Présentation de l'entreprise
The FEI is looking for a Director, Marketing on a 100% basis. The position is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the start date is to be agreed.
Director, Marketing
Purpose of the Role
Reporting to the Executive Director of the Commercial, Marketing & Communications Department, the Director, Marketing role is responsible for defining, recommending to senior leadership, and delivering FEI’s long-term global marketing strategy, aimed at growing and actively engaging the worldwide fan base of equestrian sport, strengthening emotional connection to the sport, and increasing participation, interaction, and advocacy across physical events and the FEI’s and its stakeholders’ digital platforms. This includes leading the FEI’s fan data strategy and CRM/CDP ecosystem to enable personalised fan journeys and drive measurable organisational value growth.
The role combines strategic leadership with a strong hands-on contribution, requiring direct involvement in planning, execution, and delivery, working alongside a small, multidisciplinary team within the Commercial, Marketing & Communications area.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy & Leadership
- Lead the development, recommendation and execution of the FEI’s global marketing strategy, ensuring alignment with the FEI’s overall objectives and CMC department priorities;
- Act as a strategic advisor to the Executive Director, Commercial, Marketing & Communications on content production, fan growth, engagement, brand and marketing performance;
- Translate long-term strategy into clear annual priorities, roadmaps, budgets and measurable objectives;
- Lead, develop and actively contribute alongside a multidisciplinary marketing team of 8 staff within the CMC area, fostering positive collaboration, accountability and high performance.
Fan Growth, Engagement & Brand
- Drive the growth, engagement and advocacy of the FEI’s global fan base across all disciplines, markets and platforms;
- Strengthen the FEI brand and emotional connection to equestrian sport through consistent, high-quality storytelling, campaigns and fan experiences;
- Personally contribute to the development and delivery of integrated marketing campaigns supporting FEI events, series, championships and strategic initiatives;
- Define and oversee the overall media buy strategy for FEI events, series and campaigns, including agency governance, performance standards and budget efficiency (ROI/CPA/CPM/brand lift as appropriate), in close coordination with relevant internal and external stakeholders;
- Ensure a coherent and engaging fan journey across physical events, broadcast, digital platforms and partner channels;
- Lead CRM/CDP-driven fan lifecycle management (acquisition, retention and advocacy) through segmentation, personalisation and automation across channels.
Content, Broadcast & Digital Ecosystem
- Provide both strategic oversight and hands-on direction for live and non-live content production, including broadcast, editorial, creative and campaign content;
- Ensure content and broadcast strategies are aligned with fan engagement objectives and platform-specific behaviours (sharing, interaction, recommendation);
- Oversee and actively support the evolution of FEI digital platforms and products to enhance fan experience, usability and engagement;
- Champion a product-led approach to fan-facing digital and physical experiences by setting priorities and success criteria, validating user needs and iterating based on performance data and insights, in partnership with the Digital Product Manager and Technology Operations department;
- Ensure strong day-to-day alignment between content, brand and visual identities, digital product and campaign execution, stepping in directly where needed.
Data, Insights & Performance
- Sponsor and govern the CRM/CDP programme (vision, use cases, adoption and KPI impact), ensuring GDPR-compliant data governance in partnership with Legal and Technology Operations departments;
- Leverage business intelligence, fan data and market insights to inform strategy, prioritisation and campaign decisions;
- Define, track and analyse KPIs related to fan growth, engagement, reach, advocacy and media value, ensuring regular reporting and insight-driven optimisation;
- Run insight-to-action loops with Marketing/Content/Digital Product to turn insight into prioritised changes (creative, targeting, channel mix, user journey) and measurable improvements across the CMC area.
Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with Commercial, Communications, Sports, Technology Operations and Event (commercial) teams to ensure integrated, consistent and effective fan-facing initiatives;
- Collaborate with FEI stakeholders (including National Federations, organisers, broadcasters and partners) to amplify reach, engagement and brand consistency;
- Support commercial objectives by ensuring marketing initiatives enhance sponsor value, activation opportunities and broadcast rights-holder ROI.
Administration & Team Management
- Manage marketing budgets, forecasts and reporting, ensuring effective use of resources;
- Manage agencies, suppliers and tenders in line with FEI governance and procurement principles;
- Ensure marketing tools, processes and team communications are efficient, up to date and fit for purpose;
- Actively support the development, performance and progression of team members through coaching and hands-on leadership.
Position Requirements
- Master’s degree in business and/or marketing;
- Minimum 10 years proven experience leading global marketing strategies in international sport;
- Strong leadership experience, successfully managing multidisciplinary teams;
- Strong understanding of digital platforms, content ecosystems, brand, media distribution and fan engagement dynamics;
- Experience owning or working with CRM/CDP programmes, fan data strategy and data-driven personalisation/lifecycle marketing;
- Experience working with media and broadcast considered a strong asset;
- Strategic mindset combined with strong execution oversight and stakeholder management skills;
- Ability to operate effectively in a complex, international, federated environment;
- Passion for sport (equestrian a plus);
- Willingness and flexibility to travel internationally including weekends;
- Excellent oral and written communication skills;
- Perfect fluency in English required, additional languages an asset.
If you meet the position requirements, We want you! We are a dynamic Sports Federation and we would gladly receive your application. Please apply via the 'Apply' button below.
Only applicants being Swiss, resident of Switzerland with a valid work permit or EU citizen will be taken into consideration for the recruiting process.
Important information: Please note that the recruitment process for this position has been entrusted to a specialised Search Firm. By applying, you consent to the sharing of your information with this specialised Search Firm.
