Illumai Needs New Director of Marketing

Illumai is seeking a seasoned leader to oversee all aspects of a B2C “brand re-launch” of a premium hair care brand.

The Illumai products get rave reviews and offer a clearly differentiated, scientifically based and truly exciting approach to hair care. We need our October re-launch to present our story in a better, more coherent way, especially in coordinated, direct-to-consumer marketing messages. Are you the person to lead this brand re-launch and the successful marketing programs to follow?

This is the perfect opportunity for a brand builder and product marketer with an entrepreneurial mindset – one who is especially excited about natural beauty/hair care products and getting in at the stealth stage of a re-launch.

Critical to your success will be your ability to act independently, set agendas, drive the vision, oversee outside vendors and deliver important pieces of our marketing assets yourself. This person must be a coach and a player.

As Director of Marketing, you will drive the final stages of re-launching and rolling out our brand identity and go-to-market strategy, owning ALL consumer facing marketing activities. You will work directly for the CEO as well as with the other members of the team.

We’ve finalized packaging, logo, and brand story/identity. We now need to create the marketing programs, e.g., using online consumer sampling to attract profitable sales.

Responsibilities:

  • Lead Re-launch. Lead the extension, refinement and implementation of the brand re-launch.
  • Marketing Materials. Ensure that all marketing materials (online and offline), many of which must be created (or edited from earlier versions), are effective and on-brand -- including all text, graphics, videos, website, and other marketing assets, regardless of venue, format or marketing vehicle.
  • Marketing Programs. Manage all digital and social campaigns, collaborating with outside agencies and our own IT and customer facing staff.   Specifically, manage the direct-to-consumer sampling and sales programs.
  • Oversee Contracts. Manage staff or third party creative/services talent (design, PR, copywriting, social).
  • Public Relations. Create content for and provide oversight of PR activities
  • Market Research. Work with team to understand and develop consumer use cases and deepen insights through primary research and customer product testing.
  • Investor Communications. Work with CEO to develop materials in support of investor communications.

What We Want

  • Leadership. Strong, enthusiastic leadership, with superior intelligence, a responsible work ethic, an instinct for excellence and great judgment.
  • Brand North Star. The ability to “get” our brand and have a real affinity with it … while maintaining the detachment needed to create effective marketing messages.   A passion for brands and a demonstrated ability to influence the consumer brand experience with wise and creative marketing investments, especially regarding the emotional factors that create brand loyalty.
  • Great Communicator. Superb communication skills – written, oral and visual — including your proven ability to be creative, capable and comfortable in expressing the key elements of the Illumai brand in all media formats. Demonstrated success crystallizing the value proposition of a new product into powerful, memorable, and effective messages.
  • Startup Mindset. We need someone with a bias for action. We don’t have a lot of structure, and we rely on our teammates to be resourceful and to understand that moving quickly, trying things inexpensively and learning fast has significant value in startup contexts. We look for agility in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment coupled with effective internal communication and the selling of your ideas.
  • Time Management. We are looking for your ability to make good, timely decisions, live according to priorities and make trade-offs, keep commitments and get things done, well.
  • Marketing Programs. You will need a genuine understanding of marketing program development, including customer segmentation, value propositions, persuasion/conversion methods, offers and different media paths.   We need to rapidly test and iterate to find the programs that will allow us to profitably grow sales.   Specifically, this will require a working knowledge of online marketing and selling tools and concepts, as well as social media, PR, content marketing and other forms of owned, earned or paid media.   We will look for demonstrated ability to use data effectively and balance analysis with creative thinking and market realities.

Minimum Requirements

  • Passion for building a brand that consumers cannot live without
  • Excellent communication skills -- written, oral, visual.
  • Superior analytical abilities, coupled with great creative instincts
  • Acute organizational skills, the ability to manage yourself and others. Leadership or management experience preferred
  • Track record of achievement and demonstrated ability to problem solve
  • A minimum of three years category, product management or brand management experience of a consumer product, preferably one in the personal care, hair care or health and beauty aids sector.

Compensation, Career and Other Matters

This is a ground floor, leadership opportunity with a company providing a revolutionary new approach to hair care … and later to skin care. It is our hope that this person will grow with the company and demonstrate that he or she is the right person to build a broad, talented marketing team. To start, we are looking for someone who can operate as a peer and make a big impact. And we want to compensate the successful candidate with a market-rate salary, stock options and the inside track on growth opportunities within our company.

  • Location: We are a virtual company.   The Director of Marketing can be anywhere where there is a fast Internet connection and enough privacy to allow uninterrupted time to work on Illumai matters.
  • Schedule: actual hours/schedule is somewhat flexible; actual hours will be based on time zone and your schedule. To be discussed.
  • Compensation: salary commensurate with experience; bonus based on results; low-cost options.
  • Reports to: CEO
  • Start Date: asap
  • Bonus Year: calendar

Next Steps

  • if you have an interest, please send a confidential email to hr@illumai.com with a resume and cover note discussing the “hits and misses” – what fits and doesn’t fit comparing your background and this position. Please also include information about your requirements – what you want to get from this position.
  • if you don’t have an interest, would you please forward this to candidates who might be interested and who would likely meet the requirements of this job profile.

Thank you.