Kim Faura
Growth, Marketplace & AI Leader

Kim Faura

C-level growth operator and Managing Director with deep experience scaling consumer brands, marketplaces and subscription businesses. Proven track record across Product, Marketing, Commercial and AI-driven innovation.

Impact by the Numbers

Measurable outcomes from leadership across marketplaces, mobile and consumer platforms.

£500m+
Revenue at scale (founding team)
giffgaff
£100m+
Recurring revenue — more than doubled in under 4 years
Checkatrade
10+ yrs
of decline reversed — within 14 months
Gumtree

Career Timeline

A track record of scaling marketplaces, platforms and consumer businesses.

May 2024 – Present
Chief Consumer Officer → Managing Director
Gumtree
Reversed over a decade of consecutive business decline, returning Gumtree to meaningful growth within 14 months.
  • Repositioned from a legacy classifieds model to a transactional marketplace for the home — shifting from 'chat' to 'buy'
  • Drove AI-powered product innovation across search, taxonomy, trust signals and personalisation
  • Full P&L accountability across Product, Marketing, UX, CRM and Business Intelligence
Jan 2024 – Present
Managing Director
Strategic advisory practice helping consumer and technology businesses accelerate growth and harness AI to build capability, upskill teams and drive productivity.
  • Advising on commercial strategy, product growth, marketing and go-to-market
  • Designing and building AI-powered pipelines for business intelligence and productivity
  • Clients include Quickline Communications and Earthmark
Jan 2020 – Nov 2023
Chief Product & Marketing Officer
Checkatrade
UK's leading home-services marketplace. Owned by Brookfield, 500+ workforce, revenues of £100m+.
  • More than doubled recurring revenue to over £100m in under four years
  • Raised homeowner NPS to 60
  • Led Product & Marketing — £15m+ budget, 50+ person organisation
  • 50%+ conversion improvements through product strategy and experimentation
  • Launched Checkatrade Guarantee, Jobs Management, tiered subscriptions — 33% more completed jobs, 96% ARPU growth
  • Brand awareness from 36% to 63%, consideration from 43% to 64%
Sep 2009 – Dec 2020
Chief Product & Commercial Officer
giffgaff
UK mobile network owned by Virgin Media O2. Founding team member — grew to £500m+ revenue and 4 million members.
  • Scaled from launch to £500m+ revenue with sustained profitability
  • Led Product, Marketing & Commercial — £20m+ P&L, 40+ person team
  • 100%+ conversion improvements across key digital journeys
  • Founded Phones business unit — 20%+ of total business profit
  • Strategic partnerships with Google, Apple, Samsung, Facebook, Tesco
  • uSwitch Network of the Year (2016–2019), Which? Recommended (2013–2020)
Earlier Career
PepsiCo & Unilever
Brand management roles at PepsiCo (Barcelona) and Unilever (Madrid), including leading PepsiCo Iberia's most significant product launch investment and building new brand and product ranges across Spain and Portugal.

Core Strengths

Areas of deep expertise honed across leadership at scale.

Marketplace & Platform Growth

Scaling two-sided marketplaces with data-driven product strategy and disciplined execution.

Product & Marketing Leadership

End-to-end ownership of product, UX, brand, performance marketing and CRM at scale.

Revenue & Conversion

Driving sustained revenue growth through experimentation, pricing and funnel optimisation.

AI & Business Intelligence

Hands-on AI practitioner — building AI-powered pipelines, product features and productivity tools using Claude Code and ChatGPT.

Brand & Go-to-Market

Multichannel brand strategy, category positioning and customer-centric growth.

Team Building & Scaling

Building, mentoring and scaling high-performing product, marketing and commercial teams (50+ people).

Speaking & Teaching

Sharing practitioner experience with industry audiences and the next generation of leaders.

ESADE Business School

Guest Lecturer — Oct 2018 – Present

Teaching product, growth and digital transformation on MBA and executive programmes at one of Europe's top business schools.

Product-Led Alliance

Speaker

Conference speaker on product-led growth, marketplace strategy and AI-driven transformation.

Education & Languages

Academic foundations and multilingual capability.

BBA + MBA Combined Programme

ESADE Business School, Barcelona

Bachelor in Business Administration combined with MBA from one of Europe's top business schools.

Industry Recognition

Marketing Week

Recognised twice in Marketing Week's Top 50 CX Professionals for impact on customer-led growth and experience transformation.

English — Fluent Spanish — Fluent Catalan — Fluent French — Advanced Italian — Basic Portuguese — Basic

Get in Touch

Interested in working together? Let's talk.