How to Build an AI-Powered Marketing Operating System — Sophie Mckay, Notion

Sophie Mckay did not take a linear path to the top of tech marketing. Shunning university directly after high school, she entered the corporate world as a receptionist at a small local business. By diving into factory operations, sales, and executive assistance, she built an organic, ground-up understanding of how an entire business operates. When she finally entered tech and completed her marketing degree online while working full-time, a sudden wave of corporate redundancies forced her to manage a B2B marketing department almost entirely on her own. Today, as Head of Marketing APAC at Notion, Sophie uses that broad, end-to-end foundation to oversee brand, demand generation, and community-led growth across highly diverse markets.

Why should marketing leaders avoid early specialisation?

Sophie shares how a non-traditional career path and an abrupt trial-by-fire built her end-to-end marketing foundation.

“I had a very non-traditional path. I started as a receptionist and did roles across sales, factory operations, and executive assistance. That experience gave me a great foundation for how a whole business runs. Later, I joined a tech company and moved into marketing. Within six months, redundancies left just me and a designer in the team. I suddenly had to do everything across B2B marketing, social media, events, PR, web, digital, and marketing automation. That set up my foundations for understanding marketing end-to-end. I never specialised in any one area. Every role has been broad, and that generalist exposure is exactly what allowed me to lead regional strategies across diverse markets.”

How do you navigate the “messy middle” of AI adoption?

Addressing the current state of digital tools, Sophie discusses the bottleneck between individual experimentation and scaled workflows.

“Marketers’ main challenge right now is trying to keep up with the pace of change. Every marketing leader knows and believes that AI can make their team faster and more effective. However, the hard part is turning that belief into practical, day-to-day AI applications and workflows. Most marketing teams are sitting in the ‘messy middle.’ You have marketing individuals who are experimenting with AI, and they are getting individual productivity efficiency, but that has not yet been scaled across an entire team. It is more than just an AI tool shift; it is a team shift. We are all trying to figure out what the modern marketing organisation looks like in this new era.”

What is an AI-Powered Marketing Operating System?

Sophie highlights the unprecedented opportunity for CMOs to scale content and campaigns without relying on additional headcount.

“We can do dramatically more than what we could before. A marketing leader who doesn’t know how to build a landing page can all of a sudden vibe a website. In the past, scaling meant headcount, agencies, and bigger budgets. Today, the opportunity is building an AI-powered marketing operating system where you can actually enable your teams to move faster from insight to execution. You can turn customer data into positioning, positioning into content, and content into campaigns without waiting for headcount to open up. It allows CMOs to shift their teams up the value chain, spending less time on manual coordination and more time on strategy and creativity.”

Why will a community always out-market a paid campaign?

Reflecting on the successful Notion Australia launch, Sophie shares her surprise at the power of local organic momentum.

“APAC is one of the most diverse regions in the world, and one size will not fit all. What we do in Japan in terms of marketing is extremely different from what we do in Australia. When you understand the nuance of each market, you don’t just run campaigns; you build trust and relevance. Last year, during the Notion Australia launch, we ran a coordinated multi-channel market splash across PR, out-of-home advertising, and influencers. But what really surprised me was the incredible local Notion community. Your community is going to tell your story better than any ad that you run. It felt like a moment for our community versus just a moment for the brand.”

How should corporate structures evolve in the era of automation?

In a final challenge to fellow marketing directors, Sophie links team development directly to the core mandate of company growth.

“If I had to describe the role of a CMO in one word, it is growth. Marketing’s purpose is to drive company growth, whether that be customers, revenue, brand awareness, or shareholder value. Moving further into 2026, my priority is rethinking how my own team works with AI so they can focus on the areas they love: strategy, creativity, and customer connection. I would ask fellow marketing leaders: ‘How are you thinking about your marketing organisation team and structure? How are you evolving roles in the AI era?’ We have the permission and the opportunity to completely rethink and rebuild how we do things entirely. We must make sure our teams are ready for whatever role they move into next.”

Join the Conversation: The Ortus Club’s Executive Network

Across Sophie’s insights on generalist foundations, the messy middle of AI, and building an AI-powered operating system, one pattern is clear: these organisational shifts aren’t solved in isolation. They require a peer-level perspective and the kind of high-trust dialogue that transcends traditional agency models.

Her vision of the “CMO as a Catalyst for Growth” reflects a broader reality: today’s marketing and brand directors cannot rely on standard campaign templates to navigate a diverse APAC landscape. The most effective executives, especially those redefining roles in the age of automation, actively seek out peer dialogue as a strategic necessity to benchmark their team structures.

At The Ortus Club, we host curated executive roundtables that bring together senior leaders facing these exact challenges. Step away from the manual production loops and engage in the kind of open, high-value conversations that help you shift your team up the value chain and architect the future of marketing execution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is an AI-Powered Marketing Operating System?

A: It is an integrated organisational framework where AI tools are embedded directly into team workflows, allowing raw customer insights to be systematically converted into positioning, copywriting, and active multi-channel campaigns without traditional manual production delays.

Q: What does it mean when an executive can “vibe” a website?

A: Derived from the concept of “vibe coding,” it refers to using generative AI and natural language interfaces to rapidly prototype, design, or build digital assets (like landing pages) based on high-level strategic descriptions rather than manual technical execution.

Q: Why is early specialisation considered a risk for modern marketers?

A: Because rapid technological changes and AI automation are constantly redefining or eliminating specific execution-level roles. A generalist background across multiple marketing pillars provides the agility required to pivot into strategic management.

Q: How does a brand launch move from a corporate moment to a community moment?

A: By centering the execution around the user base rather than the product features. This involves empowering local influencers, creating forums for user-generated content, and utilising launch events to celebrate customer adoption and advocacy.

Q: How do you measure the success of shifting a team up the value chain?

A: By tracking the reduction of hours spent on manual asset creation, template coordination, and data copy-pasting, balanced against an increase in time dedicated to high-level market positioning, creative campaigns, and direct customer-centric strategy.