Handshake
Your impact
Handshake is building a world-class network of AI experts - PhDs, researchers, and subject matter specialists - who contribute to our generative AI efforts through specialized research, model evaluation, and domain-specific applications. As a Growth Marketer, you'll lead the strategy and execution that expands and nurtures this expert community. You'll help define how we reach and engage world-class technical talent, combining full-funnel marketing acumen with an appreciation for the nuances of academic and research audiences. This is a foundational role at the intersection of community, growth, and technical brand-building.
You'll be responsible for setting new standards for how high-signal technical networks are built, scaled, and retained - with a measurable impact on the growth of Handshake's AI product portfolio.
Your role
Handshake is building a world-class network of AI experts - PhDs, researchers, and subject matter specialists - who contribute to our generative AI efforts through specialized research, model evaluation, and domain-specific applications. As a Growth Marketer, you'll lead the strategy and execution that expands and nurtures this expert community. You'll help define how we reach and engage world-class technical talent, combining full-funnel marketing acumen with an appreciation for the nuances of academic and research audiences. This is a foundational role at the intersection of community, growth, and technical brand-building.
You'll be responsible for setting new standards for how high-signal technical networks are built, scaled, and retained - with a measurable impact on the growth of Handshake's AI product portfolio.
Your role
- Design and lead growth marketing initiatives to attract and engage top-tier AI researchers, PhDs, and domain experts.
- Develop multi-channel campaigns - spanning content, social, email, partnerships, and paid - that reflect the values and motivations of highly technical audiences.
- Partner with Product, Operations, and Engineering to ensure marketing is tightly aligned with roadmap milestones, expert lifecycle design, and AI program goals.
- Lead and mentor a small, agile team focused on community growth, lifecycle marketing, and channel performance.
- Own key growth metrics across acquisition, engagement, and retention - implementing performance tracking, funnel optimization, and experiment design.
- Build and scale lifecycle marketing infrastructure using CRM platforms (e.g., Iterable), ensuring targeted and personalized outreach at each stage of the expert journey.
- Strengthen Handshake's technical brand across LinkedIn, Twitter, research forums, and other channels frequented by AI researchers.
- Operate as a thought partner to senior leadership, influencing how we position and evolve our AI network strategy at scale.
- 5-7+ years of experience in growth marketing or user acquisition - ideally targeting technical or academic audiences.
- 1-3 years of direct management experience, with the ability to lead, coach, and develop others across growth or marketing functions.
- Proven track record owning end-to-end growth strategies with measurable results, from campaign development through experimentation and optimization.
- Deep understanding of SEO, paid acquisition (LinkedIn, Google Ads, Meta), and digital channel performance.
- Experience running lifecycle marketing programs using CRM platforms (e.g., Iterable, HubSpot, Salesforce) and analytics tools (e.g., GA, Looker, Amplitude).
- Skilled in data-driven decision-making - comfortable using marketing analytics and A/B testing to drive growth and channel improvements.
- Excellent communication and positioning instincts, with the ability to translate complex ideas into compelling narratives.
- Energized by ambiguity, fast iteration, and building from the ground up.
- Experience working with or marketing to AI, ML, or research communities is a strong plus.
- Familiarity with AI/ML workflows, data labeling, model evaluation, or technical hiring pipelines
- Proficiency in SQL or similar analytical tools
- Experience working with or marketing within open-source, research, or academic communities
- Background in brand marketing for highly technical B2C products