Founding Marketing Lead

Job Description

Founding Marketing Lead

Location: Chicago, IL Headquarters

Type: Full-time, in office

Company Stage: Pre-seed / seed-stage, venture-backed tech startup

We're a small, fast-moving team building something new in physical AI and robotics. This role is a fit for a B2B tech marketer who wants room and autonomy to build, and to be a trusted builder on a lean but highly effective GTM team. You'll be hands-on from day one, writing, launching campaigns and shipping content yourself, with a path to lead a team as we grow.

The right person is highly organized, naturally prioritizes the work that moves the top line, and doesn't need a fully built playbook to get started. Early-stage startup life means shifting priorities, lean resources, and high expectations, and that energizes you rather than slows you down. If you're looking for a structured corporate environment with defined processes and a large support team, this probably isn't the right fit. If you want real ownership, real impact, and the chance to build something from the ground up, keep reading.

At Autopilot, our mission is to free people up to do what they do best by automating everything else. We are building the infrastructure layer that powers autonomy in motion across the physical world, including sports, fitness, logistics, healthcare, and more. Our systems help robots move, record, deliver, train, and connect in real-world environments that have historically lacked modern tooling. Our values are simple and non-negotiable: Do Good. Have Fun. Make Money. We believe these are mutually reinforcing, and we work hard to uphold them as we grow.

We move fast, operate scrappy, and care deeply about building something that works.

You will be eligible to participate in company benefits and perks, which currently include:

• Base Salary + Annual bonus potential
• The total compensation range for this role is $120,000-$200,000. This range reflects total target compensation, which includes base salary and bonus potential. Where a candidate falls within the range depends on factors such as experience, skills, and locations.
• Equity: Early-stage ownership through stock options. A chance to build meaningful value as we scale.
• 100% Employer-covered Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401(k) – Company-administered plan
• Flexible PTO – Time off as needed, coordinated with your team
• Travel Reimbursement – Reimbursed in accordance with company policy, where role-related travel is required
• Team & Culture Events – Team offsites, social events, and company-sponsored activities

Benefits and policies may be updated from time to time at the company's discretion.

Own how Autopilot tells its story and turns that story into a pipeline. You'll shape messaging, positioning, and go-to-market narrative across our verticals, build and run the campaigns that generate demand, and create the customer-proof library that helps close B2B deals. You'll start as a hands-on builder who writes and launches the campaign, and reports on the results, then grow into leading the marketing team as we scale.

• Own messaging, positioning, and value proposition across enterprise and channel, tailored by vertical and by buyer.
• Partner with Sales, Product, and Leadership to translate company strategy into a marketing plan that drives the pipeline.
• Support product launches with positioning, launch content, and go-to-market plans.

• Build Autopilot's library of case studies, ROI documentation, and deployment outcomes end-to-end. 
• Develop thought leadership that positions Autopilot as a serious player in facility automation, speaking the language of B2B buyers in industries new to robotics.
• Coordinate with Customer Success and Sales to surface the strongest stories and access the right contacts.

• Build and run campaigns end-to-end: marketing automation, lifecycle and email campaigns, paid media, SEO/content, and reporting.
• Use AI tools to plan, produce, and test campaigns faster than a traditional team could.
• Build dashboards for pipeline, conversion, and marketing ROI, and share what's working with leadership.

• Maintain brand consistency across all channels; own the editorial calendar and content that feeds paid, email, and SEO.
• Own Autopilot's presence at trade shows and live demo events, from planning through post-event nurture.

• As the function grows, help hire and eventually lead the marketing team, alongside agencies and contractors where they make sense.

• A scrappy builder who sees this as an opportunity to build something and grow with it.
• You understand that content at a startup isn't just blog posts. It's sales ammo, brand positioning, and customer trust.
• Wired for speed: you make decisions with imperfect information, ship work, and iterate rather than waiting for everything to be perfect.
• Highly organized with a multiplier mindset. You instinctively prioritize the work that moves the top line, not just the work that fills the calendar.
• You want autonomy now and to lead a team down the road.

• 3–8 years of B2B marketing experience at technology companies
• You are hands-on and experienced across product marketing, content marketing, and demand generation and you've built without a large team or a big budget.
• Pre-seed or seed-stage, venture-backed tech startup experience preferred. 
• A track record of building and launching campaigns yourself, from brief to results
• AI-native in your day-to-day and in your campaigns. You default to tools like Claude, ChatGPT, or similar to move faster, write better, and solve problems before asking for help.
• You know your way around campaigns, lists, workflows, and reporting without needing a tutorial

• Experience in robotics or physical AI
• Experience marketing new technology to legacy industries