Position Title: Head of Marketing 

Employment Type: Full Time, Permanent Employment Contract

Location: MFF Offices, Duckboard House, 91–93 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000

Reports to: Creative Director

Commencement: Immediate / negotiable 

Role Objective

The Head of Marketing is responsible for leading the planning, development and delivery of the Festival’s integrated marketing, communications, creative and digital functions, ensuring all activity is strategically aligned, creatively compelling, commercially effective and operationally excellent. 

The role reports into and works in close collaboration with the Creative Director to translate the Festival’s vision, brand and programming into impactful campaigns that drive brand awareness, audience growth, ticket sales and stakeholder engagement.  

The role requires a senior marketing leader with expertise across brand marketing, digital channels, content creation, public relations, media partnerships, talent engagement, partnerships marketing, corporate and crisis communications and audience insights, alongside proven experience delivering integrated campaigns within major events, fashion, arts, cultural or entertainment organisations.   

Key Responsibilities

Marketing Strategy & Campaign Delivery

• Work closely with the Creative Director to interpret and deliver the Festival’s creative and brand vision across marketing, communications, creative and digital activity.  

• Develop and deliver the Festival’s integrated marketing strategy, annual marketing plan and go-to-market critical path.  

• Lead the planning and execution of multi-channel campaigns that drive audience acquisition, ticket sales, brand engagement and commercial partner outcomes. 

• Manage marketing budgets, timelines and performance to maximise return on investment. 

• Identify opportunities to grow audience reach, engagement and conversion through innovative marketing initiatives. 

• Ensure all marketing activity is coherent, high-quality and aligned with the Festival’s business strategy, desired, brand positioning and values, and creative standards. 

Digital Marketing & Festival-Owned Channels

• Oversee the strategic management of all Festival-owned digital channels, including website, social media and EDM.  

• Ensure digital channels deliver a seamless customer experience and align with broader creative, commercial and organisational objectives. 

• Lead digital audience growth, engagement and conversion strategies. 

• Oversee digital content planning, optimisation and performance reporting. 

• Lead the development and execution of paid digital media strategies to drive ticket sales including management of external digital advertising agency.  

• Oversee digital content creation and capture, both lo-fi and hi-fi, including briefing photographers, videographers and creators to deliver high-quality, platform-specific assets. 

• Oversee the annual Festival programme build on the website, managing timelines, assets and cross-department requirements. 

• Stay across digital and social media trends, platform updates and best practice to ensure the Festival remains culturally relevant and digitally innovative. 

Public Relations, Media Partnerships & Talent

• Lead the strategic management and execution of all public relations activity, media partnerships and talent engagement. 

• Work closely with the Festival’s external PR agency to develop and deliver integrated publicity campaigns that maximise media coverage, audience reach and brand awareness. 

• Oversee development of strategic media messaging, press releases and spokesperson talking points.  

• Lead the development of multiple new and existing media partnerships that extend the Festival’s reach and profile and deliver contra advertising and editorial placement.  

• Oversee tiered talent engagement strategy ensuring talent activity supports programming, marketing, PR, partnership and ticket sales objectives.  

• Identify and secure high-value publicity opportunities, ambassador relationships and talent-led storytelling initiatives that enhance the Festival’s cultural relevance and national profile 

Design & Content 

• In collaboration with the Creative Director, provide strategic oversight and direction to the graphic design function on the Festival’s visual identity, creative campaigns, content creation, event signage and screen content, ensuring all creative output aligns with the Festival vision, brand positioning and organisational objectives. 

• Oversee the development and delivery of marketing assets and content across all Festival channels and touchpoints, including social media, website, EDM, ATL collateral, event signage and screen content. 

• Ensure the consistent application and evolution of the Festival’s brand identity, maintaining brand guidelines and upholding high standards of creative quality across all communications. 

• Lead the development of creative content concepts and storytelling opportunities that bring the Festival brand, programme and partnerships to life, driving audience engagement and extending the Festival’s cultural relevance and reach. 

• Oversee the planning and delivery of event signage, placemaking and on-site screen content, ensuring creative concepts are effectively translated into engaging audience experiences. 

• Oversee the planning, commissioning and delivery of all Festival event photography, videography and content capture, ensuring all assets effectively tell the Festival story, support marketing and partner objectives, and build a high-quality content library for future use. 

• Lead and support the graphic design team members, providing strategic guidance, prioritisation and quality assurance, while managing relationships with internal stakeholders, creative agencies and external suppliers to ensure the successful delivery of creative outcomes. 

Partnership Marketing 

• Work with the Partnerships team to identify marketing opportunities and concepts that support commercial and government partner objectives without compromising creative integrity. 

• Contribute to the development of compelling partnership proposals that articulate the value to marketing initiatives to attract and secure new and retain existing partners.  

• Ensure partnership marketing deliverables and brand integrations are executed effectively across all Festival channels and touchpoints, in a way that delivers partner value, enhances audience experience and aligns with Festival brand values. 

• Oversee the delivery of communication plans, contracted marketing commitments and post-Festival reporting for all government and commercial partners.   

• Monitor and evaluate the performance of partnership marketing activity, providing insights and recommendations to support future partner growth and retention.  

Customer Insights & Reporting 

• Lead the development and implementation of a customer insights strategy that supports the evolution of Festival strategy, drives revenue growth, strengthens brand positioning and enhances customer experience. 

• Champion the collection, analysis and utilisation of customer, audience, marketing and industry data, fostering a culture of evidence-based decision making across the organisation. 

• Oversee the delivery of post-Festival quantitative and qualitative surveying, in collaboration with external research agency, to identify ticketholder feedback, trends, customer needs, market opportunities and areas for continuous improvement. 

• Establish and maintain marketing and audience performance reporting frameworks, providing regular insights and recommendations to senior leadership, the Board, partners and key stakeholders on campaign effectiveness, customer behaviour and commercial outcomes.  

Corporate & Crisis Communications

• Lead corporate communications initiatives that support organisational reputation and stakeholder engagement. 

• Develop and manage communication strategies for key organisational announcements and initiatives. 

• Oversee crisis communications planning and response, ensuring timely, accurate and effective stakeholder communication and community engagement, working in collaboration with external consultants when required.  

• Act as the Festival’s nominated crisis management team leader to assess, capture, mobilise and resolve incidents and issues as they arise.  

Team Leadership & People Management

• Lead and manage the Marketing team, ensuring clarity of priorities, responsibilities, timelines and expected outcomes. 

• Build a high-performing, collaborative and accountable team culture. 

• Provide direction, feedback and support to team members to ensure the successful delivery of marketing goals. 

• Ensure the team operates with professionalism, discipline and strong attention to detail in all planning and delivery activities. 

• Work collaboratively with the Executive Team to ensure marketing decisions are operationally viable, financially responsible and aligned with organisational priorities. 

• Actively participate as a member of the Senior Leadership Team, contributing to Festival strategy, growth planning, reporting, risk management and organisational performance. 

• Work cross-functionally with Programming, Partnerships, Event Operations, Ticketing and Finance to ensure marketing supports commercial, audience, brand and stakeholder objectives. 

Budget & Governance 

• Manage all marketing budgets, ensuring the marketing plan is delivered on time and within approved financial parameters. 

• Ensure accurate forecasting, tracking and reconciliation of marketing expenditure in line with Festival policy. 

• Work closely with the Executive Team to prepare Board papers and reports, providing clear and accurate updates on marketing performance, audience insights, brand initiatives, strategic priorities and emerging risks. 

• Ensure all marketing activity complies with relevant Festival policies and procedures, including event policies, diversity, equity and inclusion requirements, accessibility standards and participant obligations. 

• Support ongoing review and evaluation of marketing activity to improve quality, efficiency, commercial impact and stakeholder experience. 

• Ensure clear documentation, reporting and record-keeping across all marketing activity. 

Key Skills and Experience

• Ideally 10+ years’ marketing experience: including experience with major public events, fashion and consumer brands, arts / culture, or media / editorial publications. 

• Tertiary marketing course equivalent: including marketing, communications, public relations and / or journalism. 

• Strong knowledge of the Australian fashion industry and media landscape, with an informed understanding of global fashion trends and market dynamics. 

• Technical skills: experienced in Social Media Platforms (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok); Squarespace, Mailchimp, Canva, and proficient in Microsoft Office (particularly PowerPoint and creation of presentations); Adobe Creative Suite; and Monday.com work management platform. 

• Proven leadership capability, with experience managing teams, projects, budgets and complex stakeholder relationships. 

• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple timelines, priorities and dependencies. 

• Strong commercial judgement and the ability to develop programming that supports audience, partner and business outcomes. 

• Exceptional attention to detail and a commitment to high-quality execution. 

• Excellent written, verbal, presentation and interpersonal communication skills. 

• Ability to develop compelling proposals, briefs and presentations for internal and external stakeholders. 

• Strong analytical and diagnostic capability, with an aptitude for problem-solving and practical decision-making. 

• A collaborative working style and the confidence to operate as part of a senior leadership team. 

• A calm, professional and solutions-oriented approach under pressure. 

Personal Attributes

• Highly collaborative, with the ability to work effectively with a Creative Director and translate creative vision into delivery. 

• Creative, commercially aware and operationally disciplined. 

• Deeply connected to the fashion industry and curious about its future. 

• A confident leader who inspires trust across internal teams and external stakeholders. 

• Practical, organised and clear-minded under pressure. 

• Audience-focused, with a strong understanding of experience design. 

• Comfortable balancing creative ambition with budget, timeline and delivery realities. 

• Committed to excellence, inclusion, quality and continuous improvement. 

Other Duties

The Head of Marketing may be required to undertake other duties as reasonably required in support of Festival planning, delivery and organisational objectives. 

To apply, please email your CV and cover letter to fashion@mff.com.au with the subject line "Head of Marketing"