Jamie Bothwell is Vice President of Global Lifecycle Marketing at Docusign, where she is building and scaling a global function designed to drive durable growth across the entire customer journey, from acquisition and activation through retention and expansion. With experience spanning multiple international markets, product and sales-led growth, and complex SaaS environments, Bothwell is known for translating customer insight and product signals into scalable systems. At the core of her work is a belief that the most effective growth engines balance rigor with creativity, and that strong teams, clear purpose, and a focus on addressing customer needs are what make sustained growth possible.
Named to our Marketers to Watch list in partnership with The Wall Street Journal, Bothwell shared her perspectives on lifecycle-led growth, AI-powered marketing systems, and the leadership disciplines required to scale impact in an increasingly automated world.
What book or podcast do you recommend to marketing leaders?
I love listening to Lenny’s Podcast, Pivot, and Acquired. Lenny’s Podcast offers highly practical, operator-level insight into building products, teams, and growth engines. Pivot provides a very entertaining perspective on technology, power, and culture. And Acquired is a powerful reminder that great marketing is ultimately a conduit for great business strategy. Their deep dives into company inflection points reinforce how tightly growth, strategy, and execution are linked. Plus, I’m a big believer that you learn a ton by studying the greats.
How are you and your team currently using AI?
We’re actively experimenting with AI across marketing, with a focus on speed, scale, and learning velocity. Like many, we started with content generation — from copy to internal communications — and have quickly moved into building AI agents that can execute multi-step workflows like research, personalization, and campaign execution.
What excites me most is using AI that’s deeply embedded into our infrastructure, not just as a productivity tool. Our goal is to turn customer and product signals into real-time learning loops, shifting from human-powered growth processes to system-driven ones, while keeping human judgment focused on strategy, creativity, and customer empathy.
What’s a prediction you have for marketing over the next few years?
I believe marketing will increasingly bifurcate into two distinct motions. One will be a highly automated, process-driven engine designed to efficiently serve the long tail of customers. The other will be a more bespoke, experience- and brand-driven engine focused on a smaller set of high-value customers where human touch truly matters. And in this space, what’s old will be new again, including direct mail, customer hospitality, high-end networking events, account-based marketing and more.
The teams that win won’t treat these motions as separate silos. They’ll figure out how to build intelligent bridges between them — using product signals, data, and AI to determine when to automate, when to personalize, and when to lean into high-touch engagement. That orchestration layer will become a core competitive advantage for modern marketing organizations.
What’s the most innovative or exciting project you’ve worked on recently?
One of the most exciting projects I’ve worked on recently is building AI agents that enable real-time personalization across the customer lifecycle. Instead of static segments and fixed journeys, we’re experimenting with systems that adapt messaging based on behavior, usage, agent-driven research and intent signals.
The real innovation is the shift from campaign-centric thinking to system-centric thinking. The goal isn’t just faster execution — it’s creating a learning engine that continuously improves relevance and impact. We’re still early, but the potential to deliver more human experiences at scale is incredibly interesting to me.
What’s the most pressing business challenge you’ve faced in the last year and what have you done to solve it?
The biggest challenge I’ve experienced recently is helping our teams navigate disruption — both external and internal — without losing momentum or confidence. In those situations, my focus has been helping the organization interpret change, prioritize clearly, and turn disruption into a catalyst for growth.
That required building a strong team culture rooted in trust and psychological safety, empowering frontline leaders to activate strategy with effective coaching, and being ruthless about focus. When everything feels urgent, clarity and prioritization become super important. That discipline has helped us keep energy high and execution strong through uncertainty.
What leadership muscle is most important for marketers to exercise?
Customer listening. It’s foundational, but incredibly hard to do well. True customer centricity requires direct connection, deep listening, and the discipline to identify signals amid noise.
Great marketing leaders don’t rely solely on dashboards, they actively seek qualitative insight and pattern recognition. They listen for what customers are trying to achieve, not just what they’re reacting to. Making customer listening a regular, intentional habit is one of the most powerful leadership muscles marketers can build.
What’s the most game-changing piece of career advice you’ve ever received?
“Coach the why, not the how.” This was a hard lesson early in my management career. My instinct was to jump in and solve. Over time, I learned that approach limits my ability to scale and the growth and development of my team.
When I’ve been most effective as a leader, it’s because I focused on aligning teams around purpose, context, and outcomes and trusted them to figure out the execution. Coaching the “why” builds ownership, creativity, and resilience, especially as problems become more complex.
What gives you energy and inspiration outside of work?
Outside of work, I’m an avid traveler and lifelong learner who finds inspiration in exploring new places with my family. I love being in nature. Time outdoors is the fastest way for me to reset perspective and unlock creativity. Whether it’s hiking, sitting in the sun, or watching the waves on the beach, those moments create space for reflection and fill me with joy and a sense of calm.
Marketers to Watch is a recognition series to spotlight highly innovative and forward-thinking marketing leaders in the community. If you have someone you’d like to nominate for the series, apply here.
