Director Vertical Marketing - Energy & Defence

Light is building the financial foundation for businesses operating across entities and currencies, with AI agents doing routine work and people shaping how the system operates. Our ambition is to become the operating layer for entire industries. We’re looking for a Director Vertical Marketing - Energy & Defence to build our position in these markets as part of a world-class vertical marketing team. You’ll combine deep customer understanding, a clear industry point of view and commercial judgement to turn an opportunity into a repeatable way to win. You’ll own market understanding, positioning and the marketing pipeline for Energy and Defence, partnering closely with the relevant Sales Managers and our shared Product Marketing, Demand Generation and Field Marketing teams.   What you’ll do Understand the market and choose where to focus. Interview customers, prospects and specialist partners to uncover buying triggers, workflows and unmet needs. Build a shared segment plan with Sales, testing opportunities across energy developers, operators, services and technology businesses, and defence technology and service suppliers with project or contract complexity. Define the proposition. Turn customer insight into clear positioning, competitive arguments and a credible industry point of view. Work with Product Marketing to create customer stories, demonstrations and sales kits that show why Light matters to each segment. Own the marketing pipeline. Build the model, set campaign priorities and lead execution with Demand Generation and Field Marketing. Own weekly reporting on qualified opportunities, conversion and progress against pipeline targets, with clear actions when performance falls short. Make AI part of the operating rhythm. Use AI for research, campaign execution and reporting that gets to the why behind the numbers. Investigate what drives conversion and where deals stall, validate the findings with customer and Sales evidence, and turn them into decisions. Be a true partner to Sales. Train direct sales reps and SDRs on the nuances of Energy and Defence: their buyers, language, workflows, procurement cycles, contract structures, regulatory context and objections. Join important customer conversations and equip the team with the insight and proof needed to move deals forward. Build credibility in the sectors. Speak at relevant conferences, roundtables, webinars and industry discussions. Develop relationships with industry associations, analysts, specialist advisors, ecosystem partners and credible sector voices who shape how buyers think. Build trust in environments where domain expertise, procurement complexity and security or regulatory considerations matter. Bring the customer voice into the product. Partner with Product Marketing to define the workflows, integrations and product requirements critical to these sectors. This includes needs around project and contract economics, multi-entity reporting, cash visibility, auditability, approvals, evidence trails and integrations with operational or project systems. Work with Product and customer teams to prioritise needs based on evidence and keep market promises grounded in what Light can deliver. Turn early wins into a repeatable approach. Build customer relationships, lead interviews and capture outcomes that become references and case studies where appropriate. Use win/loss learning to sharpen our targeting, message, partner strategy, events and campaigns.   What you’ll bring Around ten years of marketing experience, with a strong foundation in industry or product marketing and evidence of building markets and delivering commercial results. Experience owning a marketing pipeline from planning through execution and reporting. You can build a model, understand funnel performance and explain what needs to change. An established ability to speak publicly and tell a compelling industry story, whether on stage, in a customer interview or in conversatio