Senior Marketing Manager

About VetPowered

VetPowered LLC is a precision defense manufacturer in San Diego. We are AS9100 Rev D certified, ITAR registered, an SBA 8(a) participant, and a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. In 2026, the SBA named us Small Business Manufacturer of the Year. We machine parts for the Department of the Navy, the Air Force, and the country’s largest defense primes. We also design and sell our own branded products, the Mark 10 and Mark 15 firearms-cleaning systems.
Most of the people running our machines came from the building next door. VetPowered operates alongside Workshops for Warriors, an accredited school that trains, certifies, and places veterans and transitioning service members in advanced manufacturing. The school has trained and certified 1,776 veterans and transitioning service members, awarded nearly 23,000 industry credentials, and placed graduates at 522 companies across 49 states. The average starting wage for a graduate is $63,500.
That is the story almost nobody has heard. This role exists to change that, and to turn the telling of it into purchase orders, partnerships, and product revenue.

The role

You are the first dedicated marketing hire at VetPowered. You write the plan, then you pick up the camera and shoot it. You own two revenue motions that most companies split across two teams: a direct-to-consumer product business, and a defense manufacturing business that sells through RFQs and teaming agreements. You build the attribution model that proves which one your work moved.
Year one proves the model. Headcount follows the numbers you put on the board.

What you will own

Brand and marketing strategy

• Own the twelve-month marketing plan and budget for VetPowered, plus a supporting awareness plan for Workshops for Warriors, reviewed with the CEO each quarter
• Define positioning and messaging for both brands and for the relationship between them, and build messaging frameworks that hold up across the site, email, paid media, PR, and the shop floor
• Establish the content standards and approval path that keep an ITAR-registered defense supplier’s public presence clean

Product marketing and go-to-market

• Own go-to-market for the Mark 10, Mark 15, apparel, and what ships next: audience definition, positioning, launch narrative, pricing tests with the CFO, and success criteria set before launch rather than after
• Translate product capability into customer-first value propositions for two distinct buyers, the individual end user and the institutional account
• Build the launch calendar and sequence paid investment against content readiness, so spend never lands against an unfinished product page
• Partner with the CEO and business development on capability statements, partner packets, and the collateral that supports defense procurement conversations

E-commerce and digital

• Own vetpowered.com and the direct-to-consumer store: site merchandising, product detail pages, cart, and checkout, with conversion rate and average order value as measured outcomes you are accountable for
• Run a testing roadmap across landing pages, product pages, and checkout, and report what it taught you rather than only what you shipped
• Own the promotional calendar and its execution across launches, seasonal moments, and tentpole events
• Build the lifecycle program from zero: welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, and reactivation flows, plus the nurture sequences that follow an inbound RFQ within 48 hours
• Manage paid social, paid search, and SEO, in house or through an agency, against ROAS and cost per acquired customer

Marketing operations and attribution

• Build the attribution model in Salesforce with our administrator: lead source discipline, campaign structure, referral codes, UTM standards, and dashboards across two instances
• Own the source field on the RFQ form and the reporting line from first touch through quote issued to purchase order
• Deliver a monthly dashboard and a quarterly review, both in revenue terms

Content production

• Produce short-form and long-form video, photography, and writing from the shop floor, the school, and the field. You operate the kit.
• Ghost-write and schedule the CEO’s LinkedIn presence to an agreed cadence
• Hold every clip to the on-camera safety standard and to a written export-control screen before it posts

Ambassador program and partners

• Recruit, brief, and manage a contracted brand ambassador and content creator. Own the scorecard and the 45-day and 90-day reviews.
• Coordinate our outside PR firm on placements, award announcements, and response, with the CEO approving all public statements

How you will be measured

Thirteen fixed measures. Year one targets are set with the CEO inside your first 30 days, after you pull the baselines. Six of the thirteen:

• Attributed RFQs that reach quote issued, and attributed RFQs that convert to purchase orders
• Net revenue from branded products
• Executed partnership and teaming agreements sourced through marketing
• Marketing Contribution Ratio at or above 1.0 by day 180
• Content cycle time of three business days or fewer from shoot to approved post
• Export-control screening on shop-floor content at 100 percent, with no exceptions

You will see the full scorecard at the final interview, and it comes attached to the offer.

What this role does not own

We would rather tell you now than let you find out in month two.

• Recruiting quotas, lead qualification, and enrollment decisions at the school
• Grant writing and funder relationships
• Donor CRM data entry and gift processing
• Business development and program management on manufacturing contracts

Required qualifications

• Seven or more years of progressive marketing experience, including three or more years owning a marketing plan and budget with revenue accountability
• Hands-on short-form video production and editing, with a portfolio of published work you produced yourself
• Built marketing attribution from scratch in Salesforce or a comparable CRM: lead source discipline, campaign structure, dashboards
• Owned a direct-to-consumer e-commerce site and its commercial results, including conversion rate, AOV, and the promotional calendar
• Managed creators, influencers, or brand ambassadors under written agreements
• Able to work onsite in San Diego five days per week, including shop-floor and field shoots
• U.S. person status under ITAR (see Export control and eligibility)

Preferred qualifications

• Marketing across both a for-profit and a nonprofit audience, or inside an organization that runs both
• Manufacturing, defense industrial base, aerospace, or skilled trades exposure
• Military service or a military-connected background. Veterans are encouraged to apply.
• Shopify and Klaviyo, or comparable commerce and lifecycle platforms
• Product marketing for a physical product, including packaging and pricing
• Ghost-writing for an executive

How we work

VetPowered’s voice is irreverent, confident, blue-collar, and funny. The joke is on the work, the grind, the machine, the 0500 alarm. It is never on a customer, a service branch, or anyone’s identity. Workshops for Warriors content is earnest, proud, and outcome-focused, written so a donor in Topeka and a command sergeant major at Camp Pendleton can both share it.
You will work inside real constraints. Shop-floor content passes a written export-control screen before it posts. Safety on camera is not negotiable. School outcome figures come from an approved metric sheet and nowhere else. Compensation for this role will never vary with student enrollments at the school, because federal law governing VA-approved institutions does not permit it.
If those constraints read as obstacles, this is the wrong job. If they read as the reason the work matters, keep reading.

Location, schedule, and travel

Onsite five days per week. Primary duty station is 2717 Boston Avenue, San Diego, with regular presence at the Workshops for Warriors campus at 2970 and 3030 Main Street. Remote and hybrid candidates will not be considered.
Travel is roughly 10 percent, mostly executive events, industry conferences, and field shoots, occasionally on short notice.

Work environment and physical requirements

You will work on an active manufacturing floor. Required personal protective equipment includes eye protection and hearing protection where posted. You should expect to lift and carry production equipment weighing up to 25 pounds, stand and walk for extended periods, kneel, and work at height from a ladder or lift to get a shot. The floor has machine noise, coolant mist, and metal chips. Reasonable accommodations are available for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Compensation and benefits

$120,000 to $140,000 base salary, depending on experience. This is the full range we expect to pay for this position. No incentive compensation at hire. Any future bonus plan is tied to the measures above.
This is a full-time salaried (exempt) position (40+ hours/week).
Benefits and Perks: VetPowered makes comprehensive benefits available on the first of the month following the date of hire. Options include Medical (50% employer contribution), dental and vision coverage (100% employer contribution), a 401k program with employer match, 8 paid holidays, Flexible work hours (position dependent), and paid time off.

 

E-Verify Compliance Statement:
VetPowered, LLC participates in the E-Verify program. We ensure employment eligibility of all employees by using the E-Verify electronic verification system.

Policy for Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Prevention:
VetPowered, LLC is committed to providing a professional work environment free from discrimination and harassment, including discrimination and harassment based on a protected characteristic, and an environment free from retaliation for participating in any protected activity covered by this policy.

VetPowered, LLC employees are expected to assume responsibility for maintaining a work environment that is free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Employees are encouraged to promptly report conduct that they believe violates this policy so that we have an opportunity to address and resolve any concerns. Managers and supervisors are required to promptly report conduct that they believe violates this policy. We are committed to responding to alleged violations of this policy in a timely and fair manner and to taking appropriate action aimed at ending the prohibited conduct.

EEO Statement:
VetPowered, LLC is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees, applicants, unpaid interns, and volunteers without regard to actual or perceived: race (including hair texture or protected hairstyles, e.g. braids, locks, and twists), color, religion, religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices), national origin (including language use restrictions), ancestry, citizenship, disability (mental and physical) including HIV and AIDS, medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics), genetic information, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age (40 years and over), sexual orientation, veteran and/or military status, family and medical leave status, domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, and any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.

All openings are subject to change without notice, due to the volume of applications / resumes received, we are unable to respond to status inquiries. Please be assured that your information is being properly handled and forwarded to the appropriate hiring staff. If your skills and qualifications meet the needs of the job, you will be contacted.