Growth & Lifecycle Marketing Manager

Job Description

With 21 purpose-built centres across Melbourne and continued growth on the horizon, Explorers Early Learning is investing in how we connect with families and support them throughout their journey.

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This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Growth & Lifecycle Manager to take ownership of our strategy; driving enrolment growth, strengthening family retention and creating meaningful customer journeys from first enquiry through to long-term engagement.

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If you're a data-driven marketer who loves turning insights into action, understands what makes customers convert and stay, and enjoys building scalable marketing journeys, we'd love to hear from you.

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When Lynda Salvo founded Explorers in 2004, her vision was simple but powerful: to build centres where children and educators could truly thrive together. That mission hasn't changed. Every decision we make - from the environments we create to the people we bring into our team - is guided by Lynda's founding belief that exceptional early learning starts with exceptional people.

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At Explorers, we know great people do their best work when they're supported, trusted and given opportunities to grow.

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• Hybrid working arrangements
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• Working alongside an experienced and collaborative Marketing team
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• The opportunity to own and shape our growth and lifecycle strategy
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• A growing organisation where your ideas are encouraged and your impact is visible
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• Career development and progression opportunities as we continue to expand
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• Team events, celebrations and wellbeing initiatives
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About the Role

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Reporting to the Marketing Director, you'll be responsible for driving growth across the full customer lifecycle - from acquisition and enquiry through to enrolment, engagement, retention and advocacy.

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This is a strategic and hands-on role where you'll work closely with Marketing, Customer Experience, Technology, Sales and People & Culture to build effective customer journeys and deliver measurable business outcomes.

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You'll be responsible for:

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• Owning paid media strategy, budget and execution across Google, Meta and the broader digital acquisition channel mix
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• Managing website performance and the SEO agency relationship to improve organic visibility and digital performance
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• Developing and optimising acquisition strategies that improve cost per lead, enrolment conversion and overall return on investment
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• Owning the lifecycle strategy for our existing family community, including communications, nurture journeys and engagement initiatives
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• Developing prospect and waitlist nurture journeys that keep prospective families engaged and support conversion when places become available
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• Designing and optimising customer journeys, segmentation and automated communications across email and SMS
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• Establishing a clear end-to-end funnel view from acquisition through to retention, providing accurate reporting and actionable insights
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• Using AI-assisted tools to support reporting, audits, content development, testing and campaign optimisation
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• Continuously testing, learning and optimising campaigns and customer journeys to improve performance
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About You

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You'll be a commercially minded and analytical marketer who understands the full customer lifecycle and knows how to turn data into meaningful growth. You'll also bring:

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• A tertiary qualification in Marketing, Communications, Business or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience
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• 5+ years' experience across performance/paid media and lifecycle, CRM or retention marketing, ideally combined
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• Proven experience managing paid media budgets across platforms such as Google Ads and Meta
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• Strong experience with CRM and marketing automation platforms such as HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Active Campaign or similar
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• Demonstrated experience designing and executing multi-channel customer journeys at scale
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• Strong understanding of customer acquisition, conversion, onboarding, engagement, retention and advocacy
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• Experience managing website performance and SEO, including working with external SEO agencies
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• Demonstrated experience using AI tools and a strong curiosity and willingness to build this capability quickly
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We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people of any age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity and culture.

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Explorers Early Learning is a child-safe organisation. We are committed to the safety, wellbeing and inclusion of all children and expect all team members to uphold our child-safe responsibilities.