Marketing Director

Marketing Director – Lina Stores

Fresh pasta in the window. Green awnings on Brewer Street. A queue down the pavement before service has started.

Lina Stores has been a love letter to Italy since 1944 and today we are one of London's most adored Italian food names, spanning restaurants, delis, bars, an online shop, and a growing international family.

We are looking for a Marketing Director to take the reins of our marketing function, a storyteller with commercial edge who can turn a plate of cacio e pepe, a deli counter, and a Saturday lunch service into moments people can't stop talking about.

Who we are

Lina Stores started as a Soho deli in 1944, a tiny shop selling fresh pasta, cured meats, and the kind of Italian generosity that makes a city feel like home. Eighty years on, we are still rooted in Soho, but our world is bigger: restaurants, delis, bars, an online pasta shop, retail partners, and international sites. We make our own pasta, we work with our growers, we know our regulars by name. That is what you would be marketing and that is a hell of a story to tell.

The opportunity

You will lead Lina Stores at a pivotal moment of growth, with the rare luxury of a dedicated in-house Creative Studio, design, content, photography, film, ready to bring your strategy to life. You set the vision and the brief; the studio delivers it.

You will own marketing across restaurants, delis, bars, B2C e-commerce, and B2B retail, driving covers, footfall, basket size, and customer loyalty. You will sit on the senior leadership team, report to the MD, and have real authority over how Lina Stores shows up in the world.

What we stand for

• Celebrating Italy — Heritage, Authenticity, Quality
• With Hospitality at Heart — Generosity, Empathy, Community
• We Grow with Purpose — Passion, Opportunity, Responsibility

A day in the life

• Lead and inspire the marketing team, Marketing Manager and Business Development Manager, partnering with our Creative Director and in-house studio.
• Own our identity, tone of voice, and visual language across every touchpoint.
• Build an integrated marketing plan across restaurants, delis, bars, B2C online retail, and B2B retail.
• Run seasonal, product-led, and event-led campaigns end-to-end.
• Drive digital growth across SEO, paid media (Meta, Google), email, CRM, and social.
• Grow the online shop through performance marketing, CRO, and retention.
• Build a CRM and customer data strategy that turns visitors into regulars and regulars into evangelists.
• Lead PR, national and Manchester local agencies, influencers, journalists.
• Curate a calendar of collaborations, activations, supper clubs, and signature moments.
• Launch new openings alongside General Managers and Operations.
• Own the marketing budget with clear ROI and sharp reporting.
• Manage agency and freelance partners across digital and PR.
• Stay close to the floor visit sites, read reviews, talk to teams.
• Represent Lina Stores at industry events, press moments, and activations.
• Identify new channels, partnerships, and growth opportunities.

You, in a sentence

You are a senior marketing leader with the strategic chops of a Director and the energy of someone who still gets a kick out of a great campaign. You are commercially sharp, creatively confident, and obsessed with story and you genuinely love food, hospitality, and the magic of getting people around a table.

You will likely bring:

• Senior marketing leadership experience with a multi-channel consumer business, hospitality, food, drink, or premium retail.
• A track record of building high-performing teams and developing talent.
• Serious commercial acumen, budgets, ROI, performance metrics, P&L mindset.
• End-to-end campaign credibility across digital, PR, CRM, and events.
• Deep digital fluency across SEO, paid media, email/CRM, social, and e-commerce.
• Sharp creative judgement, you can write a brief that lights a studio up.
• Strong communication and collaboration instincts, credible with founders, agencies, journalists, and operators.
• A real love of hospitality and Italian culture.
• Right to work in the UK, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

What you'll get

• £75,000 salary
• Soho-based Support Office, minutes from the original deli
• 50% staff discount across restaurants, delis, and the online shop
• 28 days' holiday including bank holidays, increasing with service
• Wagestream, flexible access to your earned wages
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Pension scheme
• Ongoing learning and development
• Recommend-a-friend bonus
• Team socials, supplier trips, and tastings

Grow with us

At Lina Stores, we don't look for the complete package. We look for willingness, curiosity, and grit and we back our people with the training, support, and opportunity to be brilliant at what they do.

Pull up a chair

If you have read this far and felt something stir, we’d love to hear from you. Apply today with your CV and a short note on what hospitality means to you. Tell us about the campaign you are most proud of, the business you most admire, or the meal you’d want to be eating right now. We read every word.