CRM Program Manager - UAE (contract - remote)

CRM Program Manager (contract - remote)

Team: Consumer Marketing

Reports to: Head of Consumer Marketing

Level: Manager (program-level ownership)

About Cambly

Cambly is a global language learning platform that connects learners with tutors for real conversation practice, supported by AI-powered learning tools. We help students around the world build confidence and fluency in English.

About the Role

We're looking for a CRM Program Manager to lead Cambly's customer relationship management strategy and execution - delivering the right message to the right customer at the right time, via the right channel. This is a global role covering Cambly's markets across Latin America, Europe/Middle East, and Asia. You will run one CRM strategy with market-specific channel and messaging execution. You'll own CRM across email, in-app, push, and messaging apps, including expansion into local chat platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat, and KakaoTalk.

This role combines strategic program management, cross-functional leadership, and CRM platform expertise to drive acquisition, engagement, and retention based on deep analysis of user behavior. You'll own the CRM roadmap, platform strategy, audience strategy, deliverability health, major CRM initiatives (including AI integrations), and performance measurement across regions. You'll partner with creative, growth, product, data, engineering, and regional teams, and work closely with operational specialists who execute day-to-day campaign setup.

What You'll Do

CRM Strategy & Program Leadership

• Own the end-to-end CRM strategy across email, in-app, push, and messaging apps, aligned to acquisition, engagement, and retention KPIs.

• Build and maintain the CRM roadmap, balancing evergreen lifecycle programs, promotional campaigns, and strategic initiatives.

• Own the messaging-app channel strategy by market: WhatsApp (e.g., Brazil, Turkey, Arabic-speaking markets), WeChat (China), KakaoTalk (Korea), and other local platforms as markets warrant. Lead each from evaluation and pilot through rollout.

• Set the global CRM framework and define what can be localized by market (channel mix, timing, offers, tone) and what stays standard.

• Serve as the single point of accountability for CRM outcomes and leadership reporting.

CRM Platform & Vendor Management

• Evaluate and manage messaging providers and official business account setups per platform (e.g., WhatsApp Business API providers, WeChat Official Accounts, KakaoTalk business channels), including template approvals and platform policy compliance.

• Own platform relationships (e.g., Iterable), including contracts, roadmap alignment, feature adoption, and renewals.

• Drive strategic CRM innovation projects, such as AI/LLM integrations with the CRM stack, from discovery through rollout and measurement.

• Identify gaps across the CRM stack and champion investments that reduce cost, improve efficiency, or unlock new capabilities.

Audiences & Lifecycle Journeys

• Partner with PMs and engineers to co-design lifecycle programs, in-product messaging surfaces, event instrumentation, and journey delivery mechanics.

• Define audience segmentation and lead qualification frameworks - who we reach, via which channel, and at which lifecycle stage.

• Own audiences and lists across markets: segmentation, hygiene, suppression, and ongoing maintenance.

• Develop customer journey and audience insights that improve profitability, delivery, and engagement.

• Design and oversee automated journeys, personalization, and experimentation standards (subject lines, send times, cohorts, journey structures), including promotional updates.

Analytics, Measurement & Optimization

• Own CRM KPIs, dashboards, and reporting across all channels.

• Report CRM performance by market and channel, with cross-market comparisons in the WBR.

• Own email deliverability health (bounces, spam complaints, warming, IP/domain reputation), partnering with engineering and ESPs.

• Design and lead CRM experiments and turn learnings into durable program improvements.

• Tie CRM performance to business outcomes (LTV, retention, activation, payback) with actionable recommendations.

Cross-Functional Program Management

• Lead planning, execution, and retros for major campaigns (promotions, product launches, regional initiatives).

• Partner with product and data teams to make every initiative measurable end-to-end - event tracking, data pipelines, attribution, and metric integrity.

• Coordinate workstreams across marketing, product, engineering, data, and regional stakeholders.

• Document CRM processes, playbooks, and standards so execution is repeatable.

• Secure creative resourcing before committing to timelines; write clear creative briefs, and step in on messaging and copy when needed.

AI, Automation & Innovation

• Automate reporting, monitoring, and manual workflows using AI, scripts, and no-code/low-code tools.

• Use AI to deliver high-quality, culturally accurate localization and scale content without sacrificing brand voice.

• Lead AI adoption within CRM - personalization, copy generation, segmentation, and journey optimization - and share learnings across marketing.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in CRM, lifecycle, or retention marketing, ideally at a consumer subscription, mobile, or edtech company.

• Hands-on expertise with a modern CRM/ESP platform (e.g., Iterable, Braze, Customer.io), including journey building and segmentation.

• Proven track record owning CRM strategy and roadmap with measurable impact on acquisition, engagement, and retention.

• Strong analytical skills - comfortable with dashboards, experimentation, and SQL or similar tools.

• Working knowledge of email deliverability best practices.

• Experience running multi-market or international CRM programs; familiarity with messaging apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, or KakaoTalk is a plus.

• Excellent cross-functional program management and stakeholder communication skills.

• Strong writing skills and the ability to brief creative teams or draft copy directly.

• Curiosity and hands-on experience using AI and automation to improve marketing workflows.

What Success Looks Like

• CRM is a clearly defined, strategically led function with a published roadmap and measurable impact.

• Audiences are well segmented and maintained; deliverability is strong and proactively managed.

• CRM is meaningfully expanded onto local chat platforms, driving incremental engagement and revenue.

• Journey and audience insights drive higher-profitability segments and better engagement - not just more sends.

• CRM results are clearly and consistently represented in the Weekly Business Review.

• Product, data, and engineering see CRM as a true technical partner - every initiative is instrumented from day one.

• The CRM stack is used to its full potential, and major initiatives are delivered end-to-end.

• Manual workflows are increasingly automated, and AI powers high-quality localization and content at scale.