Head of Digital Marketing & Customer Acquisition

Position Summary Applied Data Finance (ADF) is seeking a senior, results-driven Head of Digital Marketing & Customer Acquisition to own and scale all digital acquisition and lifecycle marketing for the Personify brand. This role is accountable for end-to-end digital growth—from first customer touch through application, onboarding, and ongoing engagement. The ideal candidate blends performance marketing rigor with customer-centric UX leadership, ensuring that marketing, messaging, and digital workflows operate as a single, optimized system. Reporting directly to the Chief Revenue Officer, this leader will serve as the single owner of digital growth, accountable for strategy, execution, and performance. The role requires a rare combination of strategic vision, hands-on operational leadership, and comfort operating in a regulated consumer lending environment. Key Responsibilities Digital Acquisition & Performance Marketing • Accountable for all digital customer acquisition channels, including paid search (SEM), paid social, display, affiliates, and other DTC digital channels. • Scale originations profitably while maintaining disciplined CAC, margin, and credit-quality guardrails. • Lead ongoing experimentation across creatives, offers, landing pages, bidding strategies, and funnel design. • Partner closely with Product, Finance, Risk, and Data Science to align acquisition volume with credit appetite and portfolio performance. User Experience (UX) & Digital Workflow Ownership • Accountable for conversion performance across the full digital funnel—from click to funded loan: • Marketing landing pages • Application and prequalification flows • Offer presentation and selection • Onboarding and post-origination experiences • Lead and manage a team of UX and product designers, setting standards for usability, accessibility, and conversion. • Partner with Product, Engineering, and Data to translate customer insights into high-impact UX improvements. • Establish a consistent design language and experience principles across acquisition and lifecycle touchpoints. • Ensure UX decisions balance conversion optimization, compliance, and long-term customer trust. Lifecycle Marketing & Contact Strategy • Establish and govern a holistic contact management strategy across Email, SMS, RVM, and future channels. • Rationalize customer communications to eliminate channel conflict, over-contacting, and inconsistent messaging. • Define channel prioritization, frequency caps, sequencing logic, and escalation paths across the customer lifecycle. • Ensure acquisition, lifecycle, and servicing communications are coordinated into a unified customer experience. Email Channel Modernization & Deliverability • Lead a full modernization of the email channel, including: • Refresh of templates and creative standards (mobile-first, conversion-optimized). • Evaluation and evolution of the email platform (ESP), automation capabilities, and data integrations. • Establishment of best-in-class deliverability practices (sender reputation, inbox placement, compliance). • Build scalable lifecycle journeys (onboarding, engagement, reactivation, cross-sell, win-back). AI, Search & Emerging Channels • Define and execute Personify’s strategy for AI-driven discovery and search (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, and other answer engines). • Rethink SEO and content strategies for AI-native, answer-based customer journeys • Explore responsible uses of AI for personalization, creative generation, and campaign optimization. • Establish internal playbooks and testing frameworks for emerging acquisition channels. Compliance, Brand & Customer Trust • Ensure all digital marketing practices comply with regulatory, legal, and brand standards. • Partner with Legal and Compliance to proactively identify risks and build scalable guardrails. • Balance growth objectives with long-term customer trust and brand integrity. Qualifications & Experience • 10–15+ years of experience in digital marketing, growth, or customer acquisition leadership. • Proven track record scaling paid digital and lifecycle channels with clear ROI accountability. • Deep experience in SEM, performance marketing, CRM/lifecycle marketing, and experimentation. • Experience modernizing marketing platforms and data infrastructure. • Strong understanding of unit economics, CLTV, and performance measurement. • Experience in fintech, lending, or regulated consumer products is strongly preferred. • Comfortable operating cross-functionally with Credit, Risk, Product, Data, and Compliance teams.