Marketing Manager

Who we are

Across the country, college completion rates are abysmal. Here in California, for instance, just over a quarter of students enrolled at a California State University (CSU) campus graduate within four years. Of students who do graduate from college, around four in 10 end up underemployed in a first job. Traditionally underserved populations — like working students, parent learners, and those who are first in their families to attend college — disproportionately suffer.

We think this status quo is unacceptable. Rivet School is college built for real life — a new type of college experience designed from the ground up to support traditionally underserved students. Rivet School students earn an accredited, job-relevant bachelor’s degree in as little as 2-3 years, and for around $10,000 total. We’re part of the Postsecondary Success Collective— network of innovative organizations that use a unique university to community model.

Rivet School is a fast-growing nonprofit currently supporting ~200 students across California, and aiming to enroll another 150 new students by the end of 2023. We’re a tight-knit, supportive, and diverse team of 20.

Why we need you

At Rivet School, we find our students through a mix of word-of-mouth referrals, partnerships with community organizations and employers, and direct online outreach. With the hire of our first Marketing team member, our Digital Content Strategist, we’re ready to take our marketing work to the next level to take Rivet School from 200 to 1,000 students over the next four years.

And that’s where you come in! As our Marketing Manager, you’ll build out the strategy and ops to drive brand awareness, new leads, and pipeline conversion. Along with leading end-to-end marketing campaigns, you’ll optimize our pipeline engagement strategies to keep prospective students engaged throughout our application funnel and reactivate those who lose contact. You’ll join our Growth team and support in doubling down on effective marketing strategies (like advertising on Facebook and Instagram) while exploring innovative new marketing opportunities across new channels, all with the goal of recruiting future Riveters and growing our impact.

As our first Marketing Manager, you’ll report to Nora Maxwell, our Managing Director of Growth & Admissions, and will manage Bianca Delgado, our Digital Content Strategist, along with a team of paid digital contractors. You’ll also work closely with Angelina Rucobo, our Associate Director of Admissions, to support pipeline engagement initiatives.

For this position, we’re also open to a more junior version of this role, a Marketing Lead, commensurate with skills and experience.

Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Lead marketing strategy, reporting, and performance analysis (35% of role): You’ll work with Bianca and our paid digital contractor team to build, deploy, and optimize marketing campaigns across existing channels (like paid digital ads and organic social media) and new channels (like email and content marketing). You’ll set high-level campaign strategy and objectives and measure, report, and analyze the results of these efforts. You’ll also run growth experiments that will benefit the entire PSC community (including A/B testing and content marketing) and will drive new leads and enrollments.
• Manage our growing marketing team (25% of role): You’ll manage our Digital Content Strategist, oversee our ongoing work with a team of contractors, and lead the hiring process for our next marketing team members in the coming years.
• Refine applicant pipeline engagement (20% of role): You’ll work alongside Nora, Managing Director of Growth & Admissions, and Angelina, Associate Director of Admissions, to refine our pipeline engagement strategy, keeping prospective students in the application pipeline excited about and engaged with our program in an effort to increase conversion at every funnel stage.
• Manage paid digital advertising (10% of role):You’ll build, manage, and scale Facebook/Instagram and Google ad campaigns that meet or exceed our campaign goals and metrics.
• Manage website design (5% of role): You’ll own the Rivet School website, working with our Sr. Business Ops Lead and contractor team to refresh existing content, build out new website features, and keep all of our program information up to date.
• Cross-functional recruitment support (5% of role):You’ll work cross-functionally to support the recruitment and engagement efforts of other teams.

Who you are

Below we list some of the specific skills, experiences, and dispositions we're looking for in a candidate. We also don't expect all strong candidates to excel at each and every one of these skill areas! So if you're intrigued by this role, but have less familiarity with one of the bullets below, we strongly encourage you to apply anyway.

Characteristics & qualities

• You have a deep interest in helping traditionally underserved students access opportunity. A typical Riveter is in their late 20s; a first-generation college student; Black, Latino, and/or AAPI; a parent or has significant family responsibilities; and has previously enrolled in and stopped out of college. You understand that our current education system discriminates against low-income people and people of color in systematic ways, and you want to be part of changing outcomes.
• You've likely managed a team and have had budgetary responsibility. (Bonus points if you have experience doing this in a nonprofit context.) You’re a low-ego manager that creates space for team members to show up as their whole selves. You’re a natural coach, and love investing in and developing talent.
• You are an excellent communicator, writer, and presenter. You’re excited to serve as the face of Rivet School — communicating our mission, vision, and program elements to different audiences across various marketing channels. You may have experience in copywriting or copyediting.
• You excel at thinking “around the corner” — anticipating where a team should go next, and charting out a path to get there. You’ve played a role in shaping organizational strategy in a past role.
• You are a data-driven and rigorous thinker. You sweat the small stuff, always follow through on your commitments, and are meticulous about documenting, communicating, and organizing your work.
• You have a history of creating flawless deliverables, whether in school, at work, or in your personal life.
• You can tackle multiple, complex and influential projects at once with irreproachable strategy and creativity. You’re a fast learner, like building new things, and are comfortable navigating complexity and ambiguity. You care deeply about achieving excellence, but never at the expense of yourself or others.

Our Core Value Expectations

• Not Yet: You’re open & receptive to feedback, acknowledging gaps and taking steps to correct them.
• No BS: You are honest, communicative, and balance competing interests appropriately, and help foster an environment in which the full team can do the same.
• We are the Riveters: You treat Fellows and team members as whole people with whole lives and do not shame team members or fellows for falling short of expectations.
• Own the Journey: You adopt a low-ego, self-responsible approach to work and collaboration, taking accountability for mistakes and proactively seeking solutions to challenges.

Work experience and background

• You’ve built, deployed, and optimized marketing campaigns across channels like email, paid digital ads, or ambassador/influencer programs. You’ve set high-level campaign strategy and objectives; overseen the ideation, development, and execution of content plans and asset development; and have implemented and measured multi-channel growth campaigns. Bonus points if you’ve done this in a nonprofit or higher education context.
• You’ve used data (including goal- and metric-setting, collection, reporting, and analysis) to evaluate the impact of your marketing efforts in achieving their objectives and to set strategy and make key decisions. Bonus points if you’ve used tools like Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, or Salesforce to do so.
• You have experience in understanding customer/applicant journeys, behavior triggers, and building reengagement and retargeting campaigns.
• You’re expert in paid digital advertising account management, especially Google Ads, Facebook (Meta), and Instagram. You’ve actively managed paid ad accounts including campaign and audience building, reporting, troubleshooting, and optimization.
• You have a strong sense of design and expertise in Adobe Suite, Canva, or another graphic design platform.
• You may have front-end website development experience (bonus points if you’ve used Webflow and/or have SEO or keyword experience) or have contributed to the copy, content, or design of an existing website.
• You’re skilled at planning, producing, and launching content or managing a team to do so — from TikToks to blog posts to newsletters. You use the best tools and practices to create content that drives engagement and virality.
• You’ve managed and grown a social media account — either your own or someone else’s — and are up to date on the trends and nuances of different platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit).
• You consider yourself a subject matter expert on digital marketing best practices, staying up to date with industry and market trends and the latest digital technologies.
• You’ve likely managed a team of individual contributors (ICs) across workstreams like content creation, social media management, paid digital advertising, or other digital marketing work.
• In general, we define “work experience” broadly, and we care as much about work experience as we do your character, potential, and belief in our mission of building a better college experience for low-income and working students.

Finally, we do not absolutely require a bachelor’s degree, but we do view it as an asset. Rivet School also supports staff members without a BA on their pathway to earning a college degree. We also are particularly enthusiastic about candidates who share proximity to our learners — candidates who worked while attending college, attended a community college en route to a BA, were an adult or parent learner, or in some other way deviated from the so-called “traditional” pathway.

Why you should apply

As the fifth member of our Growth team, you’ll play a crucial role in taking Rivet School to the next level. Your work will directly impact the organization’s ability to grow and serve thousands of students in the coming years.

You’ll also join a committed, high-performing, thoughtful, and very fun (if we say so ourselves) team. Here’s what a few team members say about working at Rivet School:

I've never worked in a more supportive organization. The team fosters a culture of collaboration and openness that makes me feel comfortable bringing my whole self to work every day.

It’s hard to imagine a better workplace. Team members are genuine, empathetic, open to feedback, and competent.

Collaborative work is woven into the Rivet School culture. As an introvert who usually prefers to work alone, I find collaborating with my team to be fun, productive, and supportive.

I appreciate our open discussions on race, equity and inclusion and how each of us takes responsibility to use this lens in our work.

The nitty gritty

• Target start date: Monday, April 17th, 2023
• For this role, we have a preference for candidates based in California, but we’re open to a remote version of this role (with occasional travel) for the right candidate who lives elsewhere in the U.S.
• This is a full-time role with flexible hours and location. For non-remote candidates, you’ll be expected to work in our Richmond office at least 1 day per week. Periodically, you may need to travel around California for partner meetings and events, but outside of that, you’re free to work where you like, with openness to periods of remote work.
• For non-remote candidates, we do mandate proof of vaccination and boosters against COVID-19 for employment, to be submitted at the time of offer acceptance.
• We offer health benefits (medical, dental, and vision), 15 days of PTO per year, 17 recognized holiday days off, 1 floating holiday, and 10 days of Wellness Time (formerly known as sick time).
• At Rivet School, we use a competency-based hiring and leveling framework to ensure equity and fairness in promotions and compensation. The associated salary range for the level of this position is $75,750–87,250, and official titles range from Marketing Lead to Senior Marketing Manager, commensurate with experience and skill. If you are in a more senior role, but have interest in joining our team, feel free to reach out directly to Nora Maxwell (nora@rivetschool.org) to learn more.

Rivet School works to upend historically entrenched inequities by reimagining the post-secondary school experience, especially for first-generation and non-traditional students. We commit to living our mission and values by hiring a diverse team, and especially welcome candidates who reflect the identities and experiences of the students we serve — who are majority parents, Black and Latinx, and low to middle-income — to apply.

As an equal opportunity employer, Rivet School is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified individuals and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information or characteristics, or any other basis prohibited by applicable laws.