Director/VP of Marketing
Lightship
Summary
Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer and Co-Founder, you'll own marketing at Lightship: the strategy, the team, and the numbers. You will set a marketing strategy that drives fast brand exposure and measurable sales ROI, and hold it steady as a North Star while the weekly and monthly realities of a growth-stage hardware company shift under it. This is a builder's seat.
Job description
Location
This role is based in either of our offices: Broomfield, CO or South San Francisco, CA. We expect frequent in-office presence (3-5 days per week). This is a hardware company, and the best marketing ideas here come from standing next to the product: walking the build floor, sitting in a trailer, talking to the engineers who built it. Expect periodic travel between the Bay Area and Colorado, plus owner events, shows, and shoots (estimating up to 25% travel).
Responsibilities
- Set the strategy, then execute it. Build a marketing strategy that ties brand building to pipeline and revenue, articulate it so the whole company can repeat it, and keep it intact through the quarter-to-quarter turbulence of a growth-stage hardware business.
- Partner with Brand. You own the marketing strategy: audience, channels, demand and results. Brand owns the brand strategy: identity, voice, visuals and creative direction. The two strategies inform each other and each team gives input on the other's work. Bring sharp audience insight and clear briefs and build a working rhythm where both teams learn quickly from what's landing.
- Run the playbook. Own the full funnel (paid, organic, lifecycle, PR, events, commercial partnerships, owner community, and the website) and make a startup's budget behave like a larger one through sharp channel choices and disciplined testing.
- Drive qualified demand. Work with sales to build a reservation-to-delivery funnel that converts: the right leads, the right nurture, the right in-person moments for a purchase this considered.
- Lead and grow the marketing team. Structure a small team for leverage (currently 3 direct reports), set clear goals and feedback, rhythms, and give early- and mid-career marketers real ownership plus the coaching to be ready for their next role.
- Measure honestly. Own the marketing dashboard (CAC, pipeline contribution, conversion by stage, brand lift) and be candid with both the executive team and Brand about what is working and what to cut. You're not afraid to double down on what truly moves the needle while saying no to opportunities that provide less value.
- Support the commercial line. Give PowerSled the positioning, demand generation, and channel support it needs to reach fleet and infrastructure buyers, in partnership with its commercial team.
- Work alongside the product. Sit with engineering and product in the shop, get in the trailers, tow one, and feed what you learn into the work.
Minimum Qualifications
- 10+ years in marketing, including 4+ leading a team, with a track record of taking a consumer brand from early awareness to real demand.
- Experience marketing a high-consideration, physical product with a long sales cycle, where the buyer researches for months before they commit.
- A data-driven approach; you set measurable goals, track attribution, and change course based on results.
- Excellent storytelling, with the ability to make technical products accessible and compelling.
- Experience building a team and marketing function from an early stage.
Preferred Qualifications
- Category experience in RV, outdoor, automotive, EV, or premium hardware.
- Direct-to-consumer experience with a high-ticket-price product sold without a dealer network.
- Building an owner community into an advocacy engine (rallies, referrals, user-generated content).
- Exposure to a dual consumer and commercial go-to-market under one brand.
- Having done this at a Series B or C company that grew through it.
Requirements
- 10+ years in marketing
- 4+ years leading a team
- Track record of taking a consumer brand from early awareness to real demand
- Experience marketing a high-consideration, physical product with a long sales cycle
- Data-driven approach; set measurable goals, track attribution, change course based on results
- Excellent storytelling, ability to make technical products accessible and compelling
- Experience building a team and marketing function from an early stage
Benefits
- Healthcare, Dental, Vision
- 401(k)
- Flexible Paid Time Off
- 13 Company Holidays
- 12 weeks paid parental leave
- Yearly LightTrip stipend
Company overview
Lightship is a modern clinical trial site organization founded in 2018 that specializes in delivering on-site, hybrid, and virtual clinical trials through a single, trusted partner. The company operates with an expanded access model that places each clinical visit in the most practical setting, whether in-clinic, at-home, or through mobile research units (MRUs). This innovative approach increases patient reach, strengthens enrollment and engagement, and improves representation across diverse communities. Lightship partners with biopharma companies, CROs, and academic institutions to design and conduct studies that expand access and choice while accelerating new therapies to market. With a growing footprint of eight physical sites and mobile research units that extend site capabilities into communities, Lightship focuses on making clinical research more accessible and patient-centered. The company has demonstrated strong performance with a 96% retention rate, over 30 sponsor audits, and multiple FDA engagements, establishing itself as a reliable partner for high-performing trial execution. Through strategic mergers and acquisitions, including with Circuit Clinical and Veda Trials, Lightship continues to expand its capabilities and reach in the clinical research landscape.