Marketing Manager

About the role Kairos Strategic Partners is looking for a hands-on Marketing Manager with deep paid growth experience to build and run our acquisition engine ahead of and after our February launch. You’ll reach two distinct audiences: owners of middle-market businesses ($20M–$200M enterprise value) who are one to two years from a potential sale, and the referral partners who serve them (wealth managers, investment bankers, estate attorneys, CPAs). This is a doer’s role. You’ll take direction, run with it, and get campaigns live without needing sign-off at every step. You’ll report to the VP Content and work closely with leadership. What you'll do Build and own our paid acquisition strategy across LinkedIn, Google Search, Meta, and YouTube, including channel mix, budget allocation, and testing roadmap Run separate, tailored programs for business owners and referral partners, with distinct targeting, messaging, offers, and success metrics for each Drive qualified owners into our funnel (succession readiness assessment, free intro calls) and optimize for lead quality, not just volume Develop account-based and partner-focused campaigns that build awareness and referral relationships with wealth management firms, investment banks, and professional services firms Work with leadership to develop the paid media budget, then manage it, justify spend with performance data, and recommend where to shift dollars Turn our content (video, podcast, articles, research) into paid assets and promotion plans, working with the content team on ad creative, landing pages, and offers Partner with the VP Content and product lead on our initial lifecycle and nurture strategy, then own building, launching, and optimizing email sequences that move owners and referral partners from first touch to booked call and beyond Own HubSpot day to day, including segmentation, lead scoring, data hygiene, and the handoff from marketing to sales conversations Turn data into recommendations: track how our audiences are responding and evolving, spot where we’re gaining traction, and bring the team clear proposals for what to do next Set up and maintain tracking, attribution, and reporting across a long sales cycle, connecting ad spend to booked calls, paid deliverables, and referrals Write and A/B test ad copy and landing page variations within brand guidelines, so testing moves quickly while the content team owns brand voice Manage publishing on our social channels (LinkedIn, Instagram) using assets developed by the content team Plan and promote occasional in-person events, including audience targeting, registration, and attendee follow-up, and coordinate logistics with venues and vendors Help define audience segments and personas, especially owners in middle-market and heartland regions rather than major metros What you bring 5+ years in growth or performance marketing, including experience owning a paid acquisition program end to end (strategy, budget, and results), ideally at an early-stage company Experience marketing high-consideration, high-trust services with long sales cycles; financial services or wealth management strongly preferred Proven track record running both B2B/partner marketing and direct-to-decision-maker campaigns Strong command of LinkedIn Ads targeting (job title, company size, industry, matched audiences) and Google Search Hands-on experience building and running lifecycle email and marketing automation (HubSpot, Salesforce/Pardot, Marketo, or similar), plus fluency with analytics and attribution (GA4, ad platform conversion tracking, UTM structure, CRM reporting) Experience building and testing landing pages in tools like Webflow, Unbounce, or HubSpot, and handling basic creative production yourself Strong performance copywriting for ads and landing pages, with a habit of testing variations and letting data guide revisions Strong AI literacy & skepticism: fluent with tools like Claude for speeding up execution (resizing assets, drafting test variations, analyzing results), while bringing your own judgment and critical thinking to the work An executor’s mindset: you know how to take work from brief to launch without step-by-step check-ins, and you’re energized by being the first dedicated marketing hire at a pre-launch company Nice to have Familiarity with marketing compliance in financial services (SEC Marketing Rule, testimonial and claims rules) Experience with partner or referral programs Marketing to small and mid-sized business owners Experience promoting video or podcast content through paid channels