Marketing Manager (Washington DC-Baltimore Area)

Company: Defense Hardware Systems

Location: Herndon, VA (on-site/hybrid) — 20% travel

Reports to: CEO or CRO, with direct exposure to the founders

Comp: $140,000–$170,000 base, plus bonus and equity

Type: Full-time

About Our Client

Our client is a Series A defense technology company building a family of systems spanning high-altitude tactical balloons, balloon-deployed ISR and communications buses, an autonomous glide munition, and specialty-purpose quadcopter dispensers, alongside a family of ultra long range one-way attack and ISR drones. We recently closed our Series A with Konvoy leading a syndicate that includes Lavrock, Booz Allen Hamilton Ventures, Sands Capital, and Langford Industries. As we scale toward Series B, we're building our first dedicated marketing function from the ground up.

The Role

We're hiring our founding marketing hire — someone who can own the full marketing function end to end from day one and grow into a leadership role as the team scales. You'll work directly with the founders and executive team, shape how Aventra shows up publicly in a fast-moving defense-tech and national security landscape, and build the systems and team needed to support a company scaling through Series B and beyond. Strong performance in this role comes with a clear path to Head of Marketing, including hiring and managing a team.

What You'll Own

• Aventra's social media presence and brand voice across all platforms

• Content generation, from concept through production, in partnership with outside creative resources

• Inbound and outbound marketing campaigns, including planning, execution, and performance tracking

• A social and content calendar aligned to product milestones, funding announcements, and industry events

• Sourcing, hiring, and managing photography and video vendors/contractors

• Product collateral development (data sheets, one-pagers, web content, trade show materials) in partnership with engineering and product

• Client and partner-facing marketing support at conferences, demos, and industry events

• Building the marketing function's foundational systems (CRM/marketing automation, brand guidelines, content workflows) as the team scales

Who You Are

• 3-6+ years of marketing experience, with a track record of owning a marketing function or major workstream independently

• Prior experience at a venture-backed startup, ideally at or near the founding marketing hire stage

• Comfortable operating with minimal structure and building process rather than inheriting it

• Strong written and visual eye; able to brief and manage outside creative vendors effectively

• Experience running both inbound (content, SEO, campaigns) and outbound (targeted outreach, event marketing, ABM-style campaigns) motions

• Client-facing and comfortable representing the company at industry events and in front of customers/partners

• Prior exposure to defense, aerospace, government, or dual-use tech markets is a strong plus

• Willing to be based in Herndon, VA and travel roughly 20% of the time