Senior Director, Marketing

Director Of Marketing

Fuel Cycle empowers leading organizations with agile research solutions that deliver decision-ready insights — fast, flexible, and fully integrated. As a market research disruptor, our AI-powered Insights Platform is built for speed, precision, and scale. With cutting-edge tools and seamless audience connectivity, we help brands ditch the guesswork and make smarter, customer-led decisions at lightning speed.

We are seeking a bold, outcome-driven Director of Marketing to lead Fuel Cycle's next wave of growth. This leader will own the narrative around our AI-first platform, drive category creation around the AI-first Research Engine, and build a modern marketing engine that generates pipeline, accelerates product adoption, and expands customer lifetime value.

This is a leader-doer role — built for someone who is equally comfortable setting the strategic vision and rolling up their sleeves to execute. You will be hands-on across campaigns, messaging, launches, and analytics. You thrive at the intersection of AI innovation and high-velocity GTM execution. You think in business outcomes, move at startup speed, and know how to turn AI-first capabilities into compelling market narratives that resonate with senior decision-makers (CMOs, CPOs, CFOs, UX and Insights leaders). You understand PLS not as a buzzword, but as an end-to-end motion spanning self-serve acquisition, in-product activation, and expansion-led revenue.

You are energized by change, driven by urgency, and ready to architect a lean, AI-first marketing engine that delivers bold results — not just bold ideas.

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Work Arrangement: This is an onsite role requiring five days per week in the office.

Key Responsibilities:

• Build and scale full-funnel campaigns — inbound, outbound, paid, ABM, and PLS — to generate pipeline and accelerate deal velocity across segments.
• Own conversion optimization across all digital channels: website, landing pages, in-product CTAs, and campaign flows.
• Align tightly with Sales to improve MQL quality, increase SQL conversion, and grow marketing-attributed and influenced revenue.
• Develop ABM strategies targeting Fortune 1000 accounts, combining data-driven personalization with executive-level content.
• Track and optimize key performance metrics: MQLs, SQLs, CPL, CPA, ROAS, and pipeline contribution.

• Own and continuously evolve the brand narrative across the AI-powered Research Engine, AI Agents, Online Communities, and UX solutions — positioning Fuel Cycle as the defining platform for AI-native consumer intelligence.
• Lead category creation efforts that establish Fuel Cycle's AI-powered Research Engine as the standard for modern insights — creating clear separation from legacy platforms and traditional research firms.
• Develop and execute full-funnel marketing strategies to drive awareness, demand, and revenue growth across all channels and buyer segments.
• Establish and amplify Fuel Cycle's thought leadership voice in AI-driven market research, agentic insights workflows, and the future of consumer intelligence.
• Translate strategic company goals into actionable, measurable marketing plans aligned with executive priorities.

• Lead GTM strategy for Fuel Cycle's AI-first capabilities — including the AI-first Research Engine, AI Agents, and embedded generative AI features — ensuring sharp positioning, compelling messaging, and rapid market adoption.
• Partner with Product management to craft launch strategies for AI-powered features that speak directly to the speed, scale, and intelligence buyers demand in 2026 and beyond.
• Define and evolve Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP), AI-relevant personas, and segmented messaging frameworks that resonate across enterprise buying committees.
• Drive pricing strategy, sales enablement content, and competitive differentiation that crystallizes Fuel Cycle's AI advantage in the market.
• Lead GTM coordination across Product, Sales, and Customer Success to ensure seamless, high-impact launches.

• Champion an AI-first approach to marketing operations — deploying generative AI for content at scale, predictive analytics for lead scoring, and intelligent automation across campaign workflows.
• Embed experimentation and rapid iteration into the marketing team's operating rhythm, using AI tools to test, learn, and optimize faster than the competition.
• Leverage AI for hyper-personalized customer journeys across lifecycle stages — from first touch to renewal and expansion.
• Evaluate, implement, and optimize a modern martech stack that enables PLG measurement, attribution, and AI-powered execution.
• Ensure marketing's AI capabilities are matched by rigorous data governance, attribution modeling, and performance transparency.

• Develop marketing programs and thought leadership content tailored to C-level buyers — CMOs, CPOs, CFOs, and UX and Insights leaders — who are navigating AI transformation in their own organizations.
• Elevate Fuel Cycle's brand among Fortune 1000 decision-makers through executive roundtables, curated events, strategic communications, and analyst engagement.
• Identify and capture whitespace opportunities by aligning marketing narratives with enterprise pressures: AI adoption, cost efficiency, speed-to-insight, and research modernization.

• Lead and continuously evolve a lean, high-impact marketing team — acting as the orchestrator of Fuel Cycle's growing AI agent workforce, directing agents as functional contributors across content, campaigns, analytics, and lifecycle marketing.
• Partner with Fuel Cycle's AI programmer to co-design and deploy marketing AI agents — defining their tasks, evaluating their outputs, and continuously evolving their capabilities as the business scales.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Sales, and Customer Success to drive GTM alignment and market execution.
• Manage marketing budget, vendor relationships, and agency partnerships to ensure ROI on every program and initiative.
• Report marketing performance to the CEO and executive team with clarity, candor, and strategic context.

Product-Led Sales (PLS) — Core GTM Motion

• Drive and scale PLS as a core growth motion — encompassing self-serve acquisition, freemium models, in-product engagement, and expansion-led revenue, within an enterprise solution sales paradigm.
• Drive PLS-specific conversion metrics: free-to-paid conversion, time-to-value, product-qualified lead (PQL) generation, and in-product activation rates.
• Partner with Product and Engineering to shape roadmap decisions that unlock PLG growth levers — including onboarding flows, in-app prompts, and feature adoption triggers.
• Leverage user behavior analytics (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel, Pendo) to instrument the full PLS funnel, identify friction points, and optimize conversion and retention.
• Build lifecycle marketing programs that engage, retain, and expand users from initial activation through enterprise upsell.

Your Success Metrics:

Demand Generation & Performance

• Growth in MQLs, SQLs, and opportunity conversion rates
• Optimized CPL, CPA, and ROAS across all channels
• Scalable, data-driven campaign execution across inbound, outbound, and ABM

Revenue & Pipeline Contribution

• Growth in marketing-sourced and influenced pipeline and closed/won revenue
• Marketing-attributed ARR and expansion revenue tied to PLS motions
• Alignment with Sales on shared revenue targets and funnel efficiency

Brand & Market Positioning

• Growth in brand awareness, share of voice, and executive visibility
• Analyst recognition, media coverage, and AI category leadership benchmarks
• Clear differentiation of Fuel Cycle's AI-native positioning vs. competitors

Customer Acquisition, Retention & Expansion

• CAC aligned with industry benchmarks across PLS and enterprise segments
• Improved NPS, retention rates, and lifecycle marketing engagement
• Upsell/cross-sell revenue influenced by product marketing and PLS campaigns

PLG & Product Adoption

• Free-to-paid conversion rate and time-to-value for self-serve users
• Product-qualified lead (PQL) volume and PQL-to-opportunity conversion
• In-product activation rates and feature adoption benchmarks

Who you'll work with?

• CEO and Executive Leadership Team
• Product Management and Design Teams
• Sales Leadership and Sales Enablement