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ixigo is seeking a Head of Brand Marketing to lead and redefine how India books and experiences bus travel through AbhiBus, one of India's leading online bus-ticketing platforms. In this role, you will blend data-driven performance marketing with emotive storytelling to scale the AbhiBus brand, strengthen market leadership in the online bus ticketing space, and own the end-to-end marketing journey for the modern bus traveler. You will serve as the brand custodian for AbhiBus—ensuring it is perceived not as a transactional booking platform but as a trusted companion for every bus journey across India.
Key responsibilities include:
• Architect AbhiBus's brand positioning, visual identity, and voice to resonate across diverse traveler segments and regional markets, ensuring premium perception throughout the booking and travel journey.
• Orchestrate high-impact, 360-degree marketing campaigns spanning Performance, Social, PR, and Influencer channels tailored to the bus travel audience, moving beyond transactional marketing to build a cohesive brand ecosystem that drives top-of-funnel awareness and high-intent conversions.
• Own the marketing tech stack and analytical framework to measure real-time ROI across all brand and performance channels, optimizing the balance between Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) using first-party data and CRM tools to predict travel patterns and drive repeat bookings.
• Partner with Product and Engineering to lead Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies for new features such as booking technology enhancements, fintech integrations, ancillary services, and route-level innovations, translating technical updates into compelling consumer benefits.
• Identify and negotiate high-leverage partnerships with bus operators, state transport corporations, payment platforms, travel aggregators, and regional influencers to act as force multipliers for the AbhiBus brand.
• Serve as the internal expert on the online bus ticketing and surface-transport landscape, synthesizing market research and competitor moves to proactively pivot strategies and anticipate trends in tier-2/3 city demand, sustainable travel, and AI-driven trip planning.
• Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing brand marketing team for the Bus business unit, maintaining P&L accountability and aligning the marketing budget with AbhiBus's broader commercial goals.
AbhiBus aggregates ticket inventory from over 4,000 bus operators covering 350,000+ routes across India and is the official ticketing partner for several state road transport corporations and IRCTC bus bookings. ixigo, the parent company, is India's leading OTA for the Next Billion Users with over 54 crore Annual Active Users in FY25.
REQUIREMENTS:
• 10+ years of marketing experience with 4+ years in a senior leadership role (Senior Manager / Head level) within high-growth B2C travel, consumer tech, or e-commerce companies.
• Proven track record in FMCG, D2C, travel, hospitality, OTAs, or online marketplaces, with deep understanding of seasonal demand cycles and regional market dynamics in India.
• Expert-level command of CAC/LTV modelling, multi-touch attribution, and modern MarTech stacks (CDPs, CRMs, GA4, and equivalent tools).
• Demonstrated ability to marry high-velocity performance marketing with emotive, world-class brand storytelling.
• Experience recruiting, mentoring, and leading high-performance, cross-functional marketing teams.
• Strong P&L management skills with the ability to align marketing output with broader commercial and leadership-level goals.
• Understanding of the Indian bus travel market, regional language nuances, and tier-2/3 city consumer behaviour is a strong plus.
Nice-to-have: Experience working in or with online travel aggregators (OTAs) focused on bus or surface transport; familiarity with vernacular and regional marketing strategies for Indian audiences; prior exposure to fintech-integrated or super-app ecosystems within travel.
