Building a centralised global marketing function for Zepz

Zepz is the global digital payments group behind WorldRemit and Sendwave, two leading international money transfer brands. Following the merger of the businesses, Zepz needed to bring together two strong, consumer-facing brands. 

As the business matured, the challenge shifted from rapid growth to building greater consistency across brand, marketing and customer experience. With increasingly aligned products and audiences, the next phase of growth required stronger central leadership across brand and campaign strategy while maintaining relevance across diverse global markets. 

As new marketing leadership joined the business, there was a clear mandate to increase investment in marketing and create greater alignment across regions. 

Historically, brand responsibility sat across different areas of the marketing function. As the scale and complexity of the organisation increased, the business recognised the need for dedicated senior talent capable of creating long-term strategic direction and consistency across multiple international markets.

Campaign execution presented a similar challenge. Regional teams operated with significant autonomy, resulting in varied approaches to planning, creative development and market execution. Without a centralised campaign strategy or clear brand framework, the business risked creating fragmented customer experiences across markets.

Alongside these structural challenges, several of the roles required highly specialised expertise that was difficult to identify through direct sourcing alone, particularly candidates with experience operating within global, regulated, app-based consumer businesses. 

Zepz initially explored direct hiring routes but struggled to identify candidates with the right combination of technical expertise, global experience and commercial mindset. The organisation required individuals who could operate at pace within a complex international environment while balancing brand, customer experience and regulatory considerations. 

3Search was selected based on a recommendation and our specialist marketing network, giving the business access to talent that was not easily accessible through traditional hiring methods.  

We partnered closely with the marketing leadership team to deliver a targeted search across the UK and US markets. In the UK, Jaemien Serrano supported two marketing hires and in the US, Andrew Stoves was best positioned to identify an interim Product Marketing Manager and a Campaign Marketing Manager on the East Coast. 

Over the course of the engagement, we successfully appointed four key hires: 

• Senior Brand Manager (newly created role)
• Senior Copywriter (replacement hire) 
• Product Marketing Manager (6-month maternity cover contract) 
• Campaign Marketing Manager (newly created role)

Each search focused on identifying candidates with experience operating in fast-paced global consumer businesses and the ability to navigate the complexity of multiple markets, stakeholders, and customer audiences. 

For the Campaign Marketing Manager search in particular, we conducted a highly targeted search focused on candidates with experience leading international campaigns and working across multiple regional teams. the successful hire needed to be based on the East Coast to provide sufficient overlap with teams in the UK and other global regions. We adjusted the search strategy accordingly, balancing location requirements with an already niche talent pool and maintaining momentum throughout the process. 

By combining market insight with a highly targeted search approach, we enabled the business to attract specialist talent capable of supporting its evolving global marketing function. 

3Search successfully delivered four strategic marketing hires that strengthened both brand and campaign capabilities across the organisation. 

• The newly created Senior Brand Manager role established dedicated ownership of brand strategy for the first time, creating greater consistency and clarity across the organisation's consumer-facing brands. 
• The appointment of a Campaign Marketing Manager introduced centralised ownership of campaign planning, budget allocation and creative direction across key seasonal initiatives. The role has helped create clearer, more aligned campaign strategies while improving collaboration between regional marketing teams.

Collectively, these hires have supported the continued evolution of the marketing function, providing the structure, leadership and specialist expertise required to operate effectively across global markets.