Director, Lifecycle Marketing

Paperless Post is seeking an analytical, data-driven Director, Lifecycle Marketing to join our small, results-oriented Growth Marketing team. This role blends technical and creative thinking to build an outstanding customer experience through lifecycle marketing strategies and channels. In this role, you will manage, optimize, and scale our email program, develop promotional strategies, and support additional owned channels such as personalized onsite messaging, with an eye toward referrals and loyalty programs as we continue to grow.The ideal candidate is a hands-on and proactive collaborator and creative problem-solver who values efficiency and continuous optimization. You will rely on data and testing to find new ways to drive increased user value, and you'll bring a growth mindset toward adopting AI tools to accelerate and elevate the email channel.The role will report to the VP, Growth Marketing, and has one junior (to be hired) direct report. What you'll do here:Serve as the owner and in-house expert for our email program. You'll set strategy, architecture, and execution, partnering with one junior direct report and minimal external agency support to orchestrate cross-functional teams to deliver results.Establish the company’s CRM strategy and lifecycle objectives in line with broader business goals, leading execution of high-impact initiatives that drive acquisition, retention, engagement, and loyalty, in partnership with Product, Content, Merchandising, and Brand Creative.Autonomously set email marketing strategies and testing roadmaps across audience segments and lifecycle stages, ensuring alignment with overarching business objectives.Audit, rebuild, and significantly expand our triggered email program, exercising independent judgment on which behavioral, transactional, and lifecycle flows to retire, restructure, or build from scratch, in order to grow it into a substantial contributor to the overall marketing mix.Initiate and lead cross-functional collaboration with Data, Product, and Product Marketing on onsite segmentation (e.g., homepage segmentation) and build a connected system of personalized on- and offsite experiences to drive retention, upsell, and cross-sell.Identify, pilot, and scale AI-powered capabilities across the email channel, including predictive segmentation, send-time optimization, and dynamic content personalization, establishing Paperless Post's initial framework for AI-driven lifecycle marketing.Define and own the methodology for applying AI tools (e.g., Claude, Google Gemini) to accelerate campaign production workflows, including copy generation, subject line testing, and creative iteration, while maintaining brand voice and quality standards.Partner with Product and Engineering to evaluate and integrate AI/ML capabilities within Sailthru and adjacent martech, building toward a personalization-at-scale infrastructure across the customer lifecycle.Utilizing your small team and AI, analyze performance, establish benchmarks, and continuously optimize messaging, targeting, and ROI, to share insights with cross-functional partners.Own and evolve email measurement, including attribution models and testing frameworks.Oversee day-to-day email operations, including strategy, segmentation, execution, QA, and reporting, while owning the ESP (Sailthru/Zeta) relationship and all related functions.Manage external email resources and tools and identify opportunities for automation to streamline and improve existing workflows.Requirements:7+ years in CRM/lifecycle marketing with a strong track record of driving business results through targeted, insights-driven programs.Proven experience building multi-branch, behavior- and transaction-driven flows—not just welcome series, win-back or blast campaigns—with demonstrated impact on triggered revenue and engagement.Hands-on experience scoping events, payloads, and identity resolution directly with internal Product and Engineering teams—not just vendor-to-vendor or agency-led coordination.Deep experience in audience segmentation, A/B testing and translating performance data into actionable strategy.Familiarity with email HTML and technical email requirements; comfort overseeing execution and troubleshooting with an external agency.Up-to-date knowledge of email marketing regulations (CAN-SPAM, GDPR).A proactive, accountable, hands-on leader who problem-solves creatively and thrives in a lean, fast-moving environment.An excellent communicator, comfortable presenting strategy, trade-offs, and recommendations to executive partners with a clear point of view, and able to stay anchored to the question being asked.Curiosity and hands-on experimentation with AI tools as applied to email marketing, including content generation, workflow acceleration, and predictive optimization. Formal AI expertise is not required, but a genuine growth mindset toward these tools is essential.Experience in high-growth startups or product-led companies.Nice to Haves:Expertise with Sailthru (Zeta) through 3+ years of day-to-day hands-on experience.Experience with Looker or other BI/analytics tools.Experience managing or executing an ESP migration.Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, or a related field; relevant experience is more important.Company-wide, we enjoy an amazing ecosystem of an even gender split and a balance of engineers and designers. Because Paperless Post isn't supported by ad revenue, we can focus our efforts on creating and improving the ideal version of our platform, product, content, and partnerships for our users.We are proud that Paperless Post has helped over 220 million people globally connect in the real world since our inception. Paperless Post exists to help all people celebrate all the moments that matter to them. We believe that having a team reflective of the diverse world around us empowers us to create a product that serves everyone. Women, people of color, trans/genderqueer individuals, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are especially encouraged to apply.AI Usage NoteAt Paperless Post, we value Being Resourceful, Progress Over Perfection, and being a Positive Force. Embracing thoughtful AI use is one way we put those values into practice. In our day-to-day work, we encourage teams to thoughtfully use AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot to move faster and think more creatively.During interviews, our recruiting team may use AI-powered note-taking tools so we can stay focused on the conversation.However, our interviews are designed to understand each candidate's individual skills, problem-solving approach, and reasoning in real time. For that reason, unless explicitly requested and/or approved by the recruiting team, AI tools (including but not limited to generative AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, etc.) may not be used during any interview sessions, including but not limited to:Recruiting phone interviewsTechnical screensLive coding challengesSystem design interviewsTake-home assignmentsThese conversations are intended to assess your independent thinking and technical depth. If we determine that AI tools were used without disclosure or approval during an interview, it may result in disqualification for the role and removal from the interview process.We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations. This policy does not apply to approved accessibility or disability accommodations. If you require assistive technology or other support, please let the recruiting team know.The compensation range for this role is $144,400 - $165,000 USD.At Paperless Post, compensation is based on a number of factors, including geographic location, job-related skills, years of experience, and internal team banding. All full-time offer packages come with a base salary, equity component, and options for fully paid medical, dental, and vision benefits. The range posted here is based on the NYC market and may vary based on candidate location.