Director of Marketing

About the role
HelloCollege helps families through every step of college admissions, from 7th grade through senior year, with admissions counseling, tutoring, essay coaching, and test prep. We serve families nationwide, and our marketing engine is how they find us.
As Director of Marketing, you own that engine. You'll be accountable for lead volume and lead quality, lead a team of full-time and part-time staff and agencies, and manage roughly $2M in annual marketing spend. You report to the Chief Strategy Officer and run marketing day-to-day: strategy, execution, analytics, and the testing that keeps results improving.
This role suits a metrics-driven leader who likes people, runs on data, and uses AI as a real part of how the work gets done.
What you'll own
Pipeline and performance
Deliver the annual lead plan (typically 20–30% growth year over year) and our lead-quality targets
Report to leadership monthly on leads by channel, CAC, lead quality, with analysis, budget implications, and recommendations
Build and run a testing roadmap across channels, focused on hypotheses and incremental lift
Budget
Manage about $1M in variable and $1M in fixed annual marketing spend (excluding staff)
Shift budget between channels within the approved plan, based on performance
Recommend annual budget and lead-spend levels; spend outside the approved budget needs approval
Channels
Paid search and paid social: Oversee specialist who leads bidding and day-to-day management of Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. You own strategy and lead landing page testing.
Organic, SEO and AEO: set direction and hold our agency accountable for results
Referrals and brand advocacy: oversee program design, plus how performance is defined and tracked
Email, events, partnerships: own strategy and performance; your Email/Events lead runs execution
Lead providers and affiliate partners: own relationships, contracts and performance
Organic social: oversight; your Content/Social lead runs execution
Team, vendors and EOS
Lead full-time, part-time and fractional team members, plus agencies: set goals, coach, and hold people accountable. Team structure will change as our needs and growth plans evolve, and you'll help shape it.
Evaluate agency and vendor performance and recommend changes; hiring, firing, and agency changes are made with leadership approval
Run the marketing team on EOS: Rocks, scorecard, weekly L10s, and issue resolution
Analytics and website
Own marketing analytics and infrastructure end to end: HubSpot, GA4, GSC, attribution and reporting
Own the WordPress/Elementor website and step in hands-on when needed; our Web Dev manages the site and product team consults on larger builds.
Brand and customer insight
Steward our brand and messaging day-to-day, with final approval from the CSO
Lead ongoing customer research: interviews, surveys, and direct outreach to families
AI-enabled marketing
Use AI daily for analysis, research, and content creation
Build agents and workflows that multiply the team's output, and keep expanding your AI skills
Cross-functional partnership
Work with Sales on lead quality, handoffs, and shared funnel metrics
Work with Service on referrals, testimonials, and proof points
How you'll be measured
Lead volume: hitting the annual lead plan
Lead quality: families who show for consultations
Efficiency: CAC and return on spend by channel
Learning velocity: regular testing, with clear findings and action taken on them
Team health: a team that hits its Rocks and scorecard and keeps getting better
What you bring
Required
10+ years of experience in marketing. 5+ years leading a marketing team: setting goals, managing people, and holding them accountable
Experience in B2C, high-ticket professional services (education, healthcare, financial or legal services, or similar)
Deep expertise in paid acquisition: PPC and affiliate or lead-provider programs
A record of managing a multi-channel budget and moving spend based on performance
A metrics-driven, testing mindset: you form hypotheses, run tests, and act on what you learn
Strong hands-on reporting skills
Comfort working directly in WordPress and Elementor
Expert daily use of Claude or similar AI tools for analysis, research, and planning
Experience managing agencies and outside partners against clear performance goals
Strong grasp of customer needs and messaging, and enjoyment of talking with customers directly
Preferred
Experience building AI agents or automated workflows
Strong interest in AEO (answer engine optimization)
Background in a growth-stage company
Compensation and logistics
Base salary: $100,000-$120,000
Bonus: performance-based
Benefits: Health, dental, life insurance, unlimited PTO, 401K (no match)
Location: remote (U.S.)
Travel: quarterly team offsites, plus occasional travel for events and partners
Reports to: Chief Strategy Officer

Employment type
Full-Time

Work arrangement
Yes