Marketing Manager

Who We Are WildFire Labs is a founder accelerator and development studio based in Rapid City, South Dakota. We exist to prove that great companies get built in the middle of the country — not despite being here, but because of it. We run a founder program, build software products with early-stage companies, and tell the stories of entrepreneurs who are doing it differently. Our podcast — Startup Stories from the Treehouse — has 64+ episodes of conversations with founders who bootstrapped, grinded, and built without the coastal VC safety net. Our Substack newsletter has 4,800+ subscribers. We’re finishing a book. We have a lot to say. We need someone to help us say it everywhere it needs to be said. The Role This is not a brand manager role. It’s not a social media coordinator role. It’s a founder community role that uses marketing skills as the vehicle . Your job is to be authentically present in the communities where founders are trying to figure things out — LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook groups, Slack communities, and wherever real conversations are happening — and contribute something worth reading. That means taking the thought leadership we’re already producing (podcast episodes, Substack articles, book content, founder stories) and turning it into the right format, in the right channel, at the right moment to actually be useful. Some days that’s a LinkedIn post distilling a hard-won insight from a podcast conversation. Some days it’s a thread in r/startups that answers a question a founder is genuinely struggling with. Some days it’s figuring out there’s a Facebook group for construction‑tech founders in the Midwest and understanding what they care about before we ever show up there. You’ll work closely with our managing partner, who produces a significant volume of content and has a distinct voice. Your job is to protect and extend that voice — not replace it. What You’ll Do Repurpose our content library into platform‑appropriate assets — LinkedIn posts, short‑form video hooks, quote graphics, email segments, thread frameworks. We have 200+ Substack articles, 54+ podcast episodes, and a book in progress. You’re not starting from zero; you’re amplifying something that already has momentum. Build authentic presence in founder communities across LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook, and wherever else real conversations are happening — contributing value, not promotional noise. Identify where our founders actually spend time online and develop a channel presence strategy grounded in what those communities actually care about. Promote our events in person across the state — showing up at hackathons, campus events, and founder gatherings from Rapid City to Sioux Falls to build awareness and drive attendance where it matters most: face to face. Build and improve our marketing dashboard — owning the metrics that matter (community engagement, inbound inquiries, subscriber growth) and the conversion of that attention into qualified founder leads for our program. Experiment with AI tools constantly to multiply your output. We use AI seriously here. You should too. What We’re Looking For Must‑haves Genuine curiosity about founders and entrepreneurship. Not performative interest — you actually find these stories fascinating and you understand the emotional weight of building something. This will show in how you write and where you choose to show up. 2–4 years of real marketing experience. You’ve felt the friction of making something work when strategy meets messy reality. You know what it’s like to own something. Strong writing clarity. You can take a complex idea and say it plainly without dumbing it down. You respect the reader’s intelligence and don’t waste their time. AI curiosity with a track record of experimentation. Show us something you built or automated with AI on your own — not for a job, just because you were interested. Formal training matters less than demonstrated tinkering. You’re a practitioner, not just a planner. You do the work. Nice‑to‑haves You’ve lived the founder/startup world in some way — worked at an early‑stage company, built something yourself, or been close enough to feel the real texture of it. Experience with content repurposing across platforms — you know the difference between adapting something for LinkedIn vs. Reddit vs. email. Familiarity with tools like Buffer, Substack, or podcast platforms. You believe the middle‑America founder story is underrepresented and underestimated. That’s the thesis we’re built on, and the best version of this hire believes it too. This role is probably not right for you if You need a fully‑defined playbook to work from. We’ll give you direction and a strong point of view, but you’ll build a lot of this from scratch. Your instinct is to build brand awareness through polished campaigns rather than earned community trust. You’re not genuinely interested in the people we serve — founders building real companies in places that don’t get enough credit. What You’ll Get Salary: $55,000–$65,000 depending on experience (plus South Dakota’s no state income tax — worth ~$3–5K in additional take‑home vs. most other states) A content ecosystem that’s already built and gaining momentum — podcast, newsletter, book, founder stories Direct proximity to founders, investors, and the startup conversations happening across the Northern Plains and beyond A team that uses AI tools seriously — you’ll learn more about AI‑augmented work here than almost anywhere else in the region The opportunity to build WFL’s marketing function from the ground up and own what it becomes #J-18808-Ljbffr