Director, Strategic Initiatives

Description

The Strategic Initiatives team turns Zappi's company priorities into programs that deliver. We work across Product, Sales, Customer Success, Operations and Engineering on the work that crosses functional lines and needs a dedicated owner to land, including AI transformation across the business.

We're a small team with direct reach across the company and close partnership with senior leadership. We measure ourselves on outcomes, not activity: a program counts as done when it has become part of how the business runs, not when it launches.

This is a high-visibility role working directly with senior leadership to execute Zappi's strategic initiatives and drive them forward. As the execution partner to our Chief of Staff & Head of Strategic Initiatives, you'll make sure the programs on the strategic agenda run reliably, stay on track, and become part of how Zappi works day to day.

You'll run recurring leadership forums, own cross-functional programs, and act as a connective layer across functions where work needs coordination beyond any single leader's remit.

Your time will be split roughly 60/40 between supporting Product and go-to-market initiatives, with a focus on establishing the processes and operating rhythms that drive progress across both.

What you'll do

• Run and refine the recurring forums where Product and go-to-market leaders review progress, make decisions and track follow-through.
• Own agendas, preparation and actions so every session runs with a clear purpose and real accountability.
• Spot risks and blockers before they affect delivery, and raise them early with a recommended way forward.

Embed a shared stakeholder mapping standard across account teams

• Drive adoption of a shared standard for how customer-facing teams map stakeholders, so every account follows one structure and cadence and anyone can pick up a map quickly.
• Give leadership a clear view of where customer relationships are strong and where teams need to build more.
• Partner with Revenue Operations and account leaders on the systems requirements that keep maps current, then hand the standard over to its long-term owner.

Support AI enablement across go-to-market teams

• Support GTM AI enablement programs, helping drive adoption across commercial teams.
• Coordinate rollout, feedback and follow-up with the teams using new AI workflows.

Across every program

• Build the plans, timelines and reporting that give senior leaders a clear view of progress.
• Communicate effectively with senior leadership and functional teams, adapting the message to each audience.

Who we're hiring

• 10+ years of experience, with significant time as a program manager or in a similar cross-functional role.

• A track record of driving cross-functional initiatives to completion, not just coordinating them.

• Proven ability to embed new processes so they stick. The programs you've launched have become business as usual, not one-off efforts.

• Credibility with senior leaders. You communicate clearly with executives and functional teams alike, and can hold stakeholders to their commitments, tactfully but firmly, without formal authority.

• A solid understanding of how go-to-market teams operate, including how sales, customer success and operations work together to plan, sell and grow accounts.

• Experience working with or alongside product development teams, with a solid understanding of the product lifecycle. You understand how products move from concept through development to launch, and can apply that knowledge to help drive alignment between product and commercial teams.

• Ownership and foresight (Ownership). You anticipate risks before they happen and drive issues to resolution without waiting for direction.

• Execution rigor (Ownership, Truth). You're detail-oriented: plans, actions and follow-through are tracked, visible and current.

• Stakeholder influence (Trust, Humility). You build trust with senior leaders and functional teams, listen first, and push back credibly when it matters.

• Clear communication (Truth). You give senior leaders the headline and working teams the detail, and you're candid about what's off track.

• Self-direction (Ambition). You're a self-starter who spots opportunities to improve how we work and raises them proactively.

• Build relationships with senior leadership and the key stakeholders behind each program.

• Take over day-to-day running of our product-to-commercial forums, which launched recently.

• Assess current stakeholder mapping practices and agree an approach with the Chief of Staff.

• Have the forums you lead running on a steady, recurring cadence with clear agendas, preparation and tracked actions.

• Have helped the working team launch stakeholder mapping with the first account teams, with systems requirements defined.

• Be contributing actively to AI enablement programs across go-to-market teams.

• Lead meetings that run seamlessly as a regular part of how the business operates.

• Have embedded the programs you launched as business-as-usual processes and handed them over to long-term owners.

• Be seen as a trusted colleague by senior leadership, brought into decisions early, not just for execution.

Benefits

• Three company-paid mental health days of rest per year (these are pre-scheduled, so the entire company can take the same days off regularly to reset)
• Generous PTO - Minimum of 20 days of paid time off per year, plus national holidays. Leave over 30 days requires manager and People team approval.
• Flexible working arrangements, including remote (unless otherwise specified)
• Thoughtfully designed offices to support both individual work and collaboration without interrupting others
• Support setting up your home office, if appropriate
• Wellbeing benefits and access to trained therapists / counsellors
• Company paid Life, AD&D, Short term & Long term disability
• Immediate access to Zappi's Health, Dental and Vision Insurance Plan
• Option to enter Zappi's 401k program after 90 days of employment, matched up to 4%
• Tailored personal development through training allowances, coaching, mentorship and career frameworks

We've been recognized as one of the hottest martech companies in 2022 by Business Insider and named Best Place to Work by Quirk's Media for our engaging and inclusive workplace culture. We're committed to both people and the planet.

Our belief in inclusion means we're building an organisation of diverse individuals and helping brands eliminate cultural presumptions in their research. Read our Diversity Manifesto here.

We are a values and behaviours driven business and believe that Trust, Truth, Ownership, Ambition and Humility describe Zappi employees on our best day. This is how we strive to show up for our customers, for each other and for our communities.

Earning B Corp certification assures us we're on the right track and have structures in place to become the business we want to be.

Our commitment to minimise our impact on the environment means being honest with ourselves and transparent with you, about everything from carbon emissions to tree-planting initiatives. We achieved our goal of becoming Net Zero in 2021!

• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Company for Women 2022
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Company Work-Life Balance 2022
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Company Compensation 2022
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best CEO for Women 2022
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Company for Diversity 2022
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Company Culture 2022
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best CEO 2022
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Happiness 2022
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Leadership Teams 2023
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best CEOs for Diversity 2023
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Engineering Teams 2023
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Company Outlook 2023
• Winner of Newsweek's Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces in the UK 2022 & 2023
• Recognised by Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators 2023
• Winner of Best Marketing Insights Platform in the MarTech Breakthrough Awards 2023 & 2024

About Zappi

Zappi is a leading consumer insights platform that helps brands win with consumers. Through AI-powered software that delivers connected insights, Zappi enables teams to make faster, smarter, consumer-driven decisions by leveraging real-time, continuous feedback.

Trusted by more than 350 brands worldwide, Zappi helps create successful products, develop impactful ads, and build winning brands by keeping the voice of the consumer at the heart of every decision.

Named the Best Marketing Insights Platform by the MarTech Breakthrough Awards in both 2023 and 2024, recognized by Business Insider as one of the hottest martech companies, and winner of the MRS Best Technology Innovation Award 2025, Zappi is redefining how modern teams use insights to drive growth.

As a certified B-Corp, Zappi is committed to net-zero emissions, fostering an equitable workplace, and using technology to benefit the communities the company serves. With more than 300 employees across 13+ countries and offices in Boston, London, and Cape Town, Zappi’s culture has been celebrated by Fast Company, Comparably, Quirks, Great Place to Work, and more.