Director of Marketing

Job description

## Why Zania Every enterprise spends millions of dollars on Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC). It's one of the most critical, yet universally painful, parts of running a business. For decades, this industry has been dominated by legacy systems with notoriously low NPS scores, making it totally ripe for disruption. Zania is building agentic AI for Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) to solve this massive problem. We are on a rocketship trajectory, creating intelligent agents that automate and augment the most complex risk and compliance workflows. We have found exceptional product-market fit and are scaling our team very quickly. Some reasons to join Zania are: - **Dream Customers:** Our customers are the most notable enterprises in the world, including FAANG, Big 4 firms, and a portfolio of top customers. - **Tier 1 Backing:** Funded by a leading Tier 1 venture capital fund. Series A led by NEA, with Anthropic and Menlo Ventures. $18M raised to build a generational company. - **World-Class Team:** Zania is hiring the best. Our team includes AI and Security leaders from Airbnb, Microsoft, Bain & Company, Deloitte, PwC, Brex, and Instacart. - **Hyper-Growth:** We have seen 10x ARR growth in the last year and are rapidly expanding. - **Competitive Compensation & Equity.** ## The Role As Director of Marketing, you will own how the world's most demanding security and risk leaders discover, understand, and choose Zania. This is a hands-on, player-coach role: you will set the strategy and personally build the engine, from category narrative and positioning to pipeline and launches. GRC is a category defined by legacy incumbents and generic "compliance automation" messaging. Your job is to make it unmistakable that agentic AI is the new way GRC work gets done, and that Zania is the company leading it. You will partner directly with the founders and the sales team, manage our Growth & Demand Gen and design talent, and be accountable for pipeline and revenue, not activity. ## What You'll Do - **Own the category narrative:** Define Zania's positioning and messaging for agentic GRC across security questionnaires, third-party risk, audits, and compliance programs, and make it land with CISOs, Chief Risk Officers, and Heads of GRC. - **Build the pipeline engine:** Set the marketing plan and targets, and own marketing-sourced and influenced pipeline for enterprise and Fortune 500 accounts, in close partnership with sales and the founders. - **Product marketing and launches:** Turn new agent capabilities into crisp launches, customer stories, competitive positioning, and sales enablement that help AEs win against legacy GRC platforms. - **Executive and community programs:** Build high-signal programs for senior security and risk buyers: CISO dinners, roundtables, analyst relations, and a presence at RSA, Black Hat, Gartner Security & Risk, and ISACA events. - **Build and lead the team:** Hire and develop a small, high-output team (growth, content, design) and the right agency and freelance partners. Set the operating cadence and the metrics. - **Instrument the funnel:** Own the marketing stack and reporting so we always know what's working, what CAC looks like by channel, and where to place the next dollar. ## Representative Projects - Lead the launch of a new Zania agent, from positioning and messaging through a CISO-facing campaign, analyst briefings, and sales enablement, and measure the pipeline it creates within 60 days. - Rebuild Zania's website and core narrative to clearly separate agentic GRC from "compliance automation," and test it with target buyers before launch. - Design and run an executive event series for Fortune 500 CISOs and risk leaders in the Bay Area and New York that turns into qualified pipeline. ## What You Have - **Exceptional taste (must-have):** You have a sharp eye for brand, design, and writing, and a body of work that proves it. You know what great looks like, and you won't ship anything that looks or sounds generic. - **Top-tier brand pedigree (must-have):** You have done marketing at top startups or companies known for a strong, distinctive brand, and you helped build that brand, not just inherit it. - **Enterprise B2B depth:** You have led marketing at a company that sells to security, risk, or IT executives, and you understand how long, multi-stakeholder enterprise deals are actually won. - **Narrative craft:** You can write a positioning doc, a homepage, and a CISO-facing email yourself, and you know the difference between messaging that earns attention and messaging that is noise. - **Revenue orientation:** You measure marketing by pipeline and ARR, and you know your way around funnel math, attribution, and CAC. - **Player-coach leadership:** You have hired and led a small marketing team and still ship work yourself. - **Startup speed:** You thrive with lean budgets, fast iteration, and direct access to the founders. ## Minimum Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. - 8+ years of B2B marketing experience, including 3+ years leading a marketing function or team at a high-growth SaaS company. - Experience at top-tier startups or companies recognized for an exceptional brand, with brand, launch, or campaign work you personally shaped and can show us. - Demonstrated great taste: a portfolio of brand, design, and writing work that stands out in its category. - Experience marketing to enterprise security, risk, compliance, or IT buyers (cybersecurity, GRC, or adjacent enterprise infrastructure). - Proven track record of building marketing programs that generated measurable enterprise pipeline and revenue. - Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present to executive audiences. ## Nice to Have - Experience at a cybersecurity or GRC company from early stage through Series B/C. - Experience positioning an AI-native product against established incumbents. - Existing relationships with security analysts, media, or CISO communities. - Familiarity with HubSpot, Salesforce, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, and ABM platforms. ## Compensation & Benefits - Competitive salary + significant equity - Flexible PTO - Medical, dental, and vision insurance - Meals and snacks in the office - Relocation and immigration support Zania is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, or any other basis protected by law.