Founding Marketer

Job description

ABOUT US We're living through a fundamental shift in how people discover, evaluate, and purchase products. The next generation doesn't respond to traditional marketing -- they build relationships with brands through authentic social interactions, seek recommendations from communities they trust, and expect personalized experiences that feel human, not corporate. At Nectar Social, we're building the AI-native social operating system that enables this new era of commerce. We believe every social interaction should deepen the relationship between brands and their communities while creating genuine value for both sides. Founded by ex-Meta product and engineering leaders, we've raised over $30M in total capital from investors including GV and True Ventures. We work with brands like Oura Health, Caraway, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Kosas, OLIPOP, and many more. We're building the future of social commerce -- where community, conversation, and commerce converge. The Role We're looking for a Founding Marketer to define how Nectar shows up in the world. As our first marketing hire, you'll own the full marketing function end-to-end, from brand and positioning to content, demand generation, product marketing, and field presence. You'll be the storyteller-in-chief for a new category we're actively creating: AI-native social commerce. You'll work directly with our founders, GTM leadership, and product teams to translate a sophisticated AI platform into a sharp, opinionated narrative that resonates with marketing, social, creator, and CX leaders at the world's leading consumer brands. This is a build role, not a manage role. You should be equally comfortable writing a launch post, briefing a designer, planning a dinner at NRF, and shipping a product marketing brief. What You'll Be Doing - Define and evolve Nectar's brand, positioning, and category narrative across every surface, website, social, sales collateral, decks, and press - Build and own the content engine, including blog posts, customer stories, launch announcements, thought leadership, and POV pieces that establish Nectar as the definitive voice in social commerce - Drive product marketing for Nectar Agent and future launches, including messaging, naming, packaging, launch motion, and ongoing adoption - Partner with the founders on PR, analyst relations, and earned media moments, building on our recent launch and turning every milestone into category-defining narrative - Build a high-signal demand generation engine, owning the website, SEO, email, paid experiments, and lifecycle to grow inbound pipeline alongside our enterprise sales motion - Plan and execute Nectar's event strategy, including hosted dinners, conference presence at NRF, Shoptalk, Cannes Lions, and exec roundtables with brand leaders - Develop sales enablement materials, customer case studies, and competitive narratives that help our AEs close enterprise deals faster - Partner with product and engineering to translate roadmap into compelling external storytelling, and bring customer and market signal back into the product - Establish marketing analytics, attribution, and reporting so we know what's working and can compound on it What We're Looking For - 5+ years of marketing experience at high-growth B2B SaaS or consumer-tech startups, with at least 1 to 2 years in an early stage (Seed or Series A) environment where you built from zero - Track record of owning multiple marketing functions, brand, content, demand gen, and product marketing, not just one slice - Exceptional writing and storytelling skills, with the ability to translate complex AI and product concepts into sharp, human, opinionated copy - Deep understanding of how to market into consumer brands, agencies, or marketing technology buyers, ideally across beauty, CPG, retail, or e-commerce - Strong instincts for positioning and messaging in a new or emerging category - Bias to ship. You can run a launch end-to-end without hand-holding, and you'd rather get a campaign live this week than perfect next quarter - Fluent with modern AI tools and use them daily to accelerate your production work - High ownership mindset and the temperament to thrive in ambiguity, fast cycles, and direct founder feedback Bonus Points - Experience marketing AI, automation, social, creator, or commerce platforms - Existing relationships with marketing, social, or digital leaders at consumer brands - Background in journalism, content strategy, or earned media that sharpened your storytelling instincts - Prior experience building category-defining narrative for a new product or company - Familiarity with social platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, LinkedIn) as both a marketer and a power user - Experience working closely with founders on PR, analyst relations, or executive communications What We Offer - Competitive compensation and early equity - Health, vision, and dental benefits + 401(k) match - Hybrid work schedule (4 days in office) with 3 flex remote days per quarter (available after 3 months) - Comprehensive stipends: $1,000/month housing stipend for living near the office, $50/month mobile stipend, $50/month internet stipend for remote employees, and commuter benefits (train stipend or Palo Alto parking permit reimbursement) - Free lunch in the heart of University Ave. in Palo Alto