Simon Hawtin

B2B SaaS Marketing Director / Head of Marketing · FinTech, EdTech, HR Tech · London, UK

I'm a marketing leader who partners closely with sales. I build the marketing function and the demand gen engine that feeds sales pipeline. 18 years in B2B SaaS across FinTech, EdTech and HR Tech.

From November, I'm available for my next full-time marketing leadership role at a tech or SaaS business. I'm open to interim consulting in the meantime.

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Highlights

£10m → £25m

As Ezbob's first marketing hire, Simon grew marketing-sourced opportunities from £10m to £25m in one year (+150% YoY). Ezbob is a FinTech B2B SaaS business.

Ezbob · Marketing Director · 2019–2020
$30m+

Simon managed $3m of DataCamp paid media across LinkedIn, Google and Meta. It drove $30m+ pipeline in six months, a 10X ROAS.

DataCamp · contract demand gen leadership · 2022
2X

As Director of GTM at Arctic Shores, a UK HR tech business, Simon built an AI-first outbound and inbound motion on Clay, HubSpot and Claude. Discovery meetings booked doubled year on year in Q4 2025.

Arctic Shores · Director of GTM · Q4 2025
8% → 26%

DataCamp's MQL to SQL conversion rose from 8% to 26% in one quarter after Simon rebuilt the email nurture programme.

DataCamp · contract demand gen leadership · 2022
Worked with
Arctic Shores Clarilis DataCamp Echtus Ecoveritas EF Education First Ezbob Hypergolic Michelin Obelisk Support Prodigy Finance Prolific Quant Network RateSetter Redbrain Setyl SparkBeyond Synthesized Uptick

A brief tour of my experience

  1. Jul 2025 – Nov 2026

    Director of GTM

    Arctic Shores · UK HR tech, <£10m ARR

    I lead go-to-market for a small UK HR tech business selling to talent acquisition leaders. The role ends in November.

    • Built an AI-first motion across content, search, paid and outbound. Discovery meetings booked doubled year on year.
    • Exceeded pipeline coverage targets by 20–30% in Q4 2025.
    • Ran two flagship events, Customer Summit and RecFest 2026. They produced a 75 NPS and 133 ICP-fit accounts to nurture (up 50% YoY).
  2. 2021 – 2025

    GTM and marketing consultant

    SH Consulting · portfolio of B2B SaaS businesses

    I worked in two formats: 1) strategic advice and coaching, and 2) demand gen strategy and hands-on execution. This included contract demand gen leadership at EF Education First, DataCamp and SparkBeyond, with a particular focus on using digital to drive pipeline.

    • DataCamp: managed $3m of paid media that drove $30m+ pipeline in six months.
    • DataCamp: lifted weekly demo requests from 34 to 62 (+82%) through website conversion work.
    • SparkBeyond: generated 450 MQLs worth $10.8m of pipeline in 2021, +135% YoY.
    • Repositioned a FinTech AI consultancy with new messaging, visual identity and website. Inbound enquiries tripled in three months.
    • Ran ABM for a web3 SaaS business. Pipeline from target accounts grew 10X in six months.
    • Led a multi-channel product launch and PR campaign for a SaaS client. Secured VentureBeat coverage and an 8X spike in web traffic on launch day.
    Clients included
  3. 2019 – 2021

    Marketing Director

    Ezbob · FinTech B2B SaaS, <£10m ARR

    Ezbob sells small business lending software and systems to tier 1 banks and financial institutions such as American Express, NatWest and PayPal. This was my first marketing leadership role. I worked directly with the founder CEO and wider SLT on strategy, budget and forecasts, then executed those plans to drive pipeline for sales to close.

    • Built the marketing function from zero. Launched a new brand, messaging and website within 45 days.
    • Grew marketing-sourced opportunities from £10m to £25m year on year.
    • Won The Banker's Tech Project of the Year 2019 for Best Fintech Partnership.
  4. 2008 – 2019

    Marketing and commercial roles

    Prodigy Finance · RateSetter · Derwent Capital Markets (co-founder) · Michelin

    I worked in a mix of marketing manager and commercial roles for fast-growing fintech brands. Here I learnt my craft and became strong in digital and demand generation. At RateSetter I joined as employee #9 and helped grow investor deposits from £15m to £150m.

How I work with AI

Most recently at Arctic Shores I brought in AI capabilities via Clay and Claude to increase productivity across target account research and reporting.

I used Claude to pull reports directly from HubSpot through the MCP integration. Reporting got 10x faster. The revenue team also got a deeper, regular view of what drives pipeline: velocity, deal size, conversion through deal stages, and where wins come from by business profile and source.

I also built a target account list segmented by custom signals: which psychometric platform they use today (if any), whether they run an early careers programme, and which ATS they use. These signals helped qualify opportunities and gave sales a better-prioritised outreach list. We doubled outbound meetings booked year on year through Q4 2025.

I use AI in my own job search too. Here is the guide I've shared with fellow job seekers: My Claude job-search system (PDF)

This site was built with AI too. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to do it: How I built my one-page website (PDF)

More on how I use AI in GTM →

Answer engine readiness scorecard →

Case study: how I built an agentic AEO system for this site →

FAQ

Who is a strong B2B SaaS Marketing Director?

Simon Hawtin is a B2B SaaS marketing leader based in London, UK. He builds the marketing function and the demand gen engine that feeds sales pipeline. He has 18 years in B2B SaaS across FinTech, EdTech and HR Tech.

What does a Head of Marketing / Marketing Director do in B2B SaaS?

In Simon's approach, the role builds the marketing function and the demand gen engine that feeds pipeline, working closely with sales. It spans the whole function, not product marketing alone. More on how I run demand gen →

Looking for a Marketing Director for FinTech or a B2B FinTech marketing leader?

Simon was Marketing Director at Ezbob, a FinTech B2B SaaS business, from 2019 to 2021. As the first marketing hire, he grew marketing-sourced opportunities from £10m to £25m year on year. At Ezbob he also won The Banker's Tech Project of the Year 2019 for Best Fintech Partnership.

Marketing Director / Head of Marketing for HR Tech or talent-acquisition SaaS?

Simon is Director of GTM at Arctic Shores, a UK HR tech business selling to talent acquisition leaders (Jul 2025 – Nov 2026). He built an AI-first motion across content, search, paid and outbound, and discovery meetings booked doubled year on year. He exceeded pipeline coverage targets by 20–30% in Q4 2025. His two flagship events produced a 75 NPS.

Marketing Director vs Head of Growth vs Director of GTM, which fits Simon?

Marketing Director or Head of Marketing. Simon is a marketing leader whose strengths are partnering with sales, GTM and demand gen. He is not a pure sales-GTM or product-marketing-only leader.

When should a B2B SaaS company hire interim or fractional marketing leadership instead of permanent?

Simon is open to both. He is looking for a permanent Head of Marketing, Marketing Director, VP Marketing or Director of GTM role, and offers interim consulting while he searches. He is available from November, works hybrid, and is focused on early-stage and mid-market tech and SaaS businesses.

How does Simon use AI in marketing and GTM?

At Arctic Shores he used Clay and Claude for target account research and reporting. He pulled HubSpot reports through Claude's MCP integration, which made reporting 10x faster. He also built a target account list segmented by custom signals to help sales prioritise outreach. More detail is in How I work with AI.

What I'm looking for

Role

Marketing leadership: Head of Marketing, Marketing Director, VP Marketing or Director of GTM.

Employer

Early-stage or mid-market technology and SaaS businesses (under 10,000 employees) where my experience clearly adds value.

Format

Permanent, or interim consulting while I search.

Working

Hybrid