead the SEO, social media, performance and CRM managers, and review their channel plans and results every week.
- Select and manage digital agencies and technology vendors, including scope, fees, account access and ownership of data.
- Approve martech purchases such as marketing automation, customer data platforms and chat tools, based on use cases and total cost.
- Protect customer data used in digital campaigns by enforcing consent, access limits and data agreements with vendors.
- Report digital results, attribution and learnings to the CMO each month, and propose budget shifts for the next quarter.
- Train brand and sales teams to read digital dashboards and to work digital leads quickly.
Requirements
- MBA in Marketing, or a degree in engineering, commerce or mass communication
- Google Ads, Google Analytics or Meta Blueprint certifications are an advantage
- Hands-on experience of managing large paid media budgets
- 10 to 14 years in digital marketing, including 4 years leading multi-channel digital teams
KRAs and KPIs for a Head of Digital Marketing
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Digital revenue or leads | Digital-sourced sales or qualified leads at or above the monthly target for each business line |
| Acquisition cost | Blended cost per acquisition across paid channels within the ceiling set in the plan |
| Website conversion | Landing page conversion rate improved every quarter against the agreed baseline |
| Organic growth | Non-paid traffic from search and social growing each quarter at the planned rate |
| Measurement accuracy | Conversions in analytics matching CRM or order records within 10 percent every month |
| Budget pacing | Monthly digital spend within 5 percent of the approved plan |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console, MoEngage or CleverTap, Looker Studio.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Vice President Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer, Head of Growth
Interview questions for a Head of Digital Marketing
- How would you split a monthly digital budget between search, social and video for a new product?
- Analytics shows 1,000 conversions but the CRM shows 700 leads. How do you find the gap?
- What would you check first if organic traffic fell sharply after a website redesign?
- How do you tell whether an agency is optimizing for your business or for its own reports?
- Which attribution model would you use for a long sales cycle, and why?
- How do you handle consent and customer data when running remarketing campaigns?
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What does a head of digital marketing do?
A head of digital marketing plans and runs all digital channels, including search, social, display, email and the website. They allocate the digital budget, lead the channel managers and agencies, own tracking and dashboards, and answer for the leads or sales digital delivers at the agreed cost.
What is the difference between a digital marketing manager and a head of digital marketing?
A digital marketing manager usually runs campaigns across channels for one business or product line. The head of digital marketing sets the plan and budget for all lines, leads several channel managers, chooses agencies and martech, and reports digital results to the CMO.
Which certifications help for a head of digital marketing role?
Google Ads and Google Analytics certifications, Meta Blueprint and HubSpot courses help early in a career. At head level, employers look more closely at the budgets handled, the results delivered and the ability to build a team, so certifications support a profile but do not replace experience.