Director of Brand Social

Upstart

1d•Remote

About The Position

Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart's AI marketplace, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates across races, ages, and genders, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than 80% of borrowers are approved instantly, with zero documentation to upload. Upstart is a digital-first company, which means that most Upstarters live and work anywhere in the United States. However, we also have offices in San Mateo, California; Columbus, Ohio; Austin, Texas; and New York City, NY (opening Summer 2026). Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you! As Upstart’s Brand & Creative Team, we shape and elevate the brand across all surfaces, ensuring our website and content are discoverable, engaging, and strategically optimized for growth. This role will be a key part of our "Web Tiger Team", working alongside our Lead Web & Experience Designer to drive organic discoverability, SEO, brand content strategy, and conversion optimization. As the founding Director of Social Media at Upstart, you will build our social presence — defining who we are, how we show up, and how we build relationships with our communities. This is a hands-on leadership role and a team-of-one to start, with the opportunity to grow your dream team over time. You will set the vision, strategy, operating model, and measurement framework for social, while also rolling up your sleeves to create, experiment, and ship. You will own organic social including content and creator strategies, community engagement, and social governance. You will be responsible for building business cases, forecasting impact, defining KPIs, and partnering with Paid Media and Growth to extend brand and campaign impact across channels. This role is ideal for a builder — someone equally comfortable shaping long-term strategy and doing the work required to get something new off the ground. This is a highly visible role with the opportunity to be a key driver in making Upstart a beloved brand, cultural icon, and household name.

Requirements

10+ years of experience across social media, content, brand, or community leadership with at least 5 years spent managing teams
Proven experience building or scaling a social function including: strategy → operating model → execution → measurement
Demonstrated success using social content to drive brand and business outcomes (awareness, consideration, engagement, or conversion).
Experience developing business cases, setting and managing budgets, forecasting impact, defining KPIs, and communicating results to senior leadership.
Hands-on proficiency with a modern social stack including: Publishing and management (Sprout, Sprinklr, or equivalent), Listening and monitoring (Brandwatch, Sprinklr, or similar), Attribution and measurement integrations Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar)

Nice To Haves

Experience in fintech, financial services, or another regulated industry.
Comfort working in early-stage or ambiguous environments where you are both strategist and executor.
Comfortable managing vendors/agencies, partners, and cross-functional stakeholders.
Experience launching new channels or rebuilding underperforming ones at a brand level.
A passion and aptitude for predicting, engaging in, and driving culture through the lens of brand

Responsibilities

Create a distinctive, recognizable Upstart social persona and consistent presence across platforms.
Build measurable growth in reach, engagement quality, creator program impact, and campaign extension performance.
Stand up repeatable systems (OKRs, dashboards, rituals) that make social scalable over time.
Set content strategy and activation roadmaps to support and achieve brand messaging goals
Establish the roadmap, budget, and hiring plan to grow the function responsibly.

Benefits

Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart
Generous 401(k) plan with Upstart matching $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 per year
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
Life and disability insurance
Generous holiday, vacation, sick and safety leave
Supportive parental, family care, and military leave programs
Annual wellness, technology & ergonomic reimbursement programs
Social activities including team events and onsites, all-company updates, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other interest groups such as book clubs, fitness, investing, and volunteering
Catered lunches + snacks & drinks when working in offices