How Panorama Antennas Hired a Head of Global Marketing
Recruiting a first-time senior marketing leader for a scaling British antenna manufacturer, moving the business from a fragmented, sales-driven marketing function to an integrated strategic growth engine.
RECRUITMENT BRIEF
COMPANY: Panorama Antennas
SECTOR: Manufacturing: Wireless Communication Technology
POSITION: Head of Global Marketing
LOCATION: United Kingdom
ABOUT panorama antennas
Panorama Antennas is a British antenna manufacturer with nearly 80 years of heritage, supplying wireless communication solutions to customers worldwide. Their products are found on EV chargers and public Wi-Fi infrastructure to emergency service vehicles and smart agriculture technology.
With a strong commercial track record and an exceptional sales team, Panorama had delivered significant growth. However, reaching the next stage required the business to embrace a new mindset.
THE SCOPE
Marketing at Panorama had historically operated as a service department, responding to requests from the sales and technical teams rather than proactively shaping the business's marketing approach. There was no clear ownership, no overarching strategy, and no single point of accountability.
As Victoria Wilson, HR Director, describes it: “The core business challenge we were trying to solve was scale. We needed to move from ad hoc campaigns and word of mouth to a consistent data-driven engine that could generate demand, clarify our positioning, and align closely with sales.”
The business had attempted to find the right person independently but struggled to calibrate the level of the role correctly. Some candidates were strong executors but had never built a strategy or teams at scale. Others were too senior to operate effectively in a hands-on, fast-moving environment. Panorama needed someone who could do both, and they needed a specialist partner to help them find that person.
RECRUITMENT SOLUTION
Panorama engaged the Armstrong Lloyd team to lead the search. Armstrong Lloyd took a thorough approach to the brief from the outset, speaking with multiple stakeholders across the leadership team to build a complete picture of what the role truly required and what success would look like in the first twelve months.
That internal alignment, Karen notes, is as important as the search itself. It is only when a leadership team agrees on the answer to those questions that the right candidate profile becomes clear.
The brief required a precise understanding of the difference between a tactical marketing executor and a true strategic marketing leader, two very different profiles, and a distinction that is frequently underestimated by businesses making this hire for the first time.
Armstrong Lloyd’s deep knowledge of the marketing leadership landscape meant the search could be targeted precisely, drawing on an extensive network of senior B2B marketing talent to identify candidates with the right blend of strategic thinking and hands-on capability.
For Victoria, the value of working with a specialist was straightforward: “It was knowing where to look and how to find this person. We wanted to work with a head-hunter who we could really partner with, who we could explain exactly what we wanted, and who could do the background work to find that candidate for us.”
A SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME
Joe Walker was appointed as their new Head of Global Marketing, bringing over 20 years of award-winning B2B marketing experience across technology sectors. From the candidate side, Joe reflects: “It was really great to work with someone who understood the nuance and the differences in types of marketing and types of experience, and was able to very squarely match the capability and the offering that I have to the opportunity that Victoria and the senior leadership team were putting out there.”
Since joining, Joe has begun transforming Panorama’s marketing function from a reactive content operation into what he describes as “the central nervous system of the company, rather than just the broadcast centre or the mouthpiece.”
The impact has been felt across the business. Decisions have become more proactive and data-informed. Marketing now has a clear owner for positioning and messaging, and the business has greater clarity on who it is, who it serves, and why it matters. The pressure previously carried informally by sales and technical directors has been lifted, freeing them to focus on their core responsibilities.
The placement has also had an unexpected ripple effect beyond the marketing function itself. Joe’s early stakeholder survey identified an opportunity to strengthen Panorama’s employer brand, which led directly to a collaboration with the HR team and the successful achievement of the Great Place to Work accreditation, delivering measurable commercial impact on talent attraction, retention and hiring costs.
As Victoria puts it, “When done right, a strong marketing leader doesn’t just improve marketing. They elevate how the entire business thinks about growth.”
