Confluent - Director, Product Led Growth Marketing

Introduction

At IBM Software, we transform client challenges into solutions. Building the world’s leading AI-powered, cloud-native products that shape the future of business and society. Our legacy of innovation creates endless opportunities for IBMers to learn, grow, and make an impact on a global scale. Working in Software means joining a team fueled by curiosity and collaboration. You’ll work with diverse technologies, partners, and industries to design, develop, and deliver solutions that power digital transformation. With a culture that values innovation, growth, and continuous learning, IBM Software places you at the heart of IBM’s product and technology landscape. Here, you’ll have the tools and opportunities to advance your career while creating software that changes the world.

Your role and responsibilities

About the Role:

As the Head of Product Led Growth Marketing, you will lead a team that defines and optimizes Confluent’s product-led growth strategy from acquisition through high-value customer conversion.

You and your team will collaborate across Product, Marketing, Sales, Data Science, and Engineering to optimize signup quality, strengthen funnel conversion, and maximize downstream revenue impact. Your work will include building measurement frameworks, leading experimentation agendas, optimizing digital acquisition channels, including emerging discovery levers such as answer engine optimization (AEO), and translating performance insights into clear investment decisions. You will also design and refine the product-to-sales handoff, ensuring product signals translate into effective sales engagement. This role is critical to scaling product-led acquisition and demonstrating PLG as a durable, efficient growth lever for Confluent.

What You Will Do:

• Drive growth strategy and optimization: Define and optimize PLG growth strategy across the full funnel—from acquisition through high-value conversion—balancing efficiency, quality, and scale across channels, programs, and experiments in collaboration with Product, Marketing, Sales, and Data Science teams.

• Lead and scale a high-performing growth team: Recruit, mentor, and manage a multidisciplinary team of growth marketers and analysts; foster a culture of high-velocity experimentation, accountability, and continuous learning while aligning individual development with Confluent’s strategic goals.

• Optimize digital marketing and channel performance: Evaluate paid marketing, organic, and product-led acquisition channels; translate performance insights into investment decisions; test and scale high-performing programs across both traditional and emerging discovery channels, including answer engine optimization (AEO).

• Build measurement frameworks and experimentation rigor: Establish metrics, models, and analytical frameworks that assess channel quality, funnel health, cohort behavior, and early indicators of long-term customer value; lead a disciplined testing agenda to accelerate learning and improve conversion.

• Strengthen product-led sales motion and GTM alignment: Design and optimize the handoff from product-led users to sales-assisted conversion; partner with Sales and Product on GTM strategy, qualification, routing, and feedback loops; ensure alignment across product launches, marketing campaigns, activation flows, and nurture journeys.

• Evolve PLG for AI and agentic workflows: Partner with Product and Engineering to integrate AI-driven evaluation/personalization, agent-based customer interactions, and intelligent automation into growth workflows—positioning Confluent's PLG motion to capitalize on emerging AI use cases and developer behavior shifts.

Required technical and professional expertise

• 8+ years in product management, growth marketing, growth strategy, or growth analytics with a focus on product-led growth, funnel optimization, experimentation, and revenue impact; 2+ years in a leadership role managing high-performing teams.

• Deep understanding of growth marketing and PLG best practices—including acquisition strategy, digital and paid marketing, funnel analysis, lifecycle optimization, experimentation design, and best-in-class PLG tooling and workflows (e.g., product analytics platforms, reverse ETL, activation tools, attribution and experimentation frameworks).

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with strategic thinking ability; experience diagnosing complex funnel issues and translating analysis into clear decisions. SQL required, with experience in Hex, Tableau, Amplitude, BigQuery, or similar platforms preferred.

• Experience in enterprise software or SaaS, with proven ability to collaborate across Product, Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Data Science; excellent communication skills for both technical and executive audiences.

• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to move solutions forward in ambiguous, fast-moving environments; proven track record leading and mentoring teams to deliver exceptional results.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Experience in developer tools, cloud/data infrastructure, usage-based business models, or other technical, developer-led product domains.

• Familiarity with AI-driven growth strategies, agentic workflows, or integrating LLMs and intelligent automation into marketing and product-led motions.

• Track record designing and scaling product-to-sales handoff strategies, lead qualification models, or hybrid PLG-sales conversion funnels in high-growth B2B SaaS environments.

• Deep expertise in advanced experimentation methodologies and building rigorous measurement frameworks for attribution, incrementality, and lifetime value prediction.

IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, caste, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, veteran status, or other characteristics. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.