Elena Machado

Marketing, Creative & Revenue Operations Leader | Building systems and brand for international education

Greater Madrid Metropolitan Area

About

Two decades in the creative industry — from international film and TV sets to building a company's entire marketing and operations engine from scratch. 20+ years, one constant: I build the system that's missing rather than wait to be handed one. I currently carry five interconnected functions at The Lemon Tree Education at once: marketing strategy and budget, revenue operations, creative direction, creative/production operations, and hands-on design. I conceived and coordinated the company's CRM (ActiveCampaign) architecture — the operational backbone connecting marketing and sales — and set and protect the creative standard across every campaign and brand touchpoint. Before that: sixteen years as an independent creative and production professional (2003–2019) — art direction and production design on major international film and television (Game of Thrones for HBO, Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings, Jack Ryan for Paramount/Amazon, Still Star-Crossed for Shondaland/ABC), advertising campaigns (Carolina Herrera × US Vogue, M&C Saatchi), and self-employed work spanning design, photography, video and web across Madrid, the Canary Islands, London and international assignments — including a two-year design consultancy for an international engineering firm. Core areas: →Marketing strategy, budget ownership & CAC optimisation →Revenue & business operations — CRM architecture, workflow design, KPI systems →Creative direction — brand identity, campaign concepting, messaging for family audiences →Creative & production operations — pipeline, vendor network, always-on content cadence →Team leadership (8 direct reports) and cross-department coordination Madrid-based. Spanish (native), English (bilingual, British-educated), French (basic).

Experience

  • The Lemon Tree Education ()
    • Marketing Leadership
      Jan 2025 - Present · 1 yr 7 mos

      Own multi-channel marketing strategy and department budget across paid (Meta, Google) and organic channels. Building out the measurement layer — CAC, channel attribution, and lead-to-enrollment conversion — as a live, evolving discipline this year.

    • Revenue Operations Lead
      Jan 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 7 mos

      Lead Revenue Operations across marketing and sales — conceived and coordinated the company's CRM (ActiveCampaign) architecture and automation system from the ground up, in partnership with a dedicated automations specialist. Own the workflows connecting lead generation to enrollment, and building out retention and cohort-based reporting on top of that foundation.

    • Creative & Marketing Operations Manager
      Jan 2022 - Present · 4 yrs 7 mos

      Run the company's end-to-end content production pipeline — brief through shoot/edit through delivery — at always-on, weekly volume. Source, onboard and manage a network of creators and freelancers; built the asset taxonomy and tagging system the team works from. The operational backbone that keeps every campaign and channel supplied and on-brand.

  • Creative Consultant & Visual Artist at Freelance
    Apr 2019 - Present · 7 yrs 4 mos

  • ART DIRECTOR: Commercial "WaterWipes" at Gran Babieka S.L / Nail Communications
    Oct 2017 - Oct 2017 · 1 mo

    - Client: WaterWipes - US Agency: Nail Communications - Director: Jeffrey Dechausse - Producer: Nathan Haener - DOP: Tobia Sempi - Art Director: Elena Machado

  • ASSISTANT SET DECORATOR: TV series "Jack Ryan" at Paramount Pictures
    Apr 2017 - May 2017 · 2 mos

    TV Series, Season 1, 8 episodes. - Production Designer: Ruth Ammon - Supervising Art Director: Barbara Perez-Solero - Set Decorator: Delia Piccirilli

  • ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR - Photo-shoot: "Carolina Herrera & US Vogue" at MARIOTESTINO+
    Feb 2017 - Feb 2017 · 1 mo

    Clients: Carolina Herrera & US Vogue Photographer: Mario Testino Set Decorator: Jack Flanagan