Vice President, Marketing

First Book•Washington, DC

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

First Book is seeking a Vice President of Marketing to lead its marketing function and advance its integrated Go-To-Market (GTM) approach to support organizational growth. This senior leadership role reports to the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and is responsible for developing and executing marketing strategies, strengthening the First Book brand, and driving measurable organizational outcomes. The VP will serve as a strategic marketing partner to key revenue and member growth functions, and will lead the partnership offer architecture and pricing strategy in collaboration with other leaders. The ideal candidate is an experienced marketing executive with strategic brand leadership, B2B and B2C expertise, commercial discipline, cross-functional leadership, and a commitment to 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.
Partner with Finance, Operations, and the CRO to develop and maintain full-cost recovery pricing models.
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.
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.