Marketing & Growth Manager

Position Summary

Challenge Success is seeking an experienced, hands-on Marketing & Growth Manager to strengthen how we reach, engage, and generate demand among school and district audiences.

Working under the strategic direction of the Director of Advancement and the Director of Educational Partnerships, this role will translate organizational priorities, research, thought leadership, and services into compelling content and focused marketing and growth campaigns. The Manager will own much of the day-to-day execution of Challenge Success’ existing marketing and communications efforts while identifying opportunities to strengthen their effectiveness and building a more intentional and measurable approach to lead generation and nurturing.

The ideal candidate brings strong K-12 marketing expertise, excellent writing and communication skills, fluency across digital marketing and CRM platforms, and the ability to move between campaign strategy and detailed execution. They are comfortable testing new approaches, using performance data to learn and improve, and working collaboratively across teams with curiosity, initiative, and an entrepreneurial mindset.

This role is approximately 60% marketing and communications and 40% growth, lead generation, and nurturing.

Responsibilities

Marketing and Communications (60%)

• Collaborate with the Director of Advancement to develop and maintain an integrated marketing and communications calendar, including products and services, fundraising, thought leadership, and events.
• Create multichannel and integrated digital marketing strategies that engage audiences and lead to successful conversion goals (audience engagement, resource downloads, lead generation, event registrations, etc.).
• Draft and edit mission-driven, creative content, such as: emails, website copy, collateral, blogs, etc.
• Collaborate with the Director of Advancement to translate, package, and promote Challenge Success' research, programs, priorities, and expertise into compelling content for school/district and family audiences.
• Maintain Wordpress website and social media presence, including: SEO, Google Ads, and other website pathways that capture prospective partner interest.
• Manage audiences / constituents in Salesforce and Mailchimp, ensuring data hygiene and journey mapping.

Growth, Lead Generation, and Nurturing (40%)

• Turn organizational growth priorities into focused campaigns that introduce target audiences to Challenge Success.
• Develop and test referral, partner-marketing, audience-sharing, and other campaigns to reach priority markets.
• Plan and execute outbound sales campaigns and seasonal outreach pushes, including timelines, project management, and internal coordination.
• Support the organization's participation in external conferences, including coordinating presence, capturing prospects, and managing timely follow-up.
• Help identify and pursue relevant RFPs, including coordinating proposal responses and deadlines
• Move prospective school and district partners from initial interest toward a sales conversation.
• Build and optimize nurturing and re-engagement campaigns across email, social media, events, and post-webinar follow-up.
• Keep leads engaged through timely, personalized communication until they are ready for handoff to the Director of Educational Partnerships.
• Use marketing and pipeline data to understand what is working and improve results over time.
• Track lead sources, campaign performance, and funnel conversion from initial engagement through sales handoff using Salesforce and other marketing platforms.
• Adapt messages and tactics based on K-12 needs and market conditions, while staying aligned with organizational positioning and strategy.
• Document key learnings so successful approaches can be repeated and scaled.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in marketing, growth marketing, demand generation, communications, or a related field, including demonstrated responsibility for lead generation, marketing execution, and audience or revenue growth.
• Demonstrated experience working in and/or marketing to K-12 schools, districts, and education leaders.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing integrated marketing and lead-generation campaigns across email, website, social media, webinars, and other digital channels.
• Demonstrated experience with lead nurturing, audience segmentation, conversion, campaign optimization, and other strategies that move prospective partners through the marketing and sales funnel.
• Excellent writing and editing skills, including the ability to translate complex research, ideas, and services into clear, compelling content for education audiences.
• Experience using campaign, website, Salesforce, and funnel data to assess performance, generate insights, and improve results.
• Experience with common marketing technologies, including Salesforce, email marketing platforms, content management systems, website analytics, and project-management tools.
• Strong project-management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, maintain strong attention to detail, and consistently produce high-quality work.
• Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, proactively move work forward, learn new tools and processes quickly, and collaborate effectively across teams and with external partners.
• Comfort using AI-enabled tools to support research, content development, analysis, workflow efficiency, and marketing production.

Desired Skills & Attributes

Strong candidates will:

• Be deeply motivated by Challenge Success’ mission and improving student well-being, engagement, and belonging.
• Bring a strong commitment to equity and access and an understanding of how educational context and systemic inequities shape students’ experiences.
• Approach work with curiosity, reflection, and a commitment to continuous learning.
• Bring an entrepreneurial mindset, proactively identifying opportunities and finding productive paths through challenges.
• Be a creative and strategic problem-solver who is comfortable wrestling with ambiguity and complex questions.
• Be flexible, collaborative, and responsive in a remote working environment.

Schedule, Location & Travel

This person will primarily work remotely for ~40 hours per week, Monday-Friday. The employee must be able to manage work across multiple U.S. time zones and may occasionally need to adjust schedules for events or time-sensitive organizational needs. This person will also travel occasionally within the US.

Values, Culture & Employment Practices

• Mission-driven work to improve the K-12 student experience on a systemic level
• Grounded in research and backed by the Stanford Graduate School of Education
• Organization-wide commitment to equity that includes opportunities for self-reflection and learning
• Distributed leadership provides opportunities for personal and professional growth
• Small but mighty engaged and passionate team
• Culture of collaboration and continuous improvement
• Commitment to balancing well-being with work responsibilities
• Policies guided by trust and responsibility
• Fully remote organization allows working from home anywhere in the US
• Flexible work schedules promote increased work-life balance and enhanced health & well-being.
• Compensation philosophy rooted in the principles of equity, fairness, and the desire to attract and retain talented individuals who are dedicated to our mission.

Comprehensive benefits package including 100% paid medical, dental & vision insurance premiums for staff members and 50% for dependents. 401 (k) match of 100% up to 3% of salary, with 100% immediate vesting. 34 days of PTO in your first year (including holidays, vacation, birthdays, wellness day & sick leave). Short-term disability, paid new parent leave & more.