Executive Director, Marketing

MAIN FOCUS: Lead the Foundation’s marketing function and set an integrated, data-driven engagement strategy that expands reach, deepens relationships, and drives measurable fundraising and organizational results.  

LOCATION: Palo Alto, CA (Hybrid strongly preferred). This role is hybrid, with an expectation of working an average of eight (8) days per month in our Palo Alto office; the successful candidate will be based in the Bay Area. Remote-eligible within the U.S. for an exceptional candidate; for remote hires, compensation will be adjusted based on geographic region.

WHAT YOU'LL DO... 

Reporting to the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, the Executive Director, Marketing provides strategic leadership for the Foundation’s marketing function, setting the direction, priorities, and operating model for integrated, data-driven marketing strategy and execution. This role strengthens marketing as a strategic organizational capability by building a cohesive team and driving coordinated, targeted, and measurable engagement across key audiences, channels, and fundraising priorities.

You will lead and develop the marketing function, directly managing the Associate Director, Marketing; Senior Associate Director, Marketing; and Senior Director, Community Fundraising & Children’s Fund. You will establish shared priorities, strengthen organizational capability, and build a cohesive, high-performing team that works seamlessly across marketing, fundraising, and audience engagement. This includes fundraising campaigns as well as ongoing ask and non-ask communications designed to engage different audience segments over time. You will set clear expectations for performance, foster accountability, and ensure the team’s work is aligned with Foundation-wide priorities and fundraising objectives. The role also has a dedicated focus on Board, Transformational and Principal Gifts, and Grateful Patient Family (GPF) marketing strategy.

Within the marketing function, the Senior Director, Community Fundraising & Children’s Fund leads Community Fundraising and the fundraising and marketing strategy for the Children’s Fund audience. Community Fundraising engages broad audiences through Summer Scamper, crowdfunding, volunteer- and community-led fundraising, and other participation-based programs that may generate support for the Children’s Fund or other Foundation priorities.

You will set clear expectations and provide strategic context, coaching, and resources while empowering the Senior Director to own the strategy, operating plans, programs, team, and results for these areas. You will ensure this work is well integrated with the Foundation’s broader marketing strategy, audience approach, channels, brand, data, and fundraising priorities.

The anticipated hiring range for this position is $285,000–$305,000, with a target starting salary of $285,000. The final salary will be determined based on the selected candidate's qualifications, experience, and other job-related factors. A geographic salary differential may apply to candidates approved to work remotely outside the local area.

YOU'LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR...

Marketing Strategy & Leadership

• Shape the Foundation’s broader marketing strategy and priorities in partnership with senior leadership, translating organizational and fundraising goals into clear marketing strategies, investments, and measurable outcomes.
• Set and lead an integrated marketing strategy across channels and audience segments, ensuring touchpoints are coordinated, data-informed, and consistent with the Foundation's brand and mission.
• Lead, develop, and manage a team that includes senior marketing professionals and the Senior Director, Community Fundraising & Children’s Fund, establishing clear priorities, decision rights, and shared goals across the function.
• Set the marketing strategy for Board, Transformational and Principal Gifts, and Grateful Patient Family (GPF) audiences, serving as a strategic advisor to senior fundraising leaders and ensuring engagement is coordinated, personalized, and aligned with broader fundraising priorities.
• Champion a digital-first operating model: prioritize digital and automated channels by default, and reserve print and direct mail for the specific audiences and moments where the data shows it is the most effective option.
• Establish a cohesive audience segmentation and journey framework that puts audience and persona insights into practice, so communications are coordinated, relevant, and tailored across channels and programs.
• Serve as a senior advisor to leaders across the Foundation on audience strategy, marketing opportunities, channel investment, and integrated engagement, bringing a marketing perspective to organization-wide priorities.

Marketing Capability & Performance

• Build and evolve the Foundation’s marketing capabilities, identifying the skills, tools, processes, and resources needed to support a modern, high-performing marketing function.
• Establish a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring emerging practices in digital marketing, automation, AI, testing, personalization, and analytics are translated into scalable team capabilities and measurable business impact.
• Define the marketing performance framework, establishing goals, KPIs, measurement practices, and reporting that connect marketing activity to fundraising and organizational outcomes.
• Use performance data and audience insights to guide strategic decisions about priorities, channels, investments, and resource allocation.

Automation, Innovation & Internal Capability

• Set the strategic direction and governance for the team's marketing automation capabilities, including always-on drip programs, dynamic content, segmentation, personalization, and testing. Ensure these capabilities are used to create scalable, coordinated audience journeys and improve measurable engagement and fundraising performance.
• Set the strategy for external marketing partnerships and vendors, determining where specialized expertise or capacity adds value and ensuring external investments deliver measurable impact and strong ROI.
• Identify emerging trends and tools in marketing and automation and lead discovery and planning for relevant system upgrades and scalable solutions.

Community Fundraising & Children’s Fund Leadership

• Directly manage the Senior Director, Community Fundraising & Children’s Fund, setting clear expectations and providing coaching, performance feedback, strategic context, and support.
• Review and align Community Fundraising and Children’s Fund audience goals, operating plans, budgets, resource needs, and performance with broader fundraising and Foundation priorities.
• Hold the Senior Director accountable for results while empowering that role to own strategy, programs, people leadership, and execution within their areas of responsibility.
• Ensure Children’s Fund fundraising and marketing strategy is integrated with the Foundation’s audience, brand, channel, digital, and data strategies.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen Community Fundraising and Children’s Fund engagement and make or elevate significant resource, risk, or cross-functional decisions that require broader organizational alignment.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with senior leaders across fundraising and the Foundation to align marketing strategy, audience priorities, campaigns, and investments with organizational goals.
• Build strong cross-functional alignment where audiences, channels, or marketing responsibilities intersect.
• Influence organization-wide decisions related to audience engagement, fundraising priorities, and the use of marketing resources, bringing a data-informed marketing perspective to strategic planning.
• Maintain strong working relationships with vendors, including those supporting direct mail, digital, and automation platforms, and ensure outstanding ROI.

YOU MUST HAVE...

• A bachelor's degree in a related discipline and/or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in marketing, marketing communications, direct response, fundraising marketing, or a similar field, including significant people-leadership experience.
• Demonstrated experience setting and leading an integrated marketing strategy across channels, audiences, and programs, with the ability to translate organizational priorities into marketing strategy and measurable outcomes.
• Experience analyzing donors, campaigns, or customer data and translating it into strategy, metrics, and business insights.
• Strong aptitude for using AI tools and applying them to marketing work, with comfort evaluating and adopting new AI-enabled tools as they emerge.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to build a compelling, audience-centered case across channels
• Strong people-leadership skills, with experience managing and developing senior professionals or functional leaders and building high-performing teams.
• Experience serving as a strategic partner to senior leadership, influencing organizational priorities and decisions related to strategy, investment, audience engagement, and performance.

 IT'S AN ADDED PLUS IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH...

• Experience leading marketing transformation, organizational change, or the development of a more integrated and scalable marketing operating model.
• Marketing automation platforms (e.g., HubSpot) and CRM/donor database systems.
• AI-enabled marketing tools, personalization engines, and testing/experimentation programs.
• Grateful patient and family (GPF) programs, healthcare, or higher-education fundraising or marketing.
• Building or scaling in-house marketing capability to reduce dependency on outside agencies.

YOU'LL BE SUCCESSFUL IF...

You build a modern, high-performing marketing function.

• The team has the skills, tools, processes, and confidence to operate effectively across digital, automation, testing, personalization, AI, and data-driven marketing.