Marketing Engineer

About BeatStars

Since 2008, BeatStars has been the pioneering and go-to online music marketplace to connect millions of recording artists and music producers worldwide. BeatStars is also the leading artist discovery tool for all the major and independent labels. Most recently, BeatStars partnered with Sony Publishing to launch its publishing arm on the platform.

Today, BeatStars has over 10 million creators engaging in our platform, and we've paid over $450M to our creator community. We continue to support independent musicians with the tools, community, opportunities, and education they need to earn a living doing what they love.

What You'll Be Doing

We are hiring a Marketing Engineer to build the marketing operating system at BeatStars. This is a hands-on builder role, not a strategy or management seat. Brand voice, creative direction, and major GTM strategy live with our CEO; this role owns the systems, automation, and execution that turn that strategy into shipped, measurable work at scale.

After multiple iterations of the traditional VP/Director-led marketing model, we have concluded that BeatStars at our current stage needs builders, not strategists. If you have spent your career configuring lifecycle stacks personally, shipping paid campaigns directly, writing SQL and Python for marketing automation, and using AI tools to scale a small team's output, this is the seat for you. If you have spent your career managing teams that did those things, this is not the role.

You will report directly to the CEO. Major launches on the horizon include BeatStars Projects, BeatStars Rights, a new platform revamp, and the BeatStars AI Generative Studio. You will be the operator who turns founder-led strategy into shipped systems, automated workflows, and measurable output at scale.

Responsibilities:

• Own the marketing operating system end-to-end, including lifecycle infrastructure (OneSignal, or potentially a tool of choice), paid media operations, and the marketing data layer.
• Configure and operate lifecycle automation directly. Build producer activation, artist conversion, subscription upgrade, and publishing sign-up flows yourself, not through a vendor or hire.
• Run paid media operations across Google (primary), Meta (after pixel rebuild), creator partnerships, and emerging channels.
• Build and maintain dashboards on producer activation, beat upload velocity, conversion, cohort retention, publishing sign-ups, and revenue per writer. Own the weekly metrics review.
• Build internal AI tooling for content production, creator outreach automation, asset generation, and lifecycle personalization. Fluency with Claude/GPT APIs, n8n/Zapier/Make at scale, and light scripting (Python or JavaScript) is expected.
• Hire and manage a flexible execution bench. Structure of the bench is partly defined by you and will likely include paid media operations, motion design, video editing, lifecycle build, analytics, and asset preparation.
• Execute GTM on major launches end-to-end. The CEO owns strategy and narrative; you own getting it shipped on time across every channel.
• Work directly with the CEO on marketing strategy and translate that strategy into shipped systems and measurable output.
• Collaborate with product, creator success, and engineering teams to align marketing execution with platform development.
• Use AI tools (Claude, GPT, automation platforms) as leverage multipliers across every workflow you build.

What you will need:

• 6-10 years of marketing experience, with at least one stint as a marketing-of-one at an early-stage company, a founder, or a solo operator.
• Direct lifecycle automation experience. You have personally built lifecycle automations in real platforms with working triggers, segmentation logic, and measurable outcomes. Not "led a team that did" — actually built them yourself.
• Direct paid media experience. You have personally run accounts, optimized creative, debugged tracking, and made bid strategy calls. Not "managed an agency."
• Code fluency. SQL minimum, with light Python or JavaScript for scripting, automation, and AI workflow integration.
• AI workflow fluency. Demonstrated experience using Claude/GPT APIs, n8n/Zapier/Make at scale, and prompt engineering for production marketing workflows.
• A public footprint that shows your work. A newsletter, a Twitter/X account where you post builds, a personal site with case studies, an indie product, or a GitHub. If your only public footprint is LinkedIn, this is likely not the right role.
• Cultural fluency in hip-hop, creator economy, and music. Not fanboy level. You read the room and stay current with what is happening in the producer community.
• High taste in creative work. You have opinions. You do not ship work you would not want associated with your name.
• Comfort operating with founder-level autonomy. You do not need a CMO above you. You translate strategy directly into shipped work.

This role might be for you if:

• You would rather ship one thing well than manage a team that ships ten things mediocrely.
• You have personally configured OneSignal, Customer.io, or Braze, written non-trivial SQL queries, built automations with n8n or Make, and integrated Claude or GPT APIs into production workflows.
• You get energized by direct CEO collaboration on strategy, rather than waiting for a brief from a layer above.
• You are comfortable being held accountable to specific measurable outcomes, such as producer activation rate, subscription conversion, and cohort retention, rather than activity metrics.
• You would rather be the person building the lifecycle stack than the person who hires the person who builds the lifecycle stack.
• You see AI tools as a leverage multiplier for your own work, not a threat to your role.
• You have been a "marketing of one" at a startup before and know what it actually takes to ship.
• You read content from operators like Kieran Flanagan, Andrew Capland, Kevin Indig, or Alex Garcia more than you read traditional marketing strategy material.

What this role is NOT:

• A VP or Director of Marketing role. We are explicitly not backfilling that seat.
• A management role over existing FTEs. The current marketing team reports to the CEO directly during this transition.
• An agency management role. Agencies are out. Direct contractor relationships and AI-assisted workflows are in.
• A pure strategy or planning role. The work is shipping.

Benefits

We're a small and growing team working together closely and operating with complete autonomy and freedom. This means you will have a direct impact on any project that you work on, and your success will be felt across the company and by your clients. Some other perks include:

• Elite Tier Benefits Program - generous contributions towards medical, dental, and vision for employees and dependents
• FSA/HSA
• 20 PTO days (+5 Days at 4 years tenure) and Routine sick days
• 10 Company Observed Holidays + 2 Floating Holidays
• 8 weeks of parental leave paid at 100%
• Company-sponsored Short Term Disability and Basic Life Insurance
• Voluntary Benefits (LTD, Additional Life, and 401k)
• Flexible work hours
• $70-month tech reimbursement
• $30-month wellness reimbursement
• Virtual social events and a sense of community (even online)
• Global Recognition and Anniversary Program
• Plenty of opportunities while we grow and scale in a global environment
• Access to On-Demand Learning Platform

Note on the contract-to-hire structure: Standard BeatStars benefits apply at FTE conversion (typically month 6). During the initial contract-to-hire phase, the candidate is engaged as an independent contractor with a higher monthly rate to compensate for the absence of employee benefits during that period.

Compensation:

This is a Senior IC role (internal title: Senior Marketing Engineer; external recruiting title: Marketing Engineer). Compensation is cash-forward with no equity grant.

The compensation structure for this role:

• Contract-to-hire phase (first 6 months): $15,000 to $18,000 per month, paid as an independent contractor. Based on experience and location.
• FTE conversion (evaluated at month 5): Base salary $200,000 to $207,000 plus a $30,000 to $50,000 annual milestone bonus pool tied to specific launch and growth outcomes.
• Total target cash compensation post-conversion: $230,000 to $257,000.
• Equity: No equity grant. We compete on cash and on the work itself.

This salary range represents the low, middle, and high end of the cash compensation for this position and is subject to change. To determine starting pay, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location and an evaluation of a candidate's skills, experience, market demands, and internal parity. Compensation is just one component of our total rewards package. All regular employees are also eligible for additional benefits and perks that BeatStars has to offer.

Preferred locations to hire are in the United States. This is a US-based role only. No other locations will be considered at this time.

Core Working Hours:

BeatStars is a globally distributed team. To support collaboration across regions, we operate with core working hours designed to ensure meaningful overlap across teams:

• PT (US): 7:00 AM – 11:00 AM
• CT (US): 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
• ET (US): 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
• GMT+1 (UK & Portugal): 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
• GMT-3 (Brazil): 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
• GMT+2 (South Africa & Germany): 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM

While we generally have the flexibility to build an 8-hour workday, we ask for flexibility during core hours, as from time to time, it may be needed to attend global calls that cover more than 2 time zones during these hours. We ask folks to schedule events when possible, at least 3 working days in advance.

How to Apply:

To be considered along with your application, answer:

• Link your work. 
• In 3 sentences, explain why this role makes sense for you and what you would want to ship in your first 90 days.

The interview process is intentionally short: a 30 min screen with TA and a 30-minute call with Abe, followed by a paid 1-week trial project ($4,000) on a real upcoming initiative, followed by a hire decision within 5 business days of trial completion.