Overview of Climate Lead
Climate Lead empowers philanthropic leaders everywhere to take immediate and far-reaching climate action. As an impartial and trusted guide, Climate Lead equips new climate philanthropists with the information and insights they need to drive transformative solutions. We cut through the complexity by curating roadmaps, in partnership with a diverse network of experts, to help funders make a bold impact on climate from day one.
Climate Lead provides specialized services to help new climate philanthropists give with confidence and make influential, game-changing contributions to address the climate crisis. These include:
- Specialized Expertise: We translate credible and current insights from a global, diverse network of climate experts and leaders to help philanthropists deepen their climate learning and make informed choices that create tangible impact.
- Impartial Advice: We offer our services free of charge, prioritizing philanthropic leaders’ interests and climate impact above all.
- Networked Community: We connect philanthropists to a built-in global community of advisors, field partners, climate funders, and other luminaries who are interested in maximizing impact through partnership and collective action.
- Tailored Support: We meet philanthropists wherever they may be in their climate journeys, providing one-on-one advising, curated portfolios of solutions that have been vetted for impact, and holistic support along every step of the way.
Since its founding in 2019, Climate Lead has catalyzed $4 billion into high-impact climate solutions globally. For more information, please visit http://www.climatelead.org/
The Opportunity
The world is currently in a make-or-break decade for climate change. As Climate Lead continues to pursue an ambitious strategy of accelerating new philanthropic resources at scale for high-impact solutions in the climate sector, the Senior Director, Marketing will play a vital role in engaging new climate philanthropists. This is a rare opportunity for an experienced marketing and brand strategist to lead a team that will inspire and engage new philanthropists entering the sector.
The Role
The Senior Director, Marketing will build out a new function within the communications team utilizing marketing strategies and tactics to reach new climate philanthropists to help solve the most profound challenges of our time. Working in close partnership with our philanthropic advising team and communications team colleagues, they will manage a wide array of work including (but not limited to): media and public relations, event strategy, speaking opportunities, brand marketing, partnerships and networking, and digital communications to build a community of new philanthropists ready to act on climate.
Key Responsibilities
As Climate Lead moves beyond its first five years of proving its model into its next phase of strategic growth, the Senior Director, Marketing will focus on the following key priorities and objectives:
Marketing Strategy Development
- Develop, customize, and deploy multiple marketing strategies and tactics to attract a niche audience, in support of inspiring potential climate philanthropists to engage with Climate Lead.
- Design and lead high-impact marketing campaigns that drive awareness, engagement, and action around Climate Lead’s mission and programs.
- Support strategic and editorial planning in partnership with the Senior Director, Content Strategy across communications channels to support Climate Lead’s mission and goals.
- Oversee web site, social and newsletter strategies as part of digital offerings.
- Measure engagement strategies quarterly and annually. Establish KPIs and performance metrics to assess the effectiveness of marketing and communications initiatives. Report on an ongoing basis to senior leadership and the board on progress and impact.
- Manage public relations and media relations, external speaking engagement opportunities, and thought leader strategies for the organization and senior leaders.
- Oversee annual Climate Lead-led events strategy and individual events offerings. Work closely with communications and events colleagues and Philanthropy team to ensure high-quality strategic events that drive engagement.
Team Leadership
- Supervise three members of the Communications team responsible for events and digital communications, as well as a public relations firm and other consultants as needed.
- Foster a collaborative and innovative work environment and champion workflow and measurement processes for effective prioritization for campaigns and strategies.
- Use and optimize Asana, Salesforce, and other team-wide planning and tracking tools and systems.
- Manage the budget for marketing activities and freelancers/external consultants.
Cross-Organization Collaboration
- Partner with the Philanthropy team to ensure marketing strategies are designed to inspire and engage philanthropists throughout the donor journey.
- Collaborate across the Communications team and Executive leadership to ensure marketing campaigns and strategies are effectively integrated with and aligned to organizational strategy.
- Actively engage with peers as a senior leader, including participating in organization wide meetings for managers and directors.
Ideal Profile
Climate Lead seeks an experienced marketing leader who demonstrates strength in managing a marketing function and team with vision, creativity, and commitment. Since integrating marketing tools and tactics is a new focus area at Climate Lead, the Senior Director, Marketing must be adept at explaining strategies and tactics to other team members not familiar with the discipline in an effective and compelling way that builds support and delivers results. An appetite for innovation and iteration, as well as excitement about applying their extensive marketing skills and experiences to the specific needs of Climate Lead are essential.
While recognizing that no one candidate will embody all the qualifications enumerated below, we seek the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences:
- Emotional Intelligence: Encourages constructive, balanced / objective discussions to drive innovation and progress internally and externally. Invites candor and has a temperament that deploys a sensitive touch in teasing out points of disagreement.
- Marketing Expertise: Demonstrated talent for building and overseeing multiple, often interconnected strategies and plans simultaneously with clear goals, tactics, and measurements.
- Strategy Development: Ability to showcase examples of crafting and leading new marketing strategies for products, services and/or organizations in building its audience.
- Leadership and Management: Knowledge of how to lead through organizational growth and demonstrated use of change management tactics to effectively iterate on strategy, systems, and operations. Demonstrated expertise managing through influence at leadership team levels and with external stakeholders. A natural coach and mentor who knows how to use their experience and wisdom to lift up others in their work.
- Adaptive and Resilient Approach: Thrives in evolving, fast-paced ventures. Energized and capable of working at strategy and leadership team levels as well as handling administrative and tactical responsibilities through hands-on implementation.
- Advisory Orientation: Enjoys work environments built around active inquiry and learning; thrives by creatively synthesizing ideas and input from multiple sources, and an ability to recognize excellence.
- Communication Skills: Brings outstanding communication skills, particularly as a writer and with a clear perspective on how to most effectively tailor content to generate leads and powerful narratives. Understands how to translate complex material into relatable and digestible content but also remain respectful and true to the complexity and depth of the issues at hand.
- Collaborative Nature: Succeeds in and respects a collaborative model, which works in a participatory way across the organization and through Climate Lead’s extensive global networks.
Required Experience
- A minimum of ten years of experience specifically in management roles leading marketing/brand strategy, campaigns, and teams, ideally working across audiences, sectors, and geographies.
- Expertise building out multi-channel marketing and branding strategies designed to engage new customers, constituents, and/or donors.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to craft compelling narratives.
- Expertise in media and experience overseeing digital marketing, including social media, email marketing and SEO/SEM strategies.
- Experience working on sophisticated, curated events in a program/content and strategy role.
- Significant experience managing teams in a high-performance and matrixed environment where people from diverse cultural, social, and ethnic backgrounds can thrive.
- Experience designing and/or championing processes and work cultures that enable efficient collaboration, learning, and impact orientation within and across teams.
- Significant experience cultivating and expanding external networks and operating with an ethos of mutual respect for a diverse range of perspectives.
- Experience representing a marketing/brand vision/strategy through multiple channels and strategies, speaking engagements, advisory roles, or other methods.
Compensation and Benefits
The salary is expected to be $250,000 annually. Climate Lead offers a competitive benefits package designed to reflect and support our values of care and integrity. Relocation support will be provided to candidates not already residing in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Location and Travel
The Senior Marketing Director role is based at Climate Lead’s headquarters in San Francisco, CA which operates in a hybrid in-office environment. Staff in the San Francisco Bay Area currently work in the downtown office Tuesday through Thursday each week and typically work from a home location the other days. The role requires up to 25% domestic and international travel.
Employment Practices
At Climate Lead, we value diversity and always treat all employees and job applicants based on merit, qualifications, competence, and talent. We do not discriminate on the basis of or traits historically associated with race, color, religion, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran and/or military status), domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, and any other status protected by state or federal law..
To Be Considered
Please submit your resume and cover letter expressing your interest in the position and fit for the role via the “Become a Candidate” button.
Applicants applying by June 2, 2025 will be given priority consideration, with the position open until filled.
GoodCitizen has been exclusively retained by Climate Lead to lead this search. For questions, please contact:
Melissa Merritt
Managing Director
206.792.4300
melissa@goodcitizen.com
Reyonia Whipple
Engagement Manager
470.706.6141
reyonia@goodcitizen.com
Nathaniel Rodriguez Sosa
Senior Associate
347.808.5382
nathaniel@goodcitizen.com