Marketing & Communications Director

Education Sector | Compass Group

Location: Flexible with travel to Chertsey 1–2 days per week

We are looking for an exceptional Marketing & Communications Director to lead the strategic direction of marketing, brand, participation, and communications across our Education sector portfolio.

This is a high-impact leadership role for a commercially minded, creative, and customer-focused marketing professional who is passionate about shaping the future of food in education. Working closely with the Education CEO and senior leadership team, you will play a pivotal role in driving growth, increasing participation and engagement across education sites, strengthening client relationships, and positioning the business as a market leader within schools, colleges, and universities.

The Opportunity

This role offers the chance to influence how food is experienced across education settings balancing innovation, nutrition, sustainability, and enjoyment while delivering measurable commercial growth.

You will lead the development and execution of integrated marketing, brand, participation, and communications strategies across a diverse portfolio spanning State Schools, Independent Schools, Universities, and Colleges.

From high-profile campaigns and digital transformation initiatives to stakeholder engagement and brand positioning, this is a unique opportunity to shape a forward-thinking and purpose-led food service business.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

Develop and deliver a comprehensive marketing, communications, and brand strategy aligned to business growth objectives.Act as a key member of the senior leadership team, contributing to commercial strategy, innovation, and sector positioning.Lead the development and evolution of the Education sector brand strategy, ensuring consistency, differentiation, and market relevance across all channels and sub-sectors.Drive participation strategies that increase meal uptake, engagement with food offers, and student interaction with on-site and digital initiatives.

Brand & Customer Experience

Champion a customer-first approach to enhance the student dining experience.Develop compelling brand propositions and campaigns tailored to different education sectors.Create initiatives that drive participation, loyalty, and repeat engagement among students, staff, and campus communities.Drive innovation across food concepts, promotions, digital engagement, and customer communications.

Client Engagement & Business Growth

Partner with Operations and Business Development teams to support client retention, mobilisations, renewals, and tenders.Create communication strategies that demonstrate value to school leaders, governors, and university stakeholders.Support proactive and sensitive client communications when required.Use participation data, customer insights, and market trends to identify growth opportunities and improve customer engagement.

Campaigns & Communications

Lead multi-channel marketing campaigns across digital, social media, on-site marketing, PR, and external communications.Design campaigns specifically aimed at increasing participation in dining programmes, promotions, events, and wellbeing initiatives.Oversee crisis communications, media responses, and communication governance frameworks.Ensure messaging aligns with key themes including wellbeing, sustainability, food education, and inclusivity.Lead and optimise relationships with external marketing and PR agencies.

Digital & Data-Driven Marketing

Drive digital innovation including social media strategy, video content, loyalty initiatives, mobile apps, and online ordering platforms.Build data and analytics capability to improve campaign effectiveness, customer engagement, participation rates, and commercial performance.Develop segmentation and targeting approaches that increase participation among different student audiences and education settings.

Innovation & ESG

Work closely with culinary and nutrition teams to bring innovative food concepts to market.Support and communicate ESG initiatives including sustainability, food waste reduction, and healthy eating.Ensure all communications align with school policies and relevant government guidelines.Create participation-led campaigns that encourage healthier choices and sustainable behaviours across education communities.

Leadership & Performance

Lead and develop a high-performing marketing and communications team.Foster a culture of creativity, collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.Manage marketing budgets effectively with a strong focus on ROI and performance metrics.Set and monitor KPIs related to brand awareness, customer participation, engagement, and campaign effectiveness.

About You

We are looking for a strategic and commercially astute marketing leader with significant senior-level experience within food service, hospitality, retail, or a comparable B2B2C environment.

You will bring:

A proven track record of delivering integrated marketing and brand strategies that drive growth, participation, and engagement.Experience within multi-site or contract-based businesses.Exceptional stakeholder management and influencing skills.A strong understanding of digital marketing, customer engagement, participation strategy, and brand development.A data-led mindset with strong commercial acumen.A passion for food, wellbeing, sustainability, and education.

Experience within education catering or contract catering environments would be highly advantageous.

Why Join Us?

This is an exciting opportunity to join a progressive and ambitious organisation where marketing, brand, and customer participation play a central role in shaping the future of food in education.

You’ll have the platform to lead meaningful change, influence strategy at the highest level, and create engaging experiences that increase participation and strengthen brand reputation across the UK education sector.

If you are an innovative marketing leader ready to make a real impact, we would love to hear from you.

We ensure you're rewarded for all your hard work, which is why we offer a comprehensive benefits package which includes but is not limited to:

Contributory pension scheme
Grow your career with our Career Pathways and MyLearning programmes
Quick access for you and your immediate family to a Digital GP, and wider healthcare benefits
Exclusive travel discounts with TUI, Expedia, (url removed) and many more
Save money on your food shop with discounts on Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and many more
Up to 44% off cinema tickets to enjoy your favourite blockbuster
Receive cash rewards every time you spend and use them on a wide range of brands
Un-wind with us with free wellness, mindfulness and exercise classes
You can share all discounts and offers with your friends and families

About Us

Part of Compass Group UK&I, Chartwells is the leading provider of catering and support services to the education sector. For over a quarter of a century, Chartwells has been focusing on helping those in education to build strong bodies, sharp minds and lead long healthy lives. Every week, Chartwells serves millions of nutritious and delicious meals to pupils and students in primary and secondary schools, academies, independent schools, colleges, and universities across the UK. Chartwells is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all employees to share this commitment. Any offer of employment will be subject to successfully completing pre-employment checks, including an enhanced DBS disclosure and a Children's Barred List check. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and we ask applicants to declare all previous convictions and cautions in order to assess their suitability to work with children.

Job Reference: com/0406/(phone number removed)/(phone number removed)/SU #State Schools

Compass Group UK&I is committed to fostering an environment where every individual can truly be themselves at work and has equal opportunities to advance in their careers. We strive to build a culture that respects and celebrates the unique talents, beliefs, backgrounds, and abilities of all our team members. We want our colleagues to feel valued, empowered to reach their full potential, and to thrive - because diversity is our strength!

Compass Group UK & Ireland

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