Marketing Director

About the role

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship is seeking a Marketing Director to lead its marketing and communications across the Ion District, Powered by Rice University, and the Venture Advantage Platform. This role comes at a pivotal moment for both the organization and Houston's innovation ecosystem.

The Rice Alliance is building and launching Houston's Venture Advantage Platform in the Ion District, creating a unique opportunity for an entrepreneurial marketer to help shape the narrative, grow and engage the audience, and bring to life one of the most ambitious innovation initiatives in the region.

Responsibilities

The Marketing Director will lead the strategic narrative, positioning, and communication direction, develop and deliver demand generation and audience growth strategies, and evolve and build the marketing tech stack to deliver against a cohesive user journey.

• Maximize experiential engagements to amplify the Ion District narrative, increase audience engagement, and advance sponsorship and partnership opportunities
• Collaborate with Ion District stakeholders to support District development, leasing activity, and ecosystem visibility
• Develop and execute integrated marketing and communications strategies that support organizational priorities, audience growth, and demand generation
• Lead the strategic narrative for the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and support the Ion District communication strategy
• Build and optimize customer journeys that convert awareness into engagement, participation, sponsorship, and other organizational outcomes
• Oversee content, digital marketing, events, media relations, partnerships, and community engagement
• Lead marketing strategy for the organization's event portfolio to increase attendance and engagement
• Manage the marketing technology stack, reporting systems, and AI-enabled workflows
• Analyze marketing performance, audience insights, and market trends
• Establish departmental Rocks, budgets, and success metrics supporting the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)
• Extend capacity and capabilities through freelancers, contractors, volunteers, and other external partners
• Collaborate with Rice University stakeholders, Ion District partners, and external organizations to align marketing efforts and amplify organizational visibility
• Support sponsorship, partnership, and revenue-generating initiatives through marketing strategy and activation
• Lead and develop the marketing team through its next stage of development, aligned with our values of Relentless Curiosity, Purposeful Stewardship, Take Ownership, Excellence is a Habit, and Enjoy the Journey Together

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree
• 5+ years of progressively responsible experience in marketing, communications, or similar role
• Experience leading teams and managing agencies, freelancers, contractors, or other external partners

Preferences

• 7+ years of progressively responsible experience in marketing, communications, or similar role
• Experience leading marketing functions in a startup, agency, or mission-driven organization
• Proven success in demand generation, audience growth, customer journey optimization, and campaign performance analysis
• Channel strategy and execution experience with measurable success across organic social media, earned media, SEO/GEO/AEO
• Demonstrated history with marketing tech including CRMs, automation, email marketing platforms, CMS, and other AI-enabled tools
• Proven success shaping organizational positioning and building alignment
• Ownership over budget allocation across channels and initiatives
• Experience working directly with executive leadership and with startups and entrepreneurs
• Interest in entrepreneurship, innovation, economic development, and Houston's growing innovation ecosystem
• Familiarity with marketing efforts for large-scale events, conferences, programs, or community initiatives
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills

Skills

The ideal candidate will have experience with marketing tech, AI-enabled tools, and data analysis, as well as excellent communication and leadership skills.

Benefits

Rice University offers a range of benefits, including those found at Rice University HR | Benefits.

Workplace Requirements

This position is exclusively on-site, necessitating all duties to be performed in-person at the Ion. Some nights and weekends are expected.