Chief Marketing Officer

Aquent is partnering with an innovative organization at the forefront of financial technology, revolutionizing everyday transactions. This forward-thinking company has developed a groundbreaking consumer payment platform designed to make daily spending more rewarding, empowering users to earn significant rewards and build savings toward future financial goals. As this platform enters a critical growth phase, we are seeking a visionary leader to define its market presence and accelerate consumer adoption. This is an unparalleled opportunity to shape the future of a rapidly evolving industry, driving both strategic vision and hands-on execution in a highly impactful role.

About the Opportunity

Our client is poised for significant expansion, backed by a robust foundation in diversified sectors. Their innovative consumer payment platform transforms how individuals manage finances, enabling them to earn meaningful rewards on everyday expenses. This platform is now scaling, and we are looking for an executive who can refine market positioning, simplify messaging, and develop a robust, scalable marketing strategy that will propel consumer adoption. This highly visible executive leadership opportunity offers the chance to build, innovate, and drive measurable business growth, working closely with the company's founders and leading a dynamic team. You will primarily focus on the digital payments platform, while also providing strategic marketing alignment across related ventures.

Impact You'll Make

As a key executive, you will be instrumental in defining and executing the marketing vision for an emerging leader in financial technology. Your leadership will directly translate into accelerated consumer adoption, increased brand recognition, and significant business growth. You will simplify complex financial concepts into compelling consumer narratives, build trust in a regulated environment, and cultivate a high-performing marketing organization. This role offers the unique chance to influence product direction, shape consumer behavior, and directly contribute to the company's long-term success and market leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive marketing strategy to accelerate consumer adoption of the digital payments platform.
• Evaluate existing marketing initiatives, identify opportunities for enhancement, and establish a strategic roadmap for sustained growth.
• Collaborate with executive leadership to translate overarching business objectives into actionable marketing initiatives.
• Craft strategies to enhance brand awareness, drive customer acquisition, boost platform engagement, and ensure long-term adoption.
• Identify emerging market opportunities, cultivate strategic partnerships, and pinpoint new customer segments for business expansion.
• Support go-to-market planning for upcoming products, services, and platform enhancements.
• Provide strategic marketing oversight and ensure alignment across related business areas.

Digital Marketing & Customer Acquisition

• Oversee and optimize digital marketing campaigns across performance-driven channels, including paid social and search.
• Analyze current advertising investments, evaluate campaign effectiveness, assess creative performance, and refine customer acquisition strategies.
• Implement a data-driven approach to marketing decisions, leveraging key performance indicators such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), conversion rates, return on advertising spend (ROAS), engagement, and retention.
• Identify opportunities to enhance marketing efficiency, optimize spending, and increase platform downloads and active user base.
• Lead continuous testing and experimentation across messaging, creative, audience targeting, and digital campaigns.
• Develop scalable customer acquisition strategies as the business expands into new markets and consumer offerings.

Brand Positioning, Messaging & Consumer Trust

• Refine the brand positioning and value proposition to clearly articulate the advantages of the digital payments and rewards platform.
• Translate intricate financial technology concepts into clear, compelling, and accessible messaging that resonates with everyday consumers.
• Develop marketing strategies that build credibility and foster consumer confidence within a highly regulated financial services environment.
• Ensure brand consistency across all digital platforms, advertising, social media, marketing collateral, and customer communications.
• Guide creative direction, ensuring that design, content, and campaign messaging align with the overarching marketing strategy.
• Cultivate a recognizable and trusted consumer brand within the competitive digital payments marketplace.

Marketing Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop an existing marketing team, with anticipated growth as the business scales.
• Oversee diverse marketing functions, including social media, content development, graphic design, digital marketing, and campaign execution.
• Establish clear priorities, performance expectations, accountability, and measurable objectives across the department.
• Evaluate current capabilities and identify opportunities to strengthen the team through strategic hiring, targeted training, process improvements, and additional expertise.
• Foster a collaborative, creative, and results-oriented environment that effectively balances strategic thinking with robust execution.
• Provide clear direction and ensure that initiatives are carried through from conceptualization to successful completion.

Executive Collaboration & Innovation

• Serve as a strategic marketing advisor to the founders and senior leadership team.
• Introduce fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and informed recommendations to expand the platform's market presence.
• Collaborate closely with leadership on business planning, exploring new product opportunities, and driving long-term growth initiatives.
• Exhibit a balance of independent strategic thinking with flexibility, adaptability, and a willingness to test alternative approaches.
• Establish measurable outcomes for new initiatives, evaluate results, and adjust strategies based on performance data.
• Thrive in an entrepreneurial, founder-led organization where leadership is deeply engaged in daily business operations and strategic decisions.

Must-Have Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive marketing experience, including substantial responsibility for marketing strategy, team leadership, and business growth.
• Demonstrated success leading marketing initiatives for an established organization, with a strong preference for experience in fintech, financial services, consumer technology, payments, or another growth-oriented industry.
• Proven ability to develop and execute comprehensive marketing strategies that yield measurable business results.
• Strong background in digital marketing, customer acquisition, performance advertising, and campaign optimization.
• Experience managing significant marketing budgets and evaluating marketing effectiveness and return on investment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, develop, and hold marketing teams accountable for execution and results.
• Experience overseeing both strategic marketing direction and the practical execution of marketing initiatives.
• Strong understanding of marketing analytics, customer acquisition metrics, conversion optimization, and data-driven decision-making.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and leadership skills, with the ability to collaborate directly with founders and executive stakeholders.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Marketing leadership experience specifically within consumer fintech, digital payments, mobile applications, or related financial services.
• Experience driving customer acquisition and adoption for consumer-facing digital products or platforms.
• Familiarity with digital wallets, peer-to-peer payment systems, consumer rewards programs, or loyalty-based financial products.
• Proven ability to simplify complex products or services into compelling consumer-facing messaging.
• Background scaling marketing functions during periods of significant business growth.
• Experience working in entrepreneurial or founder-led organizations.
• Exposure to regulated financial products and the unique considerations involved in marketing financial services.
• Direct experience with cryptocurrency, blockchain, or digital assets is a plus, though the primary focus is on strategic, operational, and customer acquisition expertise.

What Success Looks Like

Initial Priorities

• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the company's existing marketing strategy, advertising investments, messaging, creative assets, and organizational structure.
• Identify immediate opportunities to strengthen the platform's market positioning and simplify its consumer value proposition.
• Develop a prioritized marketing roadmap focused on rapidly increasing brand awareness, consumer confidence, and platform adoption.
• Evaluate existing paid media performance and recommend actionable strategies to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
• Establish clear marketing priorities, responsibilities, and execution standards across the team.

Longer-Term Objectives

• Build a scalable customer acquisition and adoption strategy that consistently supports the platform's continued growth trajectory.
• Establish a stronger, more recognizable consumer brand that becomes a leader within the digital payments marketplace.
• Develop a high-performing marketing organization characterized by clear accountability and measurable outcomes.
• Strategically support expansion into new product offerings, customer segments, and business opportunities.
• Create a sustainable marketing framework that adeptly balances innovation, performance, and long-term growth objectives.