Head of Marketing

About Primer

Primer is a growing network of K–8 schools restoring the timeless foundations of American education. Inspired by the original teaching primers that shaped a nation of readers, thinkers, and builders, our schools begin with what has always worked, and build for what lies ahead. Close-knit learning environments. Skilled educators. A culture that takes kids seriously as learners and leaders.

Primers shaped the first 200 years of American children. Primer will ready them for the next.

About the role

Primer has all the makings of an iconic brand: a big vision to solve one of the hardest problems in America, real stories of lives we’ve changed across the country, and strong cultural tailwinds pushing us forward. We hear from parents, educators, legislators, and community leaders every day about the lives we’re changing — from families who felt stuck in the traditional system and now see their child thriving at Primer, to parents who “feel like they have their child back” after a few months at Primer.

Your job is to harness this momentum and craft a brand that millions of families from all walks of life trust with the most important decision they make each year: their child’s school.

You will own the entire surface area of Primer’s marketing — from our big-picture narrative to individual brand assets across visual design, photography, film content, and copy. You’ll inherit our existing brand systems, which you see today across Primer.com, and be tasked with growing this foundation into the future of Primer’s brand.

There are three unique challenges in this role:

• First, our brand must be both aspirational and accessible. Most education brands opt for pure exclusivity or pure accessibility, but that won’t work for Primer.

• Second, we are a central marketing & brand org with dozens (and soon hundreds) of local Primers. These campuses are the primary way families experience the Primer brand post-enrollment, and nailing the local manifestation of our brand will require systems that scale down to (and empower) those working at the campus level.

• Finally, you’ll need to develop (or have) a nuanced intuition for how Primer should fit into the overall education ecosystem. Education is tough, riddled with many strong opinions, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity. If you shape our public perception with conviction — and succeed — you will have crafted one of the all-time great American brands.

Responsibilities

• Define what Primer stands for. Codify what Primer means to parents, educators, and the community.

• Build the local engine. How quickly we enroll students in each new Primer — the 'enrollment ramp' as we call it internally — is the most sensitive variable in our expansion motion. You'll build the repeatable field marketing system that steepens this curve: open houses, local social proof, and dozens ideas we haven't yet thought of. Most importantly, you'll hand this engine to campus teams to execute locally.

• Build the referral system that turns happy parents into growth channels.

• Build the operating system that dials in every public-facing artifact we ship. You'll fight the approval-chain-by-vibes with clear standards and (quick) checks against them.

• Partner with Growth, Admissions, and Product to establish the messaging, identity, and creative standards used across marketing, admissions, and the product experience, enabling each team to execute within those standards.

• Lay the groundwork for employer brand and PR, so our story lands with parents, future staff, and the public alike.

What we're looking for

• Experience marketing to parents or families. You’ve built brands that feel both aspirational and accessible, and understand what it takes to connect with everyday American families.

• You've worked in a multi-site business. Lots of locations, one brand, every one needing to feel local. You've lived that problem and solved some version of it.

• You've built a marketing function from zero to 1. If you've only inherited or maintained a marketing motion, this role isn't for you.

• A crisp writer and editor with taste. You can set the voice and language standards and enforce them.

• Authenticity. We take families, students, and the teachers who serve them seriously. You'll make sure the brand does too, in every community we're in.

Why this role may not be a fit

• You're a performance marketer at heart. Our paid marketing motion lives under our growth function and is already a high-performing machine. This role will partner on all things brand, creative, and non-paid channels — positioning, local launch, referral, creative, and more.

• You want a pure-play exec role. This may grow into that. Today it's a hands-on player-coach role.

Primer is a mission-first company. We believe our mission is the highest-leverage way we can create positive change. In service of that, we keep work centered on mission execution and avoid social or political activism at work that’s unrelated to the mission. If that energizes you, we’d love to see you apply.