Head of Marketing

A. Job Summary

The role is responsible for leading Air India Express’s marketing, brand, digital, social, product, design, innovation, AI roadmap & loyalty programs across all global markets where AIX operates.

The role drives brand health, customer acquisition and retention, reputation management, and loyalty monetisation – while partnering with CX and commercial teams to deliver measurable improvements in guest satisfaction and revenue outcomes. The role plays an enterprise leadership role, shaping AIX’s positioning as India’s Most Loved Value Airline and building the long-term demand-side resilience of the business.

B. Key Accountabilities

1. Brand Strategy & Campaigns

• Define and evolve AIX’s brand positioning, identity, and communication guidelines; ensure consistency across all internal and external touchpoints
• Lead annual and quarterly campaign planning, including large-scale brand campaigns, regional storytelling, and targeted communication to drive awareness, consideration, and preference across all AIX global markets
• Oversee media planning, agency relationships, and A&P budget with a strong ROI and efficiency mindset; negotiate and manage contracts for media, collaterals, and channel partners
• Track and report brand health metrics (spontaneous awareness, consideration, brand power) and use insights to sharpen positioning and campaign effectiveness
• Ensure effective reporting and tracking of marketing deliverables, including media plans, cross media studies etc

2. Revenue, Commercial, and Network Growth

• Own the enterprise demand-generation agenda for Air India Express, shaping customer demand, network growth and revenue outcomes in partnership with Revenue Management, Network Planning and Sales.
• Provide strategic leadership for market entry, route launch and network expansion initiatives, ensuring rapid market penetration, sustainable traffic stimulation and long-term route viability across domestic and international markets.
• Influence the airline's commercial strategy through customer, market and competitive insights, identifying growth opportunities and shaping actions to strengthen market share, customer preference and revenue performance.
• Champion enterprise-wide initiatives to expand the customer franchise, unlock demand in strategic growth markets and accelerate ancillary and loyalty-led revenue opportunities.
• Establish a performance-driven marketing ecosystem with accountability for commercial impact, marketing ROI, customer acquisition economics and measurable contribution to airline revenue growth

3. Digital & Social Media

• Lead AIX’s digital strategy across website, mobile app, and social media platforms; ensure a seamless online customer experience that drives engagement and conversion
• Oversee content quality, tone of voice, and brand consistency across all digital channels; drive social media reach, engagement, and reputation index vs competition
• Partner with the Ecommerce and Growth Marketing teams to leverage digital analytics to optimise channel performance, improve search ranking, landing page conversions, and mobile traffic
• Lead the digital UX & design team to deliver best in class customer experiences and ecommerce conversion.

4. Loyalty Programme

• Partner with the loyalty leads to define the loyalty programme strategy for AIX (across Tata Neupass and Maharaja Club), to drive customer acquisition, retention, and lifetime value; grow the active member base and deepen engagement across domestic and international segments
• Drive loyalty revenue contribution and improve member propensity across ancillary categories including seat upgrades, pre-booked meals, and premium cabin conversion
• Integrate loyalty into broader commercial and CX strategy; leverage data-driven insights to activate and nudge the loyalty base through targeted interventions
• Manage alliance, codeshare, and partner integrations within the loyalty ecosystem (including Tata Neu and Maharaja Club alignment)

5. Team Leadership & Cross-functional Collaboration

• Lead and develop a high-performing team across marketing, loyalty, product, design & sustainability, drive engagement, capability building, and a strong team culture
• Collaborate closely with Revenue Management, Network Planning, Sales, CX, Corporate Communications, and Commercial Systems to ensure marketing and brand efforts are aligned with commercial objectives
• Any other additional responsibility assigned by the reporting officer or HR from time to time

6. Be a key partner and influence CX, PR, E-commerce & Ancillary outcomes for the customer and business.

• CX: Be a thought partner for the CX team to influence NPS (Journey, Booking, Web Check-in) outcomes; Be a sponsor of CX transformation programmes in partnership with external agencies and internal stakeholders, embedding customer centricity across frontline teams and service touchpoints. Drive Skytrax and other external benchmarking initiatives to reinforce AIX’s positioning as a category-leading value carrier
• PR: Work closely with PR teams to ensure proactive and reactive reputation & narrative management, including Social ORM. Position AIX as a credible, customer first brand.
• Ancillary Revenue: Partner with the Ancillary team to grow ancillary revenue streams
• Ecommerce: Support the team in building the ecom proposition, UX and channels.

C. Skills/Qualities Required

• Brand Strategy & Positioning
• Integrated Marketing & Campaign Management
• Digital Marketing, SEO/SEM & Social Media
• Loyalty Programme Strategy & CRM
• Data-Driven Decision Making & Marketing Analytics
• Strong Commercial Acumen & Budget Management
• Enterprise Leadership & Stakeholder Influence
• Innovative Thinking & Brand Storytelling
• Team Leadership

D. Qualification Required

Education

Master’s / MBA / PGDM degree from a Tier 1 institute (IIM A / B / C / L / K, XLRI, ISB, FMS, SPJIMR), preferably with a specialisation in Marketing, Brand Management, and Communications.

Experience

• Minimum: 15+ years of experience in marketing, brand, or communications leadership, with exposure to the aviation or consumer-facing industry
• Desired: 20+ years spanning integrated marketing, digital, loyalty, and corporate communications; prior experience leading large multi-functional teams in a complex, high-growth environment. Aviation experience is preferred.

Key Performance Indicators

• Airline RASK
• Brand Awareness & Consideration (spontaneous and aided)
• Share of Positive Voice & Media Sentiment / MEV
• Social Media Reach, Engagement & OAL Reputation Index
• Journey NPS, Booking NPS & Web Check-in NPS
• Loyalty Revenue Contribution & Active Member Growth
• A&P Budget Adherence & Marketing ROI
• Ancillary Revenue Growth
• Environment, Sustainability and Governance Framework, Strategy & Deployment
• Team eNPS
• Skytrax / External Benchmark Rating