Head of Marketing

About The Role

This is a high-impact, hands-on leadership role for a creative and analytical marketer who thrives in startup environments. You’ll define and drive Haystack’s marketing strategy across performance, brand, lifecycle, partnerships, and PR. You’ll lead a small but mighty team to develop campaigns that attract new audiences, scale our Premium subscription business, and strengthen loyalty among millions of viewers. This is a player-coach, hands-on role. You’ll own everything from paid acquisition and lifecycle marketing to messaging, creative, and comms. You’ll shape our story, measure what matters, and move fast.

Key Responsibilities

• Marketing Strategy & Leadership: Develop and execute a holistic data-driven marketing strategy that integrates awareness, performance, and retention channels across mobile, CTV, and web.

• Brand & Consumer Marketing: Build and evolve Haystack’s brand identity as the most trusted and personalized way to watch the news. Oversee storytelling across all touchpoints, from social to product messaging.

• Performance & Growth Marketing: Lead campaigns to drive installs, engagement, and subscriptions on web and mobile using paid, organic, and partnership channels.

• Affiliate & Influencer Programs: Launch and scale a creator-driven affiliate program that engages journalists, podcasters, and news influencers.

• Public Relations & Thought Leadership: Shape Haystack’s industry voice through earned media, events, and thought leadership around FAST, local news innovation, and AI personalization.

• Data & Insights: Partner with analytics and product teams to define marketing KPIs, optimize creative performance, and measure LTV across campaigns.

• Team Development: Build and mentor a small, nimble marketing team capable of executing across creative, performance, and comms.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of marketing experience, including leadership in consumer growth, performance, or brand marketing (preferably in streaming, media, or DTC).

• Proven experience building campaigns from 0→1 reaching millions of users with limited resources and high creativity.

• Strong analytical skills with a proven track record of meeting or exceeding CAC and RoAS targets.

• Strong understanding of both brand storytelling and data-driven marketing.

• Experience with mobile attribution tools (MMPs) and analytics platforms.

• Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with experience pitching and managing press or agencies.

• Startup or small-team background highly preferred; thrives in hands-on environments.