Founding Director, Product Marketing

Cardless•San Francisco, CA

6d•$175,000 - $220,000•Onsite

About The Position

Cardless is hiring its first product marketing professional: a senior, hands-on individual contributor who will define how the company presents itself to the market and build the narrative used to win new customers. The role combines market positioning and brand narrative with ownership of the website and sales collateral. It requires positioning Cardless for both enterprise partners evaluating its platform and the consumers who ultimately use the cards those partners offer. The role owns product marketing strategy, messaging, and the through-line across public-facing channels and sales materials. Contract design and web resources will support production work, while the Director sets direction, writes content, and maintains the quality bar. The position is intended for a builder comfortable creating the function from scratch and working closely with Business leadership and external creative resources. Cardless builds financial-product infrastructure that enables companies to design, launch, and grow credit card programs. It handles lending, compliance, and operations behind the scenes, and serves partners including Coinbase, Bilt Rewards, Alibaba, Qatar Airways, and LATAM Airlines. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The posting gives conflicting office expectations: one section says five days per week in the office, while another says at least three days per week, with most employees attending more often.

Requirements

5–8+ years of product marketing experience with direct ownership of positioning and messaging at a B2B or B2B2C company.
Track record of owning both a company website and sales collateral built from the same narrative.
Strong writing ability, including translating complex financial or technical products into clear messaging for enterprise buyers and consumer-facing card marketing.
Hands-on builder who can write and produce materials directly in a company with no existing product marketing function.
Experience working directly and iteratively with sales or partnerships teams, rebuilding collateral based on live deal feedback.
Ability to direct external design or creative resources to produce polished work without personally doing the design.
Ability to develop a clear, specific, and defensible product narrative.
Fluency in communicating with enterprise partner executives while considering the eventual consumer cardholder experience.
Ability to work closely with Business Development and Account Management and adapt materials to what is effective in sales conversations.
Strong design judgment and ability to direct contractors or agencies.
Judgment and autonomy to prioritize positioning, website, and collateral work without an established playbook.
Willingness to work in the San Francisco office; the posting gives differing attendance expectations of five days per week and at least three days per week.

Nice To Haves

Experience in fintech, payments, or card issuing is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

Define and continually refine Cardless’s market positioning against competitors and alternatives, pressure-testing the narrative against the market.
Translate positioning into consistent messaging for enterprise partners and consumers who will use partner-branded cards.
Track competitors and adjacent players, assessing their claims, products, and Cardless’s differentiators; keep leadership informed.
Bring market and partner feedback into internal roadmap discussions.
Own content strategy, structure, and copy for cardless.com, and keep the website current with launches, partnerships, and proof points.
Direct design and engineering resources to implement website changes and ensure public-facing materials tell a consistent story.
Build and maintain sales collateral, including pitch decks, one-pagers, case studies, competitive battlecards, and RFP boilerplate.
Partner with Business leadership to understand deal outcomes and iteratively improve sales collateral based on real conversations.
Turn partner wins into case studies and proof points for future sales efforts.
Plan and execute go-to-market for new products, features, and brand partnerships, including press, content, and sales enablement.
Create external content such as blog posts, case studies, and LinkedIn messaging, and work with the PR lead on speaking opportunities.
Prioritize and sequence launches so the market receives appropriate announcements at the right time.
Direct contract designers and agencies on graphics and creative assets, setting direction and quality standards.