Job Outline
The Marketing Operations Manager is a leadership and execution role. You will own both the strategic marketing function and the performance advertising function — leading the team, driving execution, and making sure Relay’s books find their readers. You will be the key operational layer of Relay’s marketing function — coordinating the team, driving campaigns to completion, tracking performance and making sure the annual marketing plan is executed with discipline and accountability. You will be responsible for performance analysis, and identifying high-value commercial opportunities across territories. You are responsible for increasing readership, improving discoverability and driving sales performance across consumer channels. Working closely with key senior colleagues, you’ll shape campaign direction across the publishing list, and lead the development of the marketing team.
The marketing team consists of a Head of Genre Strategy, Creative Content & Brand Manager, Digital Marketing Specialist, Publishing Assistant and Marketing Assistants working across our English, German, French, Spanish and Italian pen names. You will work closely with the Head of Genre Strategy, who owns genre insight, cover strategy and title positioning, and the Creative Content & Brand Manager, who leads brand expression, content creation, social media, and the marketing assistants across our pen names.
This is an exciting opportunity for a senior marketer who wants genuine operational influence in a fast-moving, creative publishing environment.
Skills & Experience
- Proven track record in digital marketing in the indie or trade publishing landscape
- Experience managing and developing a marketing team
- Confident with data: P&L, sales reporting, ad metrics and ROI analysis
- Experience building and managing annual marketing budgets
- Excellent campaign planning and project management skills
- Experience working fractionally or in a remote, async-first environment is an advantage
About You
You are a seasoned marketing professional who combines strategic thinking with a hands-on approach. You’re confident working with data: sales figures, ad metrics, P&L reports, and can translate insight into action. You take ownership naturally, communicate clearly, and thrive in a fast-moving, independent environment. You don’t need to be told what to do next, you delegate to elevate. You look at the numbers, understand what they mean, and make things happen. Critically, you are the person who takes ideas off the leadership agenda and drives them to completion. Taking the operational lead so that your fellow team members can focus on their functions.
Job Duties
Leadership & Strategy
- Lead, manage and develop the marketing team, taking accountability for the department
- Build and own annual marketing plans and budgets
- Define strategy at pen-name and catalogue level, in close coordination with the team
- Identify and act on high-value opportunities across the portfolio
- Stay ahead of market trends and bring new ideas to the table
- Take strategic ideas from the leadership agenda and drive them to completion
Advertising & Campaign Execution
- Own the full campaign lifecycle: planning, execution, monitoring and analysis
- Build year-long promotional structures for top titles across each pen name
- Plan, set up and manage paid ad campaigns across Amazon Marketing Services, Facebook/Meta Ads and BookBub
- Monitor and optimise campaigns regularly, adjusting bids, budgets and targeting to improve performance
- Make data-led recommendations and pursue opportunities
- Provide competitive title analysis to inform positioning decisions and campaign direction
- Backlist analysis to identify underperforming titles and recommend repositioning
- Coordinate launch activity across the team, ensuring all functions are aligned and on schedule
- Run ad tests for various territories and platforms to extend Relay’s reach
- Identify pricing and promotional opportunities and build them into the annual plan, working with the Head of Genre Strategy on pricing decisions
- Coordinate with distribution and sales teams on territory-specific opportunities (translation presence in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy)
Performance & Reporting
- Own performance analysis across P&L, sales reports and advertising ROI
- Track and analyse ad performance across all platforms: ACOS, ROAS, CTR, CPC and spend
- Compile, analyse and present marketing results to leadership
- Revise plans based on campaign data and identify expansion opportunities
- Manage and report on advertising spend and return across all platforms
- Make data-led recommendations to improve ROI and inform future campaign planning
- Oversee marketing activity across frontlist and backlist titles
About Relay Publishing
Relay Publishing is a multi-genre fiction publishing company running since 2013. We have a catalog of over 1,500 books in multiple languages including English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian, with our focus being on romance, dark fantasy romance, psychological thrillers, legal thrillers and post-apocalyptic fiction.
After many years working with publishing freelancers, we like to think we know what makes a creative, fun, and collaborative online environment. If you check out Relay’s Testimonials you’ll see we have a reputation for being a kind company that is considerate and provides clear instructions, pays fairly and on time, and helps creatives develop their craft.
We have a small team of people running the company, handling the coordination of projects, marketing, finance, human resources and administration. We also have a database of over a hundred creatives to bring our books to life. If you love stories, you’ll be among great company!
What We Do
We develop original story concepts in-house, then collaborate with talented writers and editors to bring them to life. Every book goes through a rigorous editorial process before entering the marketing phase, where the cover and blurb are optimised to sell, and advertising campaigns are built to drive it up the bestseller lists. Every book is made with the target of hitting the bestseller list.
What’s in it for You?
An amazing freelance, online, remote working environment with a real collaborative virtual office that fosters teamwork, development, and open communication. We are passionate about creating an online workplace that really works! We use online project management software that helps us keep an open, collaborative approach to all our projects, and integrates seamlessly with your emails. Just because we work remotely, doesn’t mean we have to be remote! We want to nurture our team and work with a consistent group of professionals to be part of the company.
We thoroughly believe in long-term collaborative relationships and that is reflected in our approach to all our projects. We offer competitive rates, clear briefs & expectations, and friendly and fun communication throughout. Flexibility is one of our core work principles: as long as the work gets done, you can do it whenever it suits you. Unlike a traditional office, we don’t require you to be at your desk 9-5, you pick your own schedule. If you’re serious about working in publishing for a living, we’d love to hear from you.
We are always open to ideas. We like to have brainstorming sessions and offer incentives for participation. Whether that’s a new book or business venture, or a change to processes and workflow. No matter what your role, you are part of the team and your voice counts.
Relay’s Core Values
- Collaboration
- Honesty with sensitivity
- Problem-solving
- Pride in work
- Fun & Friendly
Apply now with a CV & Cover Letter to hr@relaypub.com