Ruth Dillon-Mansfield
Ruth Dillon-Mansfield (née Ng) mountain illustration

About Me

About Me

Ruth Dillon-Mansfield (née Ng) mountain illustration reflection

What I do

Growth Marketing

Strategy meets execution. I design focussed growth experiments and roll up my sleeves to bring them to life. I'm happiest helping businesses scale sustainably.

Content Marketing

I craft content strategies designed to convert, and turn them into magnetic, cross-media narratives.

Performance Marketing

I blend data with creativity to spark long-lasting relationships that start with a click.

Leadership

CMI qualified. I grow and lead high-performing teams with humanity and compassion.

Development

Automation? Websites? I code confidently across the full stack in JavaScript.

Design

Not a pro, but a strong eye for design and practical skills make me a useful person to have around.

I love helping small, ethical businesses grow.

In one way or another, I've always found my place helping others succeed in tech. I've worked in the tech industry since finishing full-time education, and I believe it should be enjoyed, and contributed to, by all kinds of people.

Personal Life

I love climbing (all gradients welcome – I regularly frequent the local Mancunian bouldering gyms, and can often be found hiking around the beautiful North Walian mountains where I grew up, or my second home, Dartmoor). Otherwise, you might find me reading non-fiction, playing the harp (well, mostly tuning it, really), making and occasionally selling macrame (I have a tiny Etsy shop), or watching the F1.

Professional Life

Career break

I'm on a career break to welcome our baby into the world.

I'll be open for new adventures in Summer/Autumn 2025!

Career break

I'm on a career break to welcome our baby into the world.

I'll be open for new adventures in Summer/Autumn 2025!

Growth Strategy

Growth Strategy

Driving Growth

Nov 2022 – Apr 2024

SaaS

AI

B2B

Start-Up

VC-backed B2B AI startup Stepsize AI successfully exited to SaaS unicorn ClickUp in April 2024. I helped the take their new product to market. Stepsize AI supercharged collaboration by giving product engineering teams automatic, intelligent updates about what matters most.

I focussed on inbound and outbound growth strategies. Everything from product to PPC was on my radar, but since content was our best-converting channel, this role was heavy on content strategy and SEO.

I helped VC-backed B2B AI SaaS startup Stepsize take their new AI product to market and exit to ClickUp in April 2024. Stepsize AI supercharged collaboration by giving product engineering teams automatic, intelligent updates about what matters most.

I looked at inbound and outbound growth strategies. This role is heavy on content strategy and SEO.

Head of Growth

Head of Growth

Driving Growth

Dec 2021 – Nov 2022

SaaS

B2B/B2C

Start-Up

VC-backed FinTech start-up Knoma help people find and fund the course they need to get ahead in their careers, supported by ethical 0% finance. They help education businesses expand their audience. Think ethical Klarna for education.

As the first marketing hire, I hired a small team, set up a wide range of marketing infrastructure and set in motion a full-stack B2B and B2C growth strategy.

VC-backed FinTech start-up Knoma help people find and fund the course they need to get ahead in their careers, supported by ethical 0% finance.

As the first marketing hire, I hired a small team, set up a wide range of marketing infrastructure and delivered a full-stack B2B and B2C growth strategy.

Head of Growth

Head of Growth

Leading Growth and Sales

Feb 2017 – Dec 2021

Chief Operating Officer

Jan 2021 – Dec 2021 (11 months)

Head of Growth

Jul 2017 – Jan 2021 (43 months)

Growth Engineer

May 2017 – Jul 2017 (3 months)

Trainee Software Engineer

Feb 2017 – May 2017 (3 months)

B2B/B2C

Start-Up

IPO

I was part of the founding team that took Northcoders from a start-up with six people to a listed PLC with a team of 60+.

I joined as the first marketing hire, and built a multi-functional growth team including creative, marketing and sales. My bread and butter was the B2B and B2C growth strategy and operations.

During my time there, we went from 50 to 1000+ students graduated and won the British Chamber of Commerce's Business of the Year Award 2018. I also earned a spot on the top 50 Northern Power Women in recognition of my role in substantially improving diversity, equity and inclusion at Northcoders and the wider tech community by almost every metric.

I was part of the founding team that took Northcoders from a start-up with six people to a listed PLC with a team of 60+.

I joined as the first marketing hire. My bread and butter was the B2B and B2C growth strategy and operations.

During my time there, we went from 50 to 1000+ students graduated and won the British Chamber of Commerce's Business of the Year Award 2018. I also earned a spot on the top 50 Northern Power Women.

International Executive Search Consultant

International Executive Search Consultant

Headhunting in the tech industry

Sep 2015 – Jan 2017

Finlay James are world-class headhunters for senior sales, marketing and technical recruitment for businesses in the tech space.

I headhunted senior to C-Level execs across over 20 countries and four continents using a marketing-led social selling approach. I got to have a great nosy into the software space while doing it. Maybe I loved that too much, because I left to get into tech.

Finlay James are world-class headhunters for senior sales, marketing and technical recruitment for businesses in the tech space.

I headhunted senior to C-Level execs across over four continents. I got to have a great nosy into the software space while doing it. Maybe I loved that too much, because I left to get into tech.

Education

CMI Level 5 Diploma

CMI Level 5 Diploma

Management & Leadership

2019 – 2020

80-week Diploma for managers and leaders.

Modules included: Marketing Strategy, Management & Leadership, Managing Finance, Delivering Operational Plans, Coaching & Mentoring, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, Hiring & Retention, and more.

80-week Diploma for managers and leaders.

Modules included: Marketing Strategy, Management & Leadership, Managing Finance, Delivering Operational Plans, Coaching & Mentoring, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, Hiring & Retention, and more.

BA (Hons) Philosophy

BA (Hons) Philosophy

First Class Honours

Nottingham Advantage Award

The original Plan B was to write a PhD thesis defending and motivating an idea in ontology called Existence Monism – I began this work with my undergraduate dissertation, Problems with Priority and the Benefits of Existence Monism. This plan may have to be deferred a few decades, but I'd love to do it!

I still regularly write about philosophy here. Yes. I am a nerd.

The original Plan B was to write a PhD thesis defending and motivating an idea in ontology called Existence Monism – I began this work with my undergraduate dissertation, Problems with Priority and the Benefits of Existence Monism. This plan may have to be deferred a few decades, but I'd love to do it!

I still regularly write about philosophy here. Yes. I am a nerd.

Marketing Skills

Marketing Leadership

Growth Marketing & Strategy

Content Marketing & Strategy

SEO

Copywriting

AI & Prompt Engineering

Performance Marketing & Strategy

Product-Led Marketing

PPC: Google Ads & Microsoft Ads

Marketing Automation

Analytics & Reporting

Web Development & CMS

Brand Marketing & Strategy

Information Architecture

Social Media (Paid)

Social Media (Organic)

CRO

Tech Skills

Trained as a software developer. I code confidently in full-stack JavaScript.

JavaScript

CSS, SASS

Git

React

Gatsby

HTML

GraphQL

Node

Tools

Marketing Automation & CRM

Tool
Tool

HubSpot

Customer.io

Content Management & Analytics

Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool

SEMRush

Webflow

Contentful

Prismic

Wordstream

Google Analytics

Frase AI

Hotjar

Fullstory

Lead Gen & Lead Management

Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool

Outgrow

Optinmonster

Dripify

Hootsuite

Drift

Intercom

Bonjoro

Design

Tool
Tool

Figma

Illustrator

Utilities

Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool

Zapier

GitBook

Whimsical

Miro

Ruth Dillon-Mansfield mountain illustration

Ruth Dillon-Mansfield | She/her

Ruth Dillon-Mansfield (née Ng) | She/her

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