Startup Growth & Campaign Manager

Zendesk•Austin, TX

21h•Hybrid

About The Position

Zendesk for Startups helps early-stage companies build exceptional customer experiences from day one by providing the AI-first customer service technology, resources, and support they need to scale. We’re looking for a strategic, hands-on Startup Growth & Campaign Manager who owns end-to-end funnel execution for the Zendesk for Startups program. In this role, you will bridge top-of-funnel acquisition with mid-funnel activation, designing and executing integrated marketing campaigns that attract startup founders, drive qualified program applications, and nurture admitted accounts through product onboarding, go-live, and paid subscription conversion. You are an equal parts growth marketer, creative storyteller, and lifecycle operator. You know how to launch compelling top-of-funnel campaigns across paid, organic, partner, and community channels to capture founder mindshare, while simultaneously building the mid-funnel nurture tracks, founder-centric content, and automated customer journeys required to turn trial accounts into active, high-value Zendesk users. You leverage AI to work nimbly—accelerating creative development, copy production, audience testing, and workflow automation. You deeply understand what motivates early-stage teams and can build end-to-end campaign motions that speak authentically to founders, accelerate Zendesk AI adoption, and deliver measurable revenue impact.

Requirements

6+ years of experience in growth marketing, demand generation, lifecycle marketing, product marketing, or performance marketing—ideally in B2B SaaS, high-growth technology, or a startup-focused business.
Experience marketing to founders, startup operators, or SMB audiences.
Demonstrated experience driving acquisition through a mix of paid, organic, content, events, ABM, and digital channels.
Strong campaign ownership skills, with experience taking programs from initial strategy through launch, reporting, and optimization.
Excellent writing and messaging abilities, with a portfolio of customer-facing campaigns, email, web, social, or ad copy.
Working knowledge of paid media platforms, web analytics, CRM/marketing automation tools, and reporting dashboards.
A strong understanding of SEO; familiarity with AEO and optimizing content for AI-powered search and discovery is a plus.
A data-informed mindset: comfortable using performance data to make decisions, test hypotheses, and communicate results.
Exceptional project-management skills, including the ability to manage multiple workstreams and stakeholders in a fast-moving environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with startup accelerators, venture capital firms, incubators, or ecosystem partners.
Experience with product-led growth motions or freemium/self-serve conversion funnels.
Familiarity with Zendesk, customer experience software, AI agents, or customer service technology.

Responsibilities

Drive End-to-End Campaign Strategy & Execution
Own the Full-Funnel Campaign Engine: Strategy, execution, and optimization of multi-channel marketing campaigns designed to reach, engage, and convert startup founders at every stage—from first touch through program application, product deployment, and paid conversion.
Top-of-Funnel Demand Generation: Launch targeted acquisition campaigns across paid channels (search, social, display), organic social, SEO/AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), ABM, startup communities (e.g., Reddit, Product Hunt), and VC co-marketing partnerships to drive qualified traffic and program applications.
Mid-Funnel Activation & Nurture: Design and run mid-funnel campaign streams, targeted email nurtures, retargeting sequences, and behavioral triggers that keep admitted founders engaged throughout their extended trial runway and push accounts to reach official go-live milestones.
Founder-Centric Copywriting & Content: Write authentic, high-converting copy across ad assets, campaign briefs, landing pages, founder playbooks, customer spotlights, webinar abstracts, and email workflows tailored to startup operators and CX leaders.
Deliver Mid-Funnel Programming & Product Activation
Digital Programming & Virtual Events: Conceptualize and host founder-focused workshops, virtual webinars, AI immersion sessions, and product deep-dives that guide startups through workspace setup and rapid deployment of Zendesk AI capabilities (e.g., AI Agents, Copilot, omnichannel routing).
Segmented Campaign Motions: Build differentiated campaign tracks tailored to high-value T0/T1 VC-backed startup portfolios versus high-volume self-serve segments, ensuring high-conviction accounts receive targeted touchpoints and executive engagement.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): Run PLG experiments, landing page optimizations, messaging tests, and friction-reduction initiatives in partnership with web, product, and analytics teams to improve funnel conversion at every step.