Customer Marketing Specialist: Activation and Retention

About the opportunity 

We're looking for a Customer Marketing Specialist: Activation & Retention to help grow First Table's customer lifecycle marketing capability across New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a newly established Customer Value Management function and play a key role in driving customer activation, engagement, retention, and loyalty. You'll work across the full customer lifecycle, delivering campaigns and journeys that help more diners discover, book, and return to First Table.

Reporting to the Marketing Manager: Activation & Retention, you'll combine data, creativity, experimentation, and automation to create personalised customer experiences that deliver measurable business outcomes. If you're curious about customer behaviour, love solving problems with data, and are excited by the opportunities AI and marketing technology can unlock, you'll feel right at home.

About us

At First Table, our vision is simple: to be the first place diners go to book a table.

Proudly established in Queenstown, New Zealand - where our head office is based -  we've been leading the charge in the hospitality tech industry for over a decade, with operations spanning New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. First Table now offers our great dining experiences at amazing restaurants in 18 UK cities. Following the recent city launches in Newcastle, Leicester, Norwich, and Southampton, we are doubling down on building a strong presence and connected team across the UK.

First Table is a dining discovery platform that connects diners to restaurants through their love of food.  Through our clever tech, we help restaurants get their night off to a great start and give diners a compelling reason to try somewhere new. It’s a win-win situation. From early bird offers to last table reservations, we make discovering and booking great dining experiences fast, easy, and rewarding.

At the heart of everything we do are our values: Grow Together, Win-Win-Win, and Own It.  These guide how we show up for each other, our restaurant partners, and our diners and they’re a big part of what makes First Table a great place to work.

Learn more about our story here:
www.firsttable.co.nz/our-story

About the role

This is a hands-on role with real ownership and impact.

You'll help deliver First Table's lifecycle marketing strategy across onboarding, activation, retention, loyalty, churn prevention, and winback initiatives. Working closely with teams across Marketing, Product, Data, and Engineering, you'll use customer insights, automation, and experimentation to improve customer engagement and lifetime value.

You'll build and optimise customer journeys, identify growth opportunities through data and behavioural insights, and support the rollout of loyalty and personalisation initiatives across multiple markets.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys getting things done, working across a variety of marketing activities, and building their experience in lifecycle marketing, customer engagement, and marketing automation within a fast-growing global business.

What you’ll be doing

• Deliver lifecycle marketing activity across onboarding, activation, retention, loyalty, churn prevention, and winback programmes
• Build, manage, and optimise customer journeys across channels including email, push notifications, in-app messaging, remarketing, and emerging channels
• Lead lifecycle campaigns from hypothesis through to execution, optimisation, and measurement
• Support the rollout of loyalty and personalisation initiatives across multiple markets
• Use customer data, segmentation, and behavioural insights to identify growth opportunities
• Design and execute A/B tests and experimentation programmes to improve lifecycle performance
• Monitor and report on key metrics including activation, conversion, repeat bookings, retention, and customer engagement
• Collaborate with Product, Data, Engineering, Social, and Creative teams to deliver customer-focused marketing initiatives

What you’ll bring

• 2–5 years' experience in lifecycle marketing, customer value management (CVM), CRM, retention marketing, or growth marketing roles
• Experience working within high-growth digital, marketplace, subscription, or B2C environments
• A strong data-driven mindset with the ability to turn insights into action
• Confidence navigating customer data and analytics platforms to identify opportunities and performance trends
• Experience working cross-functionally with teams such as acquisition marketing, product, data, content, and creative
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-moving environment
• Curiosity about AI, marketing automation, and emerging technologies
• The ability to operate autonomously while maintaining high executional standards

Why you’ll love working with us

• The opportunity to help grow a newly established Customer Value Management function
• Real ownership and visible impact across three international markets
• Work with a collaborative, high-performing team that values experimentation, innovation, and continuous improvement
•  Gain hands on experience using  leading marketing automation, and analytics platforms
• Opportunities to leverage AI and emerging technologies in meaningful ways
• Enjoy perks like free First Table bookings, referral incentives, team recognition, and regular opportunities to celebrate wins
• Join a purpose-led, award-winning consumer brand with strong momentum and exciting growth ambitions

What’s next? 

If this role sounds like you, we’d love to see how you show up.

Include your CV and a cover letter, we genuinely read them, so make it count: why First Table, and why you?

We’re reviewing and progressing applications as they come in, so don’t wait to apply.