Leader’s Corner: Harjeet Singh

Leader's corner: interview with Harjeet Singh

Senior Director of Marketing Operations and Demand Generation at Finastra Ltd, Harjeet Singh, discusses his role and responsibilities in this exclusive interview at The Studio.

Introducing Harjeet Singh, the Senior Director of Marketing Operations and Demand Generation at UK software company Finastra.

Delving into the routine and core responsibilities of his role, Singh talks about his management of data systems, processes and internal marketing strategies within the Finastra team. In addition to this, he discusses the ways in which he keeps up with the latest trends in the industry, ranging from collaborating with analysts to networking at events.

Read on to discover what the biggest challenges and areas of focus are for Singh, including what the future holds for Finastra’s marketing and technology function.

Watch the Leader's Corner interview highlights with Harjeet Singh:

Leader’s corner insights with Harjeet Singh

Diving head first into what his day-to-day life looks like, Singh explained that his core role and responsibilities entail overseeing marketing operations and covering various areas including the technology stack. In addition to this, Singh handles the “reporting side of things” when it comes to personal data and components of data systems.

“[I] also look after all the processes, the best practices in marketing and do benchmarking across various internal teams in marketing as well as external across the portfolio companies that investors have.”

With these marketing leadership aspects and responsibilities in mind, how does Singh stay up-to-date on the latest trends in the marketing industry?

“I do quite a bit of research and follow trends with analysts – I frequently go to conferences as well to pick up the latest trends”. It’s basically a lot of education.. As well as networking with people which gives a lot of insight”. He acknowledged that any nugget of information he picked up, whether this was a new trend or up-and-coming change in the industry, was relevant to his marketing responsibilities and function. 

As a senior marketing leader, Singh has encountered a myriad of challenges throughout his career, admitting that every job comes with its challenges. To him, the biggest challenge that stood out among the rest was constant change–or, more specifically, changes which are induced by the macro economic environment. “When the financial crisis hit… the investments literally disappeared”, he said. As a result, he explained that this would directly affect the overall attitudes of companies as well as the way marketers delivered on their targets.

“The good thing is, every problem has a solution. You only have to think about innovative ways of getting over the challenging times and constantly be in touch with people.” With the right internal and external resources to support this, Singh argued this can help marketing leaders get through a crisis.

While Singh remarked that marketing is a growing field, he argued that this also brings in its challenges. For many organisations talent shortage is an issue – in addition to this Singh believes that there are challenges in bringing on people with data skills in marketing as well as bringing on new technologies.

In order to create a “ready pool of marketers”, and by this he is referring to tech-savvy marketers, Singh explained that Finastra offers a program called FinStarters, a mentorship program that helps new starters enhance and develop transferable technical and digital skills. 

With this in mind, Harjeet has an array of plans and ideas for the future of Finastra’s marketing function, factoring in aspects such as automation, AI and much more.

Catch the full conversation with Harjeet Singh as he reveals the ins and outs of being a senior marketing leader in this Leader's Corner interview at the Marketing Studio.

About Leaders Profiles:

The Leaders Profiles series offers exclusive insights and strategies from the industry’s top executives. As the ultimate hub for leadership excellence, we connect and inspire today’s top C-suite professionals—CIOs, CISOs, CFOs, CDOs, CMOs and CXOs—through in-depth interviews, quick video segments and strategic deep dives. Whether it's through Leaders Profiles or Leader’s Corner, our goal is to equip you with actionable insights and innovative strategies, directly from the minds shaping the future of business. Explore more on leadership trends and strategies at our Leaders Profiles hub.