Startup Strategy Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Job Description

About the Role:

Zendesk for Startups helps early-stage companies build exceptional customer experiences from day one by providing the AI-first customer service technology, resources, and support they need to scale.

We're looking for a strategic, hands-on Startup Growth & Campaign Manager who owns end-to-end funnel execution for the Zendesk for Startups program. In this role, you will bridge top-of-funnel acquisition with mid-funnel activation, designing and executing integrated marketing campaigns that attract startup founders, drive qualified program applications, and nurture admitted accounts through product onboarding, go-live, and paid subscription conversion.

You are an equal parts growth marketer, creative storyteller, and lifecycle operator. You know how to launch compelling top-of-funnel campaigns across paid, organic, partner, and community channels to capture founder mindshare, while simultaneously building the mid-funnel nurture tracks, founder-centric content, and automated customer journeys required to turn trial accounts into active, high-value Zendesk users.

You leverage AI to work nimbly-accelerating creative development, copy production, audience testing, and workflow automation. You deeply understand what motivates early-stage teams and can build end-to-end campaign motions that speak authentically to founders, accelerate Zendesk AI adoption, and deliver measurable revenue impact.

What You'll Do:

Drive End-to-End Campaign Strategy & Execution

• Own the Full-Funnel Campaign Engine: Strategy, execution, and optimization of multi-channel marketing campaigns designed to reach, engage, and convert startup founders at every stage-from first touch through program application, product deployment, and paid conversion.
• Top-of-Funnel Demand Generation: Launch targeted acquisition campaigns across paid channels (search, social, display), organic social, SEO/AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), ABM, startup communities (e.g., Reddit, Product Hunt), and VC co-marketing partnerships to drive qualified traffic and program applications.
• Mid-Funnel Activation & Nurture: Design and run mid-funnel campaign streams, targeted email nurtures, retargeting sequences, and behavioral triggers that keep admitted founders engaged throughout their extended trial runway and push accounts to reach official go-live milestones.
• Founder-Centric Copywriting & Content: Write authentic, high-converting copy across ad assets, campaign briefs, landing pages, founder playbooks, customer spotlights, webinar abstracts, and email workflows tailored to startup operators and CX leaders.

Deliver Mid-Funnel Programming & Product Activation

• Digital Programming & Virtual Events: Conceptualize and host founder-focused workshops, virtual webinars, AI immersion sessions, and product deep-dives that guide startups through workspace setup and rapid deployment of Zendesk AI capabilities (e.g., AI Agents, Copilot, omnichannel routing).
• Segmented Campaign Motions: Build differentiated campaign tracks tailored to high-value T0/T1 VC-backed startup portfolios versus high-volume self-serve segments, ensuring high-conviction accounts receive targeted touchpoints and executive engagement.
• Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): Run PLG experiments, landing page optimizations, messaging tests, and friction-reduction initiatives in partnership with web, product, and analytics teams to improve funnel conversion at every step.

What You Bring

• 6+ years of experience in growth marketing, demand generation, lifecycle marketing, product marketing, or performance marketing-ideally in B2B SaaS, high-growth technology, or a startup-focused business.
• Experience marketing to founders, startup operators, or SMB audiences.
• Demonstrated experience driving acquisition through a mix of paid, organic, content, events, ABM, and digital channels.
• Strong campaign ownership skills, with experience taking programs from initial strategy through launch, reporting, and optimization.
• Excellent writing and messaging abilities, with a portfolio of customer-facing campaigns, email, web, social, or ad copy.
• Working knowledge of paid media platforms, web analytics, CRM/marketing automation tools, and reporting dashboards.
• A strong understanding of SEO; familiarity with AEO and optimizing content for AI-powered search and discovery is a plus.
• A data-informed mindset: comfortable using performance data to make decisions, test hypotheses, and communicate results.
• Exceptional project-management skills, including the ability to manage multiple workstreams and stakeholders in a fast-moving environment.

Nice to Have

• Experience working with startup accelerators, venture capital firms, incubators, or ecosystem partners.
• Experience with product-led growth motions or freemium/self-serve conversion funnels.
• Familiarity with Zendesk, customer experience software, AI agents, or customer service technology.

The US annualized base salary range for this position is $96,000.00-$144,000.00. This position may also be eligible for bonus, benefits, or related incentives. While this range reflects the minimum and maximum value for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations, the offer for the successful candidate for this position will be based on job related capabilities, applicable experience, and other factors such as work location. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only (or OTE for commissions based roles), and do not include bonus, benefits, or related incentives.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we're proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.