Head of Marketing

Location: Greater London, England, United Kingdom

Hybrid 3 days a week | Competitive salary + 20% bonus potential

wagamama | Food is Life

Overview: wagamama has been dishing up vibrant, fresh Asian‑inspired flavours since 1992. With over 165 restaurants across the UK, we’re looking for a Head of Marketing to lead a team and agency partners, driving brand awareness, guest numbers, frequency, spend and brand love across national and local markets.

Responsibilities

• Manage, coach and develop a high‑performance team of 5 direct reports.
• Lead the overarching brand communication strategy, ensuring a distinctive, playful tone of voice that resonates with our Food is Life brand.
• Refine and monitor national and regional communications across all paid and earned channels, guiding paid media, social, PR and footfall campaigns.
• Step‑change earned media strategy, transforming social and PR to maximise brand buzz.
• Oversee pan‑agency partners, delivering brilliant execution, MBRs and QBRs with the Marketing Director / CMO.
• Strategise and deploy key levers for in‑restaurant and external activation.
• Embed brand campaigns and commercial promotions to maximise impact with operations and commercial teams.
• Deliver 1% LFL growth per quarter through local sales and marketing activation.
• Track performance post go‑live, optimising initiatives across both customer and commercial lenses.
• Manage the marketing budget effectively, prioritising ROI and achieving year‑on‑year improvement.

Qualifications

• Eight or more years in marketing roles with a proven track record of delivering customer‑led growth.
• Strong leadership skills – motivate, upskill, coach and mentor a highly capable team.
• Deep media campaign experience – activating multi‑channel, multi‑media footfall and brand buzz.
• Commercial thinker – understand the commercial impact of marketing activities and ensure ROI effectiveness.
• Attention to detail – tight, aligned, brilliant execution.
• Cross‑functional team player – excellent communication with internal teams and agency partners.
• Storytelling ability – translate data and insight into compelling presentations.
• Agency management experience – oversee pan‑agency partners and deliver outstanding execution.

Working with

• Ops teams + central ops.
• Customer insight + commercial team.
• Food team.

Benefits

• Competitive salary + 20% bonus potential.
• Modern offices, fresh fruit and soft drinks.
• £200 monthly food allowance – enjoy all your favourite dishes on us!
• Further discounts across retail, hospitality & leisure – perks that make life sweeter.
• Family‑friendly pay: 26 weeks full pay + 13 weeks half pay for expectant or adopting parents.

EEO Statement

wagamama is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.