Lead - Retention and Engagement

Position Summary:The Lead, Retention and Engagement is responsible for developing and executing TOD’s customer retention, engagement, and subscriber lifecycle strategy across MENA, with the objective of reducing churn, improving renewal and reactivation rates, increasing customer engagement, and maximizing subscriber lifetime value.The role will lead data-driven retention and lifecycle initiatives across the full customer journey, from onboarding and active engagement through renewal, churn prevention, win-back, and reactivation. Working closely with Marketing, CRM, Product, Customer Care, Analytics, Commercial, Content, Technology, and Finance, the role will identify subscriber behavior and churn drivers, develop targeted customer segments and interventions, and continuously optimize customer engagement and loyalty.The position will also oversee the planning and execution of personalized, multi-channel lifecycle campaigns, ensuring that customer insights, content preferences, sports calendars, viewing behavior, subscription data, and commercial objectives are translated into relevant and measurable retention initiatives.The role is accountable for monitoring key retention KPIs, including churn, renewal, reactivation, engagement, customer lifetime value, and campaign performance, and for providing actionable recommendations to improve subscriber value and long-term loyalty.Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:Retention Strategy & Subscriber LifecycleDevelop and lead TOD’s customer retention and lifecycle strategy across MENA markets.Define retention priorities, initiatives, and customer journeys across acquisition, onboarding, engagement, renewal, churn prevention, cancellation, and win-back stages.Identify key churn drivers and develop targeted initiatives to improve subscriber retention and loyalty.Build differentiated retention strategies for various customer segments, subscription types, markets, and customer value groups.Develop initiatives aimed at increasing subscription tenure, renewal rates, engagement, and customer lifetime value.Partner with relevant teams to develop proactive and reactive churn-prevention programs.Lead and align the retention strategy across Sports and Entertainment subscriber segments, ensuring differentiated approaches based on content consumption, customer behavior, seasonality, and commercial priorities.Develop retention plans around major sports tournaments, premium entertainment releases, and key content moments to maximize subscriber engagement and minimize post-event churn.CRM & Lifecycle CampaignsLead the planning, execution, and continuous optimization of CRM and lifecycle campaigns across email, push notifications, in-app messaging, SMS, WhatsApp, and other approved customer communication channels. Develop personalized customer journeys based on subscriber behavior, viewing and content consumption patterns, engagement, payment status, tenure, and predicted churn risk.Establish automated lifecycle journeys including onboarding, activation, engagement, renewal reminders, payment recovery, churn prevention, and win-back.Ensure appropriate customer segmentation and personalization to improve campaign effectiveness.Drive continuous A/B testing and optimization of retention communications, offers, messaging, timing, and channels.Ensure lifecycle communications comply with customer consent, data privacy, communication governance, and brand guidelines across MENA markets.Churn Management & Win-BackMonitor voluntary and involuntary churn and develop strategies to reduce both.Design cancellation journeys and save strategies aimed at retaining customers before subscription termination.Develop effective win-back programs for former subscribers.Work with Product, Payment, Technology, and Customer Care teams to address payment failures and other causes of involuntary churn.Develop and recommend targeted retention offers, incentives, pricing interventions, and product propositions based on customer behavior, churn risk, customer lifetime value, and commercial viability. Ensure retention activities balance subscriber growth with revenue and profitability objectives.Data, Analytics & PerformanceDefine and monitor key retention KPIs including churn rate, renewal rate, retention rate, engagement, reactivation, customer lifetime value, campaign conversion, and subscription tenure.Partner closely with Data and Analytics teams to develop customer segmentation, churn prediction models, cohort analysis, and subscriber behavior insights.Use customer behavior, cohort analysis, churn signals, and content consumption data to identify retention opportunities, develop targeted interventions, and measure incremental customer lifetime value.Translate customer data and behavioral insights into actionable retention initiatives.Develop dashboards and regular performance reporting to track retention performance and campaign effectiveness.Conduct cohort and funnel analysis to identify critical points of subscriber drop-off.Measure incremental impact and ROI of retention initiatives.Establish test-and-learn frameworks to measure the incremental impact of retention initiatives and identify scalable best practices.Partner with Analytics teams to improve churn propensity modelling, customer lifetime value modelling, and next-best-action capabilities.Customer Experience & EngagementWork closely with Product, Content, and Customer Care teams to identify opportunities to improve the overall subscriber experience.Use customer feedback, behavioral data, contact-center insights, cancellation reasons, and engagement data to identify areas affecting subscriber satisfaction and retention.Develop engagement initiatives around key sports, entertainment, and content moments to maximize active usage and subscriber loyalty.Support personalization and recommendation initiatives aimed at increasing customer engagement.Ensure retention strategies reflect differences in customer behavior and preferences across MENA markets.Define and implement subscriber engagement strategies designed to increase platform usage, content discovery, viewing frequency, and overall customer stickiness.Develop engagement programs tailored to different customer segments, content preferences, and stages of the subscriber lifecycle.Identify opportunities to increase engagement among low-activity or at-risk subscribers before they enter the cancellation journey.Cross-Functional CollaborationPartner with Marketing, Product, Commercial, Content, Customer Care, Technology, Finance, and Analytics teams to deliver retention initiatives.Work with Customer Care teams to establish appropriate save offers, cancellation handling procedures, and retention scripts.Collaborate with Product and Technology teams to improve subscriber journeys, cancellation flows, payment journeys, and customer engagement features.Partner with Finance and Commercial teams to assess the financial impact of retention offers and initiatives.Coordinate with acquisition teams to ensure customer quality, retention performance, and lifetime value are considered alongside subscriber acquisition.Partner with Content teams to align retention and engagement activity with major sports rights, tournaments, entertainment launches, and content calendars.Planning & LeadershipOwn the retention roadmap and ensure timely execution of agreed initiatives.Lead, coach, and develop the Retention and Engagement team, setting clear objectives, accountabilities, and performance expectations.Ensure effective workload allocation and collaboration between Sports Retention and Entertainment Retention specialists.Build team capability in CRM, lifecycle marketing, analytics, experimentation, and customer engagement best practices Establish clear operating processes, campaign calendars, governance, and reporting.Manage relevant agencies, CRM and technology vendors, and external partners while maintaining strong internal ownership of retention strategy, delivery, measurement, and critical CRM capabilities.Stay informed of developments in OTT, subscription businesses, CRM, customer lifecycle management, personalization, and retention best practices.Present retention performance, key insights, risks, and recommendations to senior management.Job Requirements and QualificationsEducation: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business Administration, Digital Marketing, Analytics, Economics, or a related field. Master’s degree or relevant professional certification in CRM, Digital Marketing, Customer Analytics, or related disciplines is advantageous.Experience: Typically, 8 years of relevant experience in customer retention, CRM, lifecycle marketing, customer growth, subscription management, or digital marketing.Experience within OTT, streaming, publishing, subscription apps, digital memberships, telecommunications, digital platforms, media, entertainment, e-commerce, or other subscription-based businesses is strongly preferred.Demonstrated experience leading teams, specialists, or major cross-functional retention and CRM initiatives. Strong understanding of subscription economics, churn management, customer lifetime value, and customer engagement.Proven hands-on experience building, managing, and optimizing automated lifecycle journeys using CRM and marketing automation platforms such as Insider, Braze, Iterable, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or equivalent.Strong experience working with customer segmentation, behavioral data, campaign analytics, and performance measurement.Experience working across multiple markets, preferably within the MENA region.Previous team leadership or project leadership experience is preferred.Strong hands-on experience with CRM, marketing automation, customer data, and lifecycle management platforms.Demonstrated experience translating customer analytics and behavioral insights into measurable commercial outcomes.Experience managing retention strategies across multiple customer segments, products, or content propositions.Strong commercial understanding of subscription models, pricing, promotional offers, and customer lifetime value.