Marketing Manager

LightPath Technologies is seeking a hands-on Marketing Manager to drive brand visibility, qualified lead generation, and pipeline growth across our infrared optics, MWIR/LWIR/SWIR camera and module, and Black Diamond materials markets. The role centers on four things: owning our tradeshow and industry event presence end to end, developing technical product and vertical-market content in partnership with engineering, executing targeted campaigns toward defense primes, OEMs, and system integrators, and managing the annual marketing plan, budget, and KPIs in coordination with Business Development, Product Management, and Sales leadership.

Website administration and day-to-day social media channel operation are currently handled outside this role by existing team members and largely automated workflows; the Marketing Manager provides content direction and campaign input to those channels rather than operating them.

Responsibilities:

Tradeshows, Conferences & Industry Days
• Own the annual event calendar end to end, spanning U.S. and European industry shows: exhibit selection, registration for all LightPath attendees, booth design, shipping and logistics, vendor coordination, marketing materials, product displays, and payments
• Develop pre-event, onsite, and post-event campaigns for each show, and coordinate customer meetings and speaking engagements for LightPath points of contact
• Track leads captured, opportunities created, and event ROI, and report results with recommendations

Product & Vertical-Market Content
• Partner with engineering and product management to translate LightPath technologies - infrared optics, camera modules, and chalcogenide/BlackDiamond materials - into features-and-benefits messaging by market vertical
• Produce and maintain marketing collateral: brochures, presentations, white papers, application notes, case studies, videos, and webinar content
• Run new product release campaigns from teaser through launch on a rolling 3-month content and release schedule
• Maintain consistent brand messaging and visual standards across all marketing output
• After onboarding, assume ownership of the company's largely automated social media publishing workflows as part of the overall content calendar

Demand Generation & Campaigns
• Build and maintain target account lists and execute account-based campaigns toward defense primes, OEMs, integrators, and strategic customers
• Execute email campaigns, webinars, industry publication placements, and lead nurturing workflows aligned to company focus areas
• Support the ISP team in Riga, Latvia with marketing to European customers: coordinate regional campaigns, collateral, and event presence, and adapt messaging for European defense and OEM audiences
• Work closely with Sales and Business Development to convert marketing activity into qualified pipeline, and equip them with current presentations, collateral, and competitive positioning

Marketing Strategy, Budget & Reporting
• Develop the annual marketing plan and own the yearly marketing budget, aligned to company direction and 1/3/5-year concentration areas
• Define marketing KPIs, maintain a performance dashboard, and report monthly to leadership with actionable recommendations

• Knowledge, ability and skills:
  • Excellent project management and organizational skills; able to run multiple concurrent projects and deadlines in a fast-paced environment
  • Strong written and verbal communication abilities, including the ability to communicate technical products credibly
  • Works effectively with internal stakeholders and external vendors at a professional level that builds mutual respect and confidence
  • Able to work independently with little to no supervision, with strong attention to detail
  • Able to utilize the following computer applications: CRM (Salesforce), Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook
  • Must be able to read, write, and speak fluently in English
  • Travel domestically, with occasional international travel, up to 25% of work time in support of tradeshows and industry events
  • Working awareness of export control considerations (ITAR/EAR) as they apply to public-facing marketing of defense-related products
  • Occasionally required to walk, stand, use hands/fingers to handle and feel, and reach
  • Regularly required to lift and/or move up to 10 pounds; occasionally up to 50 pounds
  • Specific vision ability required by this job includes close vision and color vision

• Minimum previous experience/qualification:
  • Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field
  • 5+ years of B2B marketing experience; defense, security, or photonics/optics industry experience strongly preferred
  • Proven experience owning tradeshow and event marketing end to end, including logistics and budget
  • Demonstrated ability to develop technical marketing content in partnership with engineering teams; ability to quickly learn the IR/optics product space if new to it
  • Experience with marketing tools (CRM, marketing automation, analytics platforms) and campaign/lead-generation execution