Head of Performance Marketing

Head of Performance Marketing

Are you a performance marketing expert ready to take the next leap, driving high-impact, data-powered campaigns across paid media channels with precision, creativity, and commercial intent? At PizzaExpress, we’re appointing a new agency with a transformative brief and we’re looking for a results-obsessed Head of Performance Marketing to co-lead this next chapter: shaping the roadmap, working in close partnership with our agency to scale our reach and unlocking performance that connects directly to business outcomes.

This is a pivotal leadership role. You’ll define the strategy across all digital acquisition and retention channels, from paid search and social to CRM retargeting and affiliates. Connecting this activity to our first-party data, loyalty and analytics efforts to drive measurable value. From AI-powered bidding to automated creative testing and attribution modelling, you’ll embed modern performance marketing into the heart of our business.

What You’ll Do:

• Define and own the digital acquisition and retention strategy across paid media, search, social, affiliates, CRM retargeting, and owned channels. Aligning this to our growth roadmap and commercial targets.

• Lead the strategic integration of MMM, advanced attribution tools, and first-party data strategy in partnership with CRM, Loyalty, Digital Product, and Data Science teams both inhouse and agency side.

• Partner with our new performance agency to co-create AI-powered campaign strategies that include proprietary models, intelligent audience targeting, automated bidding and dynamic content testing.

• Establish, monitor, and optimise performance KPIs, taking responsibility for testing roadmaps, channel effectiveness, Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), Long Term Value (LTV) and budget control.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with Trading, Finance, Digital and external data resources to connect marketing performance with real business outcomes.

• Build a smart campaign taxonomy and bidding structure that allows for scaling across location, audience, channel and platform.

• Deliver best-in-class creative and audience testing plans supported by modular content libraries and smart delivery technology.

• Drive innovation through automation, AI and proprietary tools while maintaining the rigour and discipline of strong measurement frameworks.

• Own stakeholder communications, reporting and storytelling surfacing what’s working, what’s next, and where value is being created.

What You’ll Need:

• Deep experience in a senior-level performance marketing role, ideally in hospitality, retail or digital-first environments.

• Proven ability to lead across Paid Search (Google, Microsoft), Paid Social (Meta, TikTok, YouTube), Programmatic, Display, Affiliates and Aggregator Ads (Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat).

• Expertise in working with modern marketing stacks, dynamic creative platforms and MMM/attribution solutions.

• A strong track record of delivering measurable business impact, from ROAS and customer acquisition to long-term retention and LTV.

• Experience partnering with external agencies to drive both strategy and operational excellence, holding them accountable to performance and innovation.

• Familiarity with audience design, privacy-centric media targeting and data integration across CRM and loyalty platforms.

• Confident managing multi-£m media budgets, forecasting, reporting and spend efficiency optimisation.

• Collaborative, commercially minded, and intellectually curious.  With the ability to bring teams together around performance, insight, and business priorities.

• Experience with delivery platforms and analysis of aggregators performance spend would be beneficial. 

Who We Are:

Where those who love pizza can be their true self. We’ve been around since 1965, bringing pizza to the UK and growing into a multichannel, international brand. At PizzaExpress, we believe you should always be able to express yourself.

Our values and culture are made up of three key parts: use your head, show your heart and create a home.  For us, this shows up as: 

• Head - were customer centric, commercially driven and obsessed by performance in all we do 

• Heart - we show our heart, are honest and vulnerable with our teams and lead everything through our people 

• Home - we create a home, where everyone has a place at our marble table and you can truly express yourself everyday  

Inclusivity and respect are at the heart of our business and are valued by our teams, customers, and suppliers. PizzaExpress and Milano is a place where everyone is welcome, and everyone belongs.  That’s why we assess each application on the aptitude to do the job and nothing else.