The Truth About Marketing Ops with Kelly Jo Horton, Head of Lifecycle Marketing Ops at Atlassian | Ep. 374
Description
So, what does Marketing ops actually look like?
Atlassian’s Head of Lifecycle Marketing Ops Kelly Jo Horton joins Daniel to break down what ops actually is, why it’s so complex, and how high-performing teams are evolving the function for 2026 and beyond.
She explains why MOPS isn’t “just sending an email,” why process is everything, and why marketers need to stop treating ops like a drive-thru and start treating it like a Michelin-star kitchen. She also reveals how Atlassian structures its ops organization and why she believes the MQL is officially dead. You’ll also learn:
> What modern Marketing Ops actually does and why it varies by company
> How AI can automate repetitive ops tasks (like list cleaning and lead investigations)
> How Atlassian uses Jira, Confluence, Slack bots, and Loom to run ops like engineering
This is for anyone in Marketing, rev ops, or GTM who wants to build a scalable system…and for every Marketer who’s ever said “it’s just an email.”
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Follow Kelly Jo:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyjohorton/
Follow Daniel:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing/
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Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: https://workweek.com/
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