Marketing Strategy & Operations Lead

Job Description

As a pivotal senior individual contributor on Zendesk’s Marketing Strategy & Operations team, the Sr. Marketing Strategy & Operations Lead will help translate marketing strategy into clear priorities, scalable operating plans, and measurable execution. This role sits at the intersection of planning, business operations, performance management, and cross-functional coordination — helping leaders make trade-offs and helping teams deliver against the work that matters most.

What you’ll be doing

• Partner with Marketing leaders to translate strategy into annual and quarterly priorities, operating plans, milestones, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.

• Drive planning and business-management processes, including target setting, forecasting, pipeline pacing, budget and resource discussions, and executive business reviews.

• Create clarity across cross-functional initiatives by defining ownership, decision rights, workstreams, risks, dependencies, and communication cadences.

• Develop operating frameworks, templates, playbooks, and mechanisms that improve prioritization, accountability, visibility, and execution quality.

• Analyze business and marketing performance to identify implications, surface trade-offs, and recommend actions to improve growth and operational effectiveness.

• Partner with Marketing Operations, Analytics, Finance, Sales/Revenue Operations, Product, and regional teams to connect plans and ensure coordinated execution.

• Facilitate working sessions and leadership discussions that turn ambiguity into decisions, aligned action, and documented follow-through.

• Identify opportunities to simplify processes, automate recurring work, and improve the way Marketing makes and executes decisions.

What you bring to the role

• A structured thinker who can bring order to complex, cross-functional work without creating unnecessary process.

• Strong business judgment and comfort balancing strategic priorities, operational realities, and measurable outcomes.

• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, including the ability to influence without formal authority.

• A bias toward clarity and action: you define the decision, the owner, the next step, and the measure of success.

• Analytical fluency and the ability to use data to challenge assumptions, frame trade-offs, and support recommendations.

• A collaborative, low-ego working style and a genuine interest in making teams more effective.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in marketing strategy, business operations, marketing operations, consulting, finance, or a related discipline.

• Proven experience leading planning, forecasting, business reviews, operating rhythms, or cross-functional strategic initiatives.

• Strong analytical and financial modeling skills, with the ability to connect marketing activity to pipeline, revenue, and resource decisions.

• Experience building executive-ready narratives, recommendations, and operating materials from complex inputs.

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, drive alignment, and deliver through influence.

• Experience in a high-growth B2B SaaS or similarly complex global marketing environment preferred.

#LI-WO1

The US annualized base salary range for this position is $134,000.00-$200,000.00. This position may also be eligible for bonus, benefits, or related incentives. While this range reflects the minimum and maximum value for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations, the offer for the successful candidate for this position will be based on job related capabilities, applicable experience, and other factors such as work location. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only (or OTE for commissions based roles), and do not include bonus, benefits, or related incentives.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to [email protected] with your specific accommodation request.