Rival is a marketing consultancy for challengers - and we're looking for a Senior Media and Marketing Manager to join our London team.
You'll run the media and marketing execution behind the portfolio that puts Rival in front of the market and gets the market to act on it: Scratch, the Rival 50 and its hero IP, Labs, AMP, roundtables, social, thought leadership, the community that holds it together, and the distribution and demand work that turns it into pipeline.
What you'll own
- Hero IP and research platforms - the Rival 50 Challenger Brand Index, its annual report, its launch moment, and whatever we build next in that family.
- Scratch and thought leadership - the podcast, the newsletter, the research, the PR and social that carries it.
- Labs and events - The job is proving what an AI-native marketing consultancy actually looks like.
- Roundtables and AMP community - the sessions, live and virtual, that keep 550+ marketing leaders showing up.
- Social planning - the weekly cadence that keeps every channel on brief.
- Distribution and demand - newsletter growth, channel performance, and tracking which roundtable attendees and subscribers turn into real conversations for the partners.
- Put our team in the room - Identify and win the speaking slots, panels, podcasts, and briefings that matter
- Judgement - reading what keeps Rival relevant to the CMOs we want in the room, and cutting what doesn't.
Why Rival, Why Now
- A consultancy built differently. We’re five years in, growing fast, and proving there’s a premium alternative to the bloated incumbents.
- Global perspective. Work with ambitious clients across North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
- Small team, big impact. With boutique sizing, every project is high visibility and high impact—no hiding in the back row.
- Direct influence. Work alongside Rival’s founders, shaping the consultancy’s future as much as our clients’.
Who Thrives Here
We don’t hire CVs, we hire people who think and act like challengers.
- 7+ years across media and marketing-related work - content and/or event production, editorial, marketing and campaign management and the channel/performance work that sits alongside them. You're as comfortable overseeing production of a podcast series as looking at open rates and attendee-to-opportunity numbers or planning a launch event. You've run a media machine, not just a brand campaign.
- You know how to earn trust with senior marketers, not just book their time. The difference between a CMO who turns up once and one who brings three peers next time is relationship work, and you've done it before.
- You watch brands before anyone else does. You can explain why a challenger with a fifth of the budget outperforms the category leader, and you've already got an opinion on who's next.
- This role rewards people who build things from scratch rather than manage what's already running - the next hero IP hasn't been invented yet. If you'd rather inherit a playbook than write one, this isn't it.
- You’re highly organized and deliver excellence without compromise.
- You think like an entrepreneur - curious, bold, and unafraid to get stuck in.
Extra points if…
- You’ve helped scale a start-up, agency, or consultancy.
- You’ve lived the battle of challengers vs. incumbents.
Compensation with Real Upside
We believe in rewarding excellence with premium upside, not average paychecks.
- Base Salary: Competitive within consultancy/agency benchmarks.
- Profit Share: Twice-yearly distributions (eligibility after 90 days), tied to performance.
- Employee Liquidity Plan (“shadow stock”): Share in Rival’s long-term success—without the friction of traditional options (eligibility after 1 year)
Benefits Designed for Impact
- 25 days paid vacation + UK public holidays
- Profit Share and Rival Employee Liquidity Plan
- Office-first culture (Tues/Thurs + Weds encouraged), with grown-up flexibility
- All the tech + tools to do your best work, wherever you are
- Enhanced Parental Leave
- Group Life Insurance + Income Protection
- Automatic enrolment into our pension scheme from day one
- 5% employee, 5% employer with The Peoples Pension
- Enhanced Healthcare Cover
- Group Life Insurance and Group Income Protection
- All FT employee eligible post-probation period
- Quarterly “Team Weeks” for collaboration, development, and global exposure
- All-expenses-paid Rival Retreats in amazing locations
- Year-round Rival “surprise & delight” experiences
About Rival
Rival is a marketing consultancy built for challengers. Incumbent best practices deliver average results—we don’t do average. We apply challenger brand thinking to help CMOs achieve outsized impact with smarter, leaner, bolder marketing strategies.
Our Hiring Philosophy
We’re building a consultancy that’s both premium and progressive—a home for the world’s best marketing talent and a model for diversity in our industry.
Our commitments:
- Clarity and fairness in every process
- Respect for candidates’ time (including paid tasks)
- Speed and transparency in communication
- Feedback opportunities throughout
- You’ll speak to a range of people in different roles, to give you a flavour of what it’s like here
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
We know diverse perspectives drive better strategies. Rival is committed to building a consultancy where individuality fuels innovation. Authenticity isn’t an initiative—it’s a requirement.
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