Our client, a global consumer technology company, is looking for an experienced Retail Customer Lifecycle & Engagement at a Senior Manager or Director level to help transform the experience of customers who purchase subscription-based software through retail channels both in-store and digitally.

This role will focus specifically on the retail customer journey - understanding what happens from initial purchase through installation, activation, onboarding, product engagement and ultimately subscription renewal.

A key opportunity is improving the experience of customers who purchase the product through retail but do not go on to fully install, activate or engage with it.

We are looking for someone who understands the intersection of retail, consumer subscription businesses, software and customer lifecycle marketing and can identify where the customer experience breaks down, and what should happen differently.

What You'll Do

Map and Improve the Retail Customer Journey

Evaluate the end-to-end experience for customers purchasing subscription software through physical and digital retail channels.

You'll examine different acquisition journeys, including customers who:

• Purchase software in a physical retail environment
• Add software while purchasing a new computer or device
• Purchase through a retail associate or technology-support service
• Buy through major online marketplaces and retailers
• Purchase a device online with software pre-installed or bundled
• Enter the ecosystem through other retail and device-partner experiences

You'll look beyond the initial transaction to understand what happens next: installation, registration, account creation, onboarding, product education, engagement and renewal.

Experience the Journey Firsthand

This is a hands-on strategy role.

We want someone willing to experience the customer journey personally by visiting a retail location, purchasing the product, experiencing checkout and setup, installing and registering the software, and assessing the communications and interactions that follow.

You'll combine firsthand customer experience with behavioural and business data to identify friction, gaps and opportunities.

Develop the Retail Lifecycle & Messaging Strategy

Assess the communications customers receive after purchasing through retail and determine how effectively they support activation, engagement and retention.

You'll help answer questions such as:

• What should customers hear immediately after purchasing?
• How can we encourage customers who purchase but don't install to activate their product?
• Should different retail customer segments receive different onboarding journeys?
• How should messaging vary by retailer, market or purchase experience?
• What education helps customers understand the full value of their subscription?
• How can we encourage adoption of additional features and devices?
• Where are communications missing, mistimed or ineffective?
• How can the in-store and digital retail experience better support long-term engagement?

The objective is to create a thoughtful lifecycle that helps customers understand, activate and experience the value they've purchased so that they will renew.

Connect Retail Acquisition to Subscription Retention

A primary business objective is to improve first-year subscription renewal among retail-acquired customers.

You'll work backward from renewal to understand the behaviours and experiences most likely to drive retention, from installation and account creation through onboarding, feature adoption, ongoing engagement and customer education.

You'll help identify meaningful customer segments and determine how experiences and messaging should differ based on how, where and why customers entered the ecosystem.

Turn Customer Data Into Action

Lean on internal data and analytics teams to understand customer behaviour across retail channels and lifecycle stages.

You'll help connect data from across the organization to the customer journey and translate those insights into practical recommendations, experiments and improvements.

This includes identifying key drop-off points, developing hypotheses, prioritizing opportunities and measuring whether changes improve activation, engagement and retention.

Partner Across the Organization

This role will work cross-functionally with teams across areas such as:

• Engagement and retention marketing
• Retail and channel sales
• Data and analytics
• Customer experience
• Product
• Lifecycle/CRM
• Device and distribution partnerships
• Regional and localization teams

You'll need to bring multiple perspectives together and turn customer insights into clear, actionable recommendations.

Think Globally

The organization has significant international retail distribution.

You do not need to be based in a specific international market, but you should be comfortable developing customer strategies that can work across different countries, retailers and purchasing behaviours, with support from regional and localization teams.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for someone with meaningful experience in retail software, consumer subscription products, or a comparable business where customers purchase through a third-party retailer and subsequently enter a direct digital relationship with the brand.

The ideal candidate brings:

• Strong understanding of physical and digital retail customer journeys
• Experience with subscription, recurring-revenue or membership businesses
• Knowledge of lifecycle marketing, CRM, onboarding, engagement and retention
• Experience turning customer and behavioural data into actionable strategies
• Understanding of activation, adoption, churn and renewal drivers
• Experience developing customer segmentation and differentiated lifecycle journeys
• Experience evaluating messaging across email, in-product communications, push notifications and other customer touchpoints
• Strong customer journey and customer experience instincts
• Ability to work across marketing, sales, retail, product and analytics teams
• Strategic thinking combined with a willingness to get hands-on
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills
• Comfort operating within a complex, global organization

Experience in the client's specific technology category is not required.

We are particularly interested in candidates who have worked with consumer software or subscription products sold through major retailers, or businesses where an initial retail transaction must ultimately become an ongoing direct digital customer relationship.

Relevant Backgrounds

Candidates may come from areas such as:

• Customer Lifecycle Marketing
• CRM & Retention
• Customer Engagement
• Customer Activation
• Retail Customer Experience
• Digital Customer Experience
• Loyalty & Personalization
• Consumer Subscription Marketing
• Retail or Channel Marketing with post-purchase lifecycle ownership
• Customer Journey Strategy

Experience working with major physical retailers, online marketplaces, consumer electronics retailers or other large-scale retail distribution channels would be particularly valuable.

What Success Looks Like

A primary measure of success will be improving first-year subscription renewal among customers acquired through retail channels.

Ultimately, your work will help turn more retail purchasers into activated, engaged and long-term subscribers.

This is an initial 6-month contract engagement with potential to extend or even convert to a full-time position, based on performance and business needs.