CAREERS

 

Job Description

Are you an experienced B2B marketing professional looking for the opportunity to build and lead a marketing function?

Can you turn complex technology into clear propositions, persuasive campaigns and practical sales tools?

Are you ambitious, commercially minded and ready to make your mark in a growing UK technology company?

Due to continued growth, Drone Defence Services Ltd is looking for a Marketing Manager with broad, practical experience in B2B technology marketing to take ownership of our marketing activity and help build the function for the next phase of the company’s development.

Drone Defence develops drone detection, tracking, airspace intelligence and counter drone technology for customers operating in complex and security sensitive environments.

Our products combine radio frequency sensing, computer vision, data fusion and cloud software to help organisations understand and respond to activity in the airspace around them.

This is a hands on role with genuine strategic responsibility. Initially, you will personally deliver much of the work while establishing the plans, systems, standards and evidence needed to support a larger marketing team as the company expands.

You may currently be a Senior Marketing Executive or Marketing Manager who is ready to take broader ownership and develop into a future Head of Marketing.

Location

We are headquartered in Retford, Nottinghamshire, with a direct rail link from London and the North, along with direct access from the A1 motorway.

Working Hours

We believe that we are better together and that working in the same space helps us understand our technology, customers and commercial priorities. This is therefore a full time, predominantly office based role, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Limited flexible working may be available once the successful candidate is established in the role, providing objectives are met and positive communication is maintained.

Salary

£45,000 to £50,000 depending on experience and the calibre of the candidate.

Reporting Line

The Marketing Manager will initially report directly to the Chief Executive Officer and work closely with sales, product, engineering, software and operations.

 

Responsibilities and Duties

You will take ownership of the company’s marketing function, combining strategic judgement with practical delivery. Your role will be to improve how Drone Defence understands its markets, presents its products, supports sales and creates measurable commercial demand.

Specific duties include:

·      Marketing strategy and planning: Develop and maintain a focused marketing plan aligned with the company strategy, priority markets, revenue objectives and product roadmap.

·      Product positioning: Create clear positioning, messaging and value propositions for our products, capabilities, customer segments and use cases.

·      Technical translation: Work with engineers and product owners to convert complex technical capability into accurate, compelling and commercially useful language.

·      Customer and market insight: Develop a strong understanding of customer needs, buying behaviour, market structure, competitors and emerging opportunities.

·      Sales enablement: Produce and maintain presentations, product briefs, brochures, case studies, demonstrations, comparison material and other assets that help progress opportunities.

·      Campaign management: Plan and deliver integrated campaigns across web, email, social media, public relations, events and partner channels.

·      Content creation: Write and produce high quality content including articles, customer stories, thought leadership, product material, video, photography and campaign assets.

·      Website ownership: Manage the company website, ensuring its structure, content, search performance and customer journeys support the company’s commercial priorities.

·      Digital marketing: Use search, email, social media, remarketing and other appropriate channels to build relevant audiences and generate qualified engagement.

·      Events and exhibitions: Plan and support exhibitions, demonstrations, customer events and industry engagement, with clear objectives and disciplined follow up.

·      Partner marketing: Support distributors, resellers and strategic partners with consistent messaging, campaign material and joint market activity.

·      Public relations: Identify credible stories, manage external communications and build relationships with appropriate trade, technology and business media.

·      Brand stewardship: Maintain a consistent and professional brand across products, communications, presentations, events and customer touchpoints.

·      Measurement and reporting: Establish useful performance measures and report on campaign effectiveness, customer engagement, pipeline contribution and return on marketing investment.

·      Budget and suppliers: Manage agreed budgets and external agencies or suppliers, maintaining high standards, commercial control and clear accountability.

·      Future team development: Define the capabilities and specialist roles required as the company expands, then help recruit, develop and lead the future marketing team.

Experience, Skills and Knowledge

The successful candidate is likely to have at least five years of relevant marketing experience and evidence of increasing responsibility. More important than job title is a demonstrable record of delivering commercially useful work.

·      B2B marketing experience: Strong experience marketing products or services to business, government or institutional customers through a considered sales process.

·      Technology or technical markets: Experience in technology, software, security, aerospace, engineering, industrial systems or another field where products require explanation and evidence.

·      Product marketing: Evidence of developing propositions, messaging, market segmentation, launches or sales enablement for complex products.

·      Campaign delivery: A record of planning and delivering coordinated campaigns across several channels, with clear objectives, budgets and measures of success.

·      Commercial understanding: An appreciation of sales pipelines, customer acquisition, opportunity progression, tender activity and the distinction between marketing activity and commercial results.

·      Content and copywriting: Excellent written English and the ability to produce accurate, concise and persuasive content for technical and senior audiences.

·      Digital capability: Practical experience of website management, content management systems, email marketing, search optimisation, social channels and analytics platforms.

·      Creative capability: Sufficient design, photography or video capability to create and improve day to day material, while knowing when specialist support is required.

·      Data and analysis: The ability to interpret performance data, identify what is working, test assumptions and make evidence led recommendations.

·      Project management: The ability to manage several priorities, coordinate internal contributors and external suppliers, and deliver complete work to agreed timescales.

·      Stakeholder management: Confidence working directly with the CEO, technical specialists, customers, partners and commercial teams, including the ability to ask difficult questions and challenge vague claims.

·      Personal ownership: A record of taking responsibility for outcomes rather than waiting for detailed instructions or treating activity as completion.

Desired Experience

·      Marketing to defence, security, law enforcement, critical infrastructure, aviation or public sector customers.

·      International B2B marketing and support for distributors, resellers or strategic partners.

·      Supporting bids, tenders, proposals or account based marketing for high value opportunities.

·      Using customer relationship management and marketing automation systems to improve attribution and follow up.

·      Managing agencies, freelancers, events or a small internal team.

·      Launching a new product, repositioning an existing proposition or helping a company enter a new market.

·      A relevant degree or professional marketing qualification is useful, but evidence of judgement and delivery will carry greater weight.

What We Are Looking For

We are not looking for someone who simply manages channels, produces content to a schedule or waits to be told what to do. We want a commercially minded marketing builder who can understand a complex business, identify what matters and turn good judgement into consistent delivery.

The right person will be comfortable moving between strategy and execution. One day may involve refining the market position of a new technology; the next may involve writing a customer case study, improving a presentation, preparing for an exhibition or reviewing campaign performance.

You must be curious enough to understand our technology, confident enough to challenge internal assumptions and disciplined enough to ensure that every external claim is accurate and supported by evidence.

This role offers the opportunity to shape how the company is presented to the market and to build the marketing capability required by a much larger business.

What Success looks Like

·      Clear market positioning: Customers and partners can quickly understand what our products do, who they are for and why they are different.

·      Stronger sales support: The commercial team has accurate, consistent and persuasive material that helps opportunities progress without repeatedly recreating the same content.

·      Disciplined campaigns: Marketing activity is based on defined audiences, objectives and measures rather than volume of output.

·      Better customer evidence: The company systematically captures case studies, deployment evidence, results and customer insight.

·      Useful performance data: Management can see what marketing is producing, how customers are engaging and where effort should be increased or stopped.

·      A scalable function: Processes, standards, systems and future roles are defined so that additional investment can be deployed effectively.

 

Must Have Qualities

·      Self motivated, energetic and willing to take ownership

·      Commercially aware and focused on outcomes

·      Intellectually curious and able to understand technical subjects

·      A high standard of written and visual communication

·      Organised, reliable and able to finish what you start

·      Confident enough to challenge, but collaborative in how you work

·      Customer first mindset

·      Ambition to learn, develop and grow into a leadership role

·      A team player with the drive to succeed

 

Further Information

Occasional travel will be required to attend customer meetings, demonstrations, exhibitions, partner events and deployments in the UK and overseas.

An SC level security clearance may be required for this role, and candidates should already have, or be capable of obtaining, UK SC clearance.

Diversity and inclusion are integral to the success of Drone Defence. We are proud to have an organisational culture where employees with varying perspectives, skills, life experiences and backgrounds can work together to achieve excellence and realise individual and organisational potential.

Join us and help build the market presence of the next generation of airspace security technology.

Applicants must have the right to work in the United Kingdom.

To apply, please send a CV along with a cover letter to info@dronedefence.co.uk

Drone Defence recruits directly, no agencies please.