Marketing & Communications Manager

underdog & company is a marketing and brand experiences agency – delivering consulting, strategic partnership, experiential and integrated marketing work across the sports, culture and entertainment.

Please read the following job description thoroughly to ensure you are the right fit for this role before applying.

We're looking for a Marketing & Communications Manager to own the connective work that describes who we are and coordinates how we communicate that value proposition internally and externally – from press moments to partnerships to events to awards.

This is a highly cross-functional role that requires proactive work, creativity, strong writing, and the ability to build alignment across leadership and independent teams. It is a full-time role that reports to the COO/CSO.

Key Responsibilities

? Partner with senior leadership to continuously refine the company's vision and value proposition

? Ensure our messaging is consistent and clear across all levels of the organization and external

? Collaborate with our creative strategy and design teams to pull core messaging into external-facing materials, including the company website, socials and capabilities collateral

? Own the corporate website and digital/social presence, ensuring consistency in voice, tone, and positioning

? Develop the company's social media strategy (LinkedIn and Instagram) – posting cadence, content ideas, copywriting, posting and internal communications to ensure alignment; creative will help build templates for posting

? Build and manage a proactive public relations and communications calendar; identifying opportunities tied to industry moments and milestones

? Develop process for internal communications ahead of external announcements or releases (e.g., new clients, work spotlights, events, awards etc.)

? Develop and manage underdog's client & prospect hosting calendar (e.g., how does underdog show up at WNBA All-Star, Cannes, Art Basel, Super Bowl, NWSL Championship etc.); identify the key moments we should have a presence at and own the event planning and communications (internal coordination, invites, creative, budget and programming) in collaboration with senior leadership

? Identify thought leadership themes and opportunities that strengthen the company's external reputation and visibility (e.g., women's sports, college etc.)

? Develop an external leadership speaking plan (e.g. outline where our leaders should represent us at events and on panels to improve our visibility and authority in key areas); lead outreach on behalf of senior leadership, help secure their placements on panels & guide panel coordination/prep (if needed)

? Begin to cultivate media and industry relationships to support placement, coverage, and distribution of thought leadership content (Note: underdog has senior leadership to help with this outreach and begin establishing connections for you)

? Manage the company's portfolio of strategic and media partnerships, including scope, terms, and asset delivery (e.g., Sports Business Journal partnership)

? Identify and evaluate new partnership opportunities that support goals of increasing underdog visibility and reputation in the industry

? As applicable, support client-based PR work (e.g. emerging sports league launch)

? Develop and lead an awards strategy across the organization – identifying xhyhwjd opportunities for both collective and individual recognition

? Own the end-to-end awards submission process, including submission writing, deadline management and cross-team coordination

? Develop and launch an underdog podcast (to be hosted by Founder/CEO Dan Mannix); in collaboration with Dan, outline the podcast's focus, guest list and amplification strategy

Qualifications

We are looking for candidates with 4-5+ years of experience in marketing, communications, PR, or brand management — agency or multi-brand/multi-business environment strongly preferred.

? Excellent writing skills, with the ability to distill and tighten messaging for executive audiences

? Strong project management skills; comfortable owning a calendar of moving parts across multiple stakeholders

? Proven ability to build alignment and drive process across teams

? Familiarity with media relations and PR planning

? Comfortable presenting recommendations directly to senior leadership

? Highly organized and self-directed

Salary: $75,000 - $125,000 dependent on experience