Senior Manager, Marketing Operations

Job Description
As a pivotal leader within Zendesk's Marketing Operations team, the Senior Manager, Marketing Operations will drive business growth & MarTech maturity. This role is focused on scaling and innovating – experimenting boldly with new ideas, piloting cutting-edge approaches, and continually refining our lead funnel processes to maximize business impact. Reporting to the Director of Marketing Operations, you will lead a small, agile team responsible for managing and optimizing lead flow from creation through MQL qualification and seamless routing to our SDRs, BDRs, and AEs. You'll coach and inspire your team to connect their daily work to broader business goals, while embracing a hands-on approach when details demand it. Collaboration and clear communication with marketers, xDRs, and cross-functional stakeholders will be key as you accelerate Zendesk's pipeline growth through data-driven experimentation and operational excellence.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead, coach, and mentor a specialized Marketing Operations team, balancing strategic leadership with hands-on execution.
• Own and continuously optimize the end-to-end lead funnel lifecycle, including lead creation, MQL qualification, scoring, and routing to SDRs and BDRs.
• Champion a culture of experimentation by piloting new processes and technologies, actively gathering feedback from marketers and xDRs to iterate and enhance lead operations.
• Collaborate closely with marketing, sales, and revenue operations leaders to align lead management efforts with broader business objectives.
• Translate complex funnel data and metrics into clear, actionable insights and communicate results effectively to stakeholders at all levels.
• Inspire your team to understand the "why" behind their work, fostering analytical thinking that drives smart decision-making.
• Manage and enhance critical marketing technology platforms including Marketo, LeanData, 6sense, and (SFDC), ensuring system scalability and robustness.
• Develop and implement best practices, process frameworks, and playbooks that enable scalable growth and consistent operational efficiency.
• Partner with data and analytics teams to maintain data hygiene and evolve lead scoring and routing models based on ongoing analysis.

What You Bring To The Role

• Strong leadership skills with the ability to coach, mentor, and engage a small team towards shared goals.
• A hands-on mindset that welcomes rolling up your sleeves to tackle complex challenges alongside your team.
• Exceptional communication skills, able to clearly articulate plans, insights, and impacts to diverse stakeholders.
• Collaborative spirit and a customer-centric approach to working with marketers, SDRs, BDRs, and other cross-functional teams.
• Strategic and analytical thinker with the ability to translate data into meaningful business outcomes.
• Comfort with experimentation, piloting new ideas, iterating based on feedback, and driving continuous improvement.
• Deep understanding of marketing operations, especially lead funnel management and marketing technology ecosystems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, or a related field.
• 7+ years in Marketing Operations or related roles, with demonstrable leadership experience managing teams.
• Hands-on expertise with Marketo, LeanData, 6sense, and (SFDC).
• Proven track record in owning and optimizing lead funnel processes from creation to routing.
• Strong analytical skills paired with experience communicating complex data insights clearly to stakeholders.
• Experience fostering collaboration across marketing, sales, and revenue operations teams.
• Demonstrated ability to drive process improvements and innovation in fast-paced, growth-oriented environments.

The US annualized base salary range for this position is $146,000.00-$220, 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.

Hybrid: In this role, our hybrid experience is designed at the team level to give you a rich onsite experience packed with connection, collaboration, learning, and celebration - while also giving you flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. This role must attend our local office for part of the week. The specific in-office schedule is to be determined by the hiring manager.

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 with your specific accommodation request.