Head of Analytical Performance Marketing

We are looking for a Head of Analytical Performance Marketing with a strong analytical core. This role is about understanding growth through numbers: modelling future platform performance, steering paid marketing based on real ROI, and making deliberate trade‑offs to offset declining organic traffic.

This is explicitly not a branding role. We optimise for measurable, long‑term ROI.

You are expected to be hands‑on with data while leading others: comfortable building and validating models yourself, and able to guide the team in turning complex data into clear decisions.

What success looks like

Success is measured by true business ROI

Not:

• Short‑term ROAS in Google Ads
• Platform‑reported conversions in isolation

But:

• Linking paid spend today to real conversions that happen many months later
• Making investment decisions based on long‑term value creation
• Understanding where paid channels can structurally compensate for organic decline

Your core responsibilities

1. Analytical performance and forecasting

• Build and maintain models covering the full conversion funnel
• Forecast visitors, registrations, and downstream conversions
• Quantify the impact of organic traffic changes on long‑term outcomes
• Make assumptions explicit and continuously validate them with data

2. ROI‑driven paid marketing

• Steer budgets on real ROI, not platform‑level ROAS
• Design approaches to connect ad spend to conversions occurring 1–1.5 years later
• Actively optimise marginal ROI across channels and campaigns
• Decide where and how paid marketing should compensate for organic losses

3. Lead a multi‑disciplinary performance team

You will lead a team covering:

• Paid marketing
• CRO and experimentation
• Nurturing and lifecycle marketing
• Organic Social and performance‑driven awareness channels

Responsibilities include:

• Leading and developing senior specialists and team leads
• Setting a clear analytical standard for decision‑making
• Creating ownership, accountability, and focus on outcomes over activity

Leadership experience is required:

• At least 3+ years leading teams of 6+ people
• Experience in mentoring team leads and scaling ways of working

4. Turn insight into direction

• Translate analysis into concrete priorities and trade‑offs
• Challenge oversimplified growth or attribution narratives
• Work closely with product, data, and engineering on measurement and experimentation

Must‑haves

• Strong analytical mindset: numbers, models, and data detail energise you
• Clear obsession with ROI optimisation (not branding or vanity metrics)
• Proven people leadership experience (3+ years, teams of 6+)
• Comfort working with long and delayed conversion journeys

Nice to have (not mandatory)

• Experience with nurturing, lifecycle, or social performance channels
• Experience designing or improving attribution or measurement models

You are likely someone who:

• Questions dashboards instead of accepting them at face value; in fact, you “define” the dashboard to be developed
• Is comfortable making decisions with incomplete but well‑reasoned data
• Thinks in systems and second‑order effects
• Can explain complex analysis in clear, simple language

The role of AI in this position

AI is not an experiment or a side topic in this role. You are expected to continuously follow the latest developments in AI and translate them into concrete improvements in how we do digital marketing.

You actively introduce new AI‑driven ways to automate processes, improve decision‑making, and maximize results across Google Ads, email nurturing, and social channels. This includes using AI to better understand long conversion journeys, improve targeting and bidding strategies, improve conversion ratios, and scale experimentation without increasing complexity.

More importantly, you bring a clear vision on how AI will change marketing and advertising in the coming years. You help shape how Studyportals wins in a world where traditional search, attribution, and advertising models are being reshaped by AI‑driven discovery. You do not just react to change; you help define our direction.

• Competitive salary including a bonus and pension
• 32 vacation days (including bank holidays) and you have the flexibility to take your holidays whenever you want (e.g., be off on Chinese New Year instead of King’s Day)
• Possibility to buy/sell 5 vacation days out of your annual balance
• Reimbursement of your work‑related travel costs
• Flexibility to work remotely 3 days per week, including aremoteworking allowance.
• Possibility to work from abroad 2 times a year
• An annual personal development budget because personal growth is KEY!
• A nice and fun office in the heart of Eindhoven; fiveminutes’ walkaway from the station - take an insiders’ perspective