Director of Marketing

Hello College•Chicago, IL

4d•$100,000 - $120,000•Remote

About The Position

HelloCollege helps families through every step of college admissions, from 7th grade through senior year, with admissions counseling, tutoring, essay coaching, and test prep. We serve families nationwide, and our marketing engine is how they find us. As Director of Marketing, you own that engine. You'll be accountable for lead volume and lead quality, lead a team of full-time and part-time staff and agencies, and manage roughly $2M in annual marketing spend. You report to the Chief Strategy Officer and run marketing day-to-day: strategy, execution, analytics, and the testing that keeps results improving. This role suits a metrics-driven leader who likes people, runs on data, and uses AI as a real part of how the work gets done.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in marketing
5+ years leading a marketing team: setting goals, managing people, and holding them accountable
Experience in B2C, high-ticket professional services (education, healthcare, financial or legal services, or similar)
Deep expertise in paid acquisition: PPC and affiliate or lead-provider programs
A record of managing a multi-channel budget and moving spend based on performance
A metrics-driven, testing mindset: you form hypotheses, run tests, and act on what you learn
Strong hands-on reporting skills
Comfort working directly in WordPress and Elementor
Expert daily use of Claude or similar AI tools for analysis, research, and planning
Experience managing agencies and outside partners against clear performance goals
Strong grasp of customer needs and messaging, and enjoyment of talking with customers directly

Nice To Haves

Experience building AI agents or automated workflows
Strong interest in AEO (answer engine optimization)
Background in a growth-stage company

Responsibilities

Deliver the annual lead plan (typically 20–30% growth year over year) and our lead-quality targets
Report to leadership monthly on leads by channel, CAC, lead quality, with analysis, budget implications, and recommendations
Build and run a testing roadmap across channels, focused on hypotheses and incremental lift
Manage about $1M in variable and $1M in fixed annual marketing spend (excluding staff)
Shift budget between channels within the approved plan, based on performance
Recommend annual budget and lead-spend levels; spend outside the approved budget needs approval
Oversee strategy and lead landing page testing for paid search and paid social
Set direction and hold our agency accountable for results in Organic, SEO and AEO
Oversee program design for referrals and brand advocacy, plus how performance is defined and tracked
Own strategy and performance for Email, events, partnerships
Own relationships, contracts and performance for lead providers and affiliate partners
Provide oversight for organic social
Lead full-time, part-time and fractional team members, plus agencies: set goals, coach, and hold people accountable
Evaluate agency and vendor performance and recommend changes; hiring, firing, and agency changes are made with leadership approval
Run the marketing team on EOS: Rocks, scorecard, weekly L10s, and issue resolution
Own marketing analytics and infrastructure end to end: HubSpot, GA4, GSC, attribution and reporting
Own the WordPress/Elementor website and step in hands-on when needed
Steward our brand and messaging day-to-day, with final approval from the CSO
Lead ongoing customer research: interviews, surveys, and direct outreach to families
Use AI daily for analysis, research, and content creation
Build agents and workflows that multiply the team's output, and keep expanding your AI skills
Work with Sales on lead quality, handoffs, and shared funnel metrics
Work with Service on referrals, testimonials, and proof points