Director/VP of Marketing

Job description

About Lightship Lightship builds the first fully electric travel trailer engineered from the ground up to inspire a new form of travel. The AE.1 carries a 77 kWh pack standard and propels itself, offsetting its own aerodynamic drag to improve towing efficiency, range, and safety. It raises its roof at camp, runs off-grid on solar, and is assembled in Broomfield, Colorado with roughly 80% of component value sourced in the US. In May 2026 we launched PowerSled, the same battery and propulsion-assist architecture in acommercial platform: up to 240 kWh usable, 38 kW of continuous 240VAC output, 8,500 lbs of payload, under 12,000 lbs GVWR. It supplements diesel generators and inert cargo trailers for commercial and defense uses, and serves as a platform for other vehicle manufacturers to build on. Two businesses, one foundation. A consumer brand people fall in love with, and a commercial platform that turns the same engineering into fleet revenue. We are scaling production to match demand and we sell direct to our customers. About the Role 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. 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