Vice President, Marketing

First Book•Washington, DC

20h•Hybrid

About The Position

First Book is a leading nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to removing barriers to quality education for children in need. Through innovative public–private partnerships and a national network of more than 600,000 educators, program leaders, and community organizations, First Book has distributed over 250 million books and educational resources to under-resourced communities. Our work spans e-commerce (First Book Marketplace), research and insights (First Book R&I), and tailored program development (First Book Accelerator), all designed to elevate the voices and needs of educators serving children in low-income communities. First Book is advancing an ambitious organizational growth strategy and strengthening its integrated Go-To-Market (GTM) approach to support revenue, partnership, membership, and Marketplace growth. Reporting to the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), the Vice President of Marketing is a senior leadership role responsible for leading First Book’s marketing function and advancing the strategy, capabilities, infrastructure, and team required to strengthen the First Book brand and support sustainable organizational growth. This role will lead enterprise marketing strategy; steward First Book’s brand and messaging architecture; develop differentiated value propositions across key audiences; strengthen revenue-enablement capabilities; and connect marketing strategy to measurable organizational outcomes. The Vice President of Marketing will serve as the strategic marketing partner to First Book’s five primary revenue and member growth functions. This role will also lead First Book’s partnership to offer architecture and pricing strategy in collaboration with the CRO, Finance, Operations, and revenue leaders to ensure offerings reflect market value, partner needs, organizational cost, and long-term financial sustainability. The ideal candidate is an experienced marketing executive who combines strategic brand leadership, B2B and B2C marketing expertise, commercial discipline, cross-functional leadership, and a strong commitment to measurable results.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, nonprofit management, or a related field required. Equivalent combination of education and significant relevant professional experience considered.
10 or more years of progressive marketing experience, including at least 3–4 years in a senior leadership capacity with responsibility for leading teams and organizational marketing strategy.
Demonstrated success building, rebuilding, or substantially evolving a marketing function.
Experience establishing brand standards, messaging architecture, marketing infrastructure, team structures, processes, and performance expectations.
Deep expertise in B2B or hybrid B2B/B2C marketing, including marketing to institutional partners, corporations, foundations, nonprofit organizations, funders, or similarly complex audiences.
Strong command of integrated marketing, including brand strategy, positioning, content, digital and web marketing, campaign management, audience engagement, and sales or partnership enablement.
Demonstrated experience developing value propositions, messaging frameworks, audience positioning, and customer or partner journeys.
Understanding and experience with full-cost recovery and value-based pricing principles.
Experience translating mission, impact, programs, services, or complex capabilities into compelling commercial, fundraising, or partnership propositions.
Knowledge of corporate partnership environments, including corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate giving, sponsorship, purpose-driven partnerships, and related engagement models.
Exceptional written, verbal, presentation, and executive communication skills.
Strong analytical orientation with demonstrated experience using performance metrics, customer insights, and market intelligence to inform strategic decisions.
Experience managing internal teams alongside agencies, contractors, consultants, and external creative resources.
Proven ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving environment and strengthen systems, processes, and infrastructure as organizational needs evolve.
Strong cross-functional leadership skills with demonstrated ability to influence without direct authority.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in marketing, business administration, communications, or a related discipline preferred.
Experience setting and managing OKRs, KPIs, or comparable performance frameworks strongly preferred.
Experience in the nonprofit, education, social-impact, or social-enterprise sectors strongly preferred; significant corporate or agency experience working with mission-driven organizations will also be considered.

Responsibilities

Develop and lead an integrated marketing strategy aligned with First Book’s growth, revenue, membership, Marketplace, and impact priorities.
Define and steward First Book’s brand standards, including voice, visual identity, tone, positioning, and external representation.
Own the overarching First Book narrative and ensure external communications consistently communicate First Book’s mission, impact, capabilities, and market position.
Ensure digital campaigns, social media, web content, email, pitches, sell sheets, events, and other external-facing materials align with First Book’s brand and messaging standards.
Use audience insights, research, market intelligence, and partner feedback to continuously refine positioning.
Serve as the strategic marketing partner to the leaders of Strategic Alliances, Nonprofit Partnerships, Development, Community/Member Engagement, and Marketplace.
Establish scalable GTM frameworks that guide audience outreach, engagement, conversion, and retention.
Equip revenue and member-growth teams with the messaging, tools, and training needed to effectively communicate First Book’s value.
Design and own First Book's partnership offer architecture, including defining tiers, deliverables, and positioning for corporate and nonprofit partners, and anchoring pricing to the measurable value delivered: CSR impact, educator reach, market intelligence, and brand alignment.
Partner with Finance, Operations, and the CRO to develop and maintain full-cost recovery pricing models that account for direct costs, overhead, and a sustainable surplus margin, ensuring every offering is financially sound, market-competitive, and built for organizational reinvestment.
Strengthen the marketing capabilities and organizational capacity required to execute First Book’s growth strategy.
Lead the evolution of the current marketing team of approximately three employees toward a planned team of approximately six to seven, supported by an appropriate mix of staff, agencies, contractors, and specialized resources.
Define team structure, roles, responsibilities, operating processes, and performance expectations.
Recruit, develop, coach, and retain high-performing marketing talent.
Foster a culture of strategic thinking, creative rigor, collaboration, execution excellence, and accountability.
Build strong working relationships across Revenue, Programs, Operations, Finance, Research & Insights, Community/Member Engagement, Marketplace, and other organizational functions.
Position Marketing as a strategic business partner and organizational enabler.
Bring audience and market perspective into organizational planning, program development, offer design, campaign strategy, and revenue discussions.
Facilitate alignment around brand standards, audience strategy, value propositions, pricing architecture, and GTM priorities.
Influence effectively across functions and leadership levels while maintaining shared accountability for organizational outcomes.
Establish Marketing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) in partnership with the CRO and align them with broader organizational and revenue objectives.
Define how Marketing’s contribution to revenue, partnership growth, membership engagement, brand strength, and other organizational priorities will be measured.
Build dashboards and reporting cadences that provide visibility into campaign performance, brand metrics, audience engagement, pipeline contribution, and marketing return on investment.
Establish performance measures for marketing investments, campaigns, programs, and channels.
Use performance data and audience insights to test, optimize, scale successful approaches, and discontinue activities that do not generate sufficient value.