VP of Marketing

Job Description

Company Background

SchooLinks is a series B stage startup that's solving mission-critical problems in college and career readiness. With a fresh take from technology stack to product design, SchooLinks has become the household name for college and career readiness in many states, serving millions of students and families.     

With customers in more than 42 states, 10+ states experiencing 2x growth, and 30-50% market share in key states, SchooLinks has been consistently named Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Our largest customers include Chicago Public Schools, Dallas ISD, Newark, Houston…  Districts typically adopt SchooLinks at a district level (from 6th through 12th grade) on 3-5-year contracts. Our current gross retention is 97%. SchooLinks implementation can range from 2 weeks to 10 months+ depending on data complexity, district size, and amount of products purchased. Once implemented, SchooLinks is the mission control for some of the most critical workflows, such as college application management, state-mandated activities, and accountability tracking.

The Profile

If you need to be the "strategic voice" who delegates ALL execution, this isn't your team. You don't delegate your way out of execution. You own outcomes, not just strategy. When campaigns underperform, you're in the weeds debugging landing pages when speed calls for it. When the RFP deadline is approaching and the RFP manager is on PTO, you're pitching in. You have a servant leader mindset and are not afraid of rolling up the sleeves. You raise the performance bar through your own execution standards, not just motivational speeches.

You tell your team directly when their work doesn't meet the bar, with specific examples and clear improvement timelines. You push back on executive requests that compromise campaign quality or RFP win rates, even when it creates friction. You're data-driven can connect the dots and know all funnel metrics at all times, but not data-paralyzed - you make calls, measure results, and own the outcome.

What You'll Own

Product Marketing & Strategic Positioning - You own SchooLinks' market narrative, competitive positioning, and how we show up in the market. This isn't delegated to an agency—you love crafting messaging frameworks, value propositions, and positioning strategies. You leverage intelligence from our Government Relations lead to align our narrative to policy trends, funding opportunities, and regulatory landscapes. When federal guidance shifts or state mandates emerge, you translate policy language into market positioning within days, not months. You own win/loss analysis, competitive battlecards, and sales enablement on positioning. You know our win rate by competitor, by deal size, by vertical—and you adjust positioning based on what's actually closing deals.

Digital/Performance Marketing - You own the process from asset creation to campaign refinement. You have a team that manages but you are very fluent in acquisition campaigns, conversion optimization, and funnel metrics. You don't just "oversee" - you often get involved - build, test, and iterate campaigns yourself with the team. Conversions, win rate, CAC rates aren't abstractions - they're numbers you're personally accountable for moving every quarter. 

RFP Management - You care about each response's fidelity. Often times you lead our response strategy, but you are not afraid of jumping in to write, edit, and refine proposals when quality and scale demands it. You know our win rate, average proposal score, and time-to-response metrics cold. 

Events - You are responsible for event strategy and help execute when needed . That means sometimes managing logistics, staffing booths, running post-event analysis, and connecting leads yourself when your team needs backup. You measure pipeline generated per event dollar spent and kill underperforming events without sentimentality.

Requirements

You can go high & you can go low. Our executive team is executors at heart and prioritizes PACE over delegation.

• 5+ years experience in leading marketing organizations, ideally in enterprise software and SaaS in education technology
• Experience in selling complex technology solutions to government entities with multi-stakeholders 
• Ability to manage influence through persuasion, negotiation, and consensus building
• Strong commercial chops – ideally honed through product marketing and digital marketing
• Passion for revenue and growth and empathy for startup culture
• Analytical and process-oriented operational mindset
• Demonstrated desire for continuous learning and improvement

We are not a fit if you are

• Primarily strategic/delegator mindset without the desire to be hands-on
• Inability to show specific metrics you personally moved in last role
• History of defending underperformance with "complexity" or "market conditions"
• Needing consensus or multiple approval layers to make tactical marketing decisions
• Viewing "hands-on work" as beneath your level or temporary until you "build the team"

Benefits

• 100% health care coverage for Employee

• 401K with company matching
• Dental & Vision
• Parental Leave
• Subsidized gym membership
• Remote work stipend
• Annual team offsite

SchooLinks is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.