Director, Marketing Operations and Performance

About the role

Ellucian is seeking a Director, Marketing Operations & Performance to help transform how our Marketing organization operates, driving greater efficiency, stronger collaboration, and measurable business impact through AI, automation, data-driven insights, and modern ways of working. In this highly collaborative leadership role, you'll shape Marketing's operating model, proactively challenge existing processes and organizational practices, and identify opportunities to simplify work, eliminate low-value activities, and build a more agile, efficient, and accountable marketing organization. You'll leverage AI, technology, and data-driven insights to improve productivity, accelerate execution, optimize resources, and strengthen marketing ROI while driving greater alignment across the revenue organization. You'll also lead Marketing's strategic planning and operational effectiveness, connecting priorities, investments, execution, and measurable outcomes. Partnering closely with Finance, Sales Operations, and Marketing leadership, you'll identify opportunities to improve workflows through intelligent automation, process redesign, and cross-functional collaboration, ensuring improvements translate into meaningful business results. You'll also lead and develop a small team while helping drive organizational change and continuous improvement across Marketing.

Responsibilities

• Lead annual and quarterly marketing planning, ensuring priorities, investments, and resources align with Ellucian's business and growth objectives.
• Oversee the integrated marketing portfolio, including project intake, prioritization, resource allocation, dependencies, and strategic trade-offs.
• Drive improvements to Marketing's operating model by introducing streamlined processes, AI-enabled workflows, automation, and modern ways of working that increase productivity and execution speed.
• Partner with Marketing leaders to identify, evaluate, and prioritize high-impact AI and automation opportunities based on business value, feasibility, and measurable outcomes.
• Establish and continuously improve Marketing's operating cadence, governance, decision-making processes, and accountability frameworks.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives that improve collaboration, eliminate redundant activities, reduce bottlenecks, and strengthen execution across Marketing and the broader revenue organization.
• Own Marketing's KPI framework, performance targets, and business review processes, partnering with Analytics and Finance to evaluate results, marketing ROI, and opportunities for improvement.
• Translate marketing performance data into actionable insights, executive-level recommendations, and strategic decisions that improve business outcomes.
• Partner with Demand Generation, Sales Operations, and Marketing leadership to improve funnel performance, lead qualification, marketing-to-sales handoffs, and pipeline conversion.
• Support weekly, monthly, and quarterly performance reviews, ensuring key insights translate into clear action plans, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with Finance on marketing budget planning, forecasting, spend management, investment prioritization, and resource optimization.
• Evaluate marketing investments, program effectiveness, and operational capacity to identify opportunities for greater efficiency and return on investment.
• Drive change management and adoption of new processes, tools, and technologies, including identifying training and enablement needs across Marketing.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to senior Marketing leadership, providing recommendations on priorities, organizational effectiveness, resource trade-offs, and operational improvements.
• Build strong partnerships across Sales, Sales Operations, Finance, Product Marketing, IT, and other business functions to advance shared objectives.
• Lead, coach, and develop a small team of 1–2 direct reports, establishing clear expectations, supporting professional growth, and driving accountability for results.
• Champion a culture of innovation, collaboration, continuous improvement, and data-driven decision-making.

Requirements

• 10+ years of relevant experience in B2B marketing operations, marketing strategy, business operations, management consulting, or related leadership roles.
• Strong experience leading strategic planning, operational transformation, process improvement, and cross-functional initiatives within complex organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage AI, automation, and emerging technologies to improve business processes, operational efficiency, and organizational performance.
• Experience developing