JOB POSTING DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, AND MEMBERSHIP

Celebrating our 72nd year, CuriOdyssey is a children's science museum and zoo located in Coyote Point Recreation Area, San Mateo County, California, overlooking the San Francisco Bay. We are seeking a strategic, growth-oriented Director of Marketing, Communications and Membership to lead audience development and strengthen earned revenue for a nonprofit science museum and zoo with an annual operating budget of approximately $7 million. Reporting to the CEO, this leader owns the marketing strategy that drives attendance and paid ticket sales, membership acquisition and renewal, and measurable marketing performance. The Director translates organizational goals into disciplined, integrated campaigns across out-of-home, digital, owned, earned, and on-site channels. The successful candidate combines deep marketing strategy experience with hands-on command of media, analytics, brand, and team leadership. This is a player-coach role for someone who can set direction, make smart budget trade-offs, guide agencies and staff, and step in to execute when needed. What Success Looks Like A clear annual and multi-year marketing strategy connects audience priorities, positioning, channel choices, budget, and revenue goals. Attendance, paid ticket sales, membership acquisition, and membership renewal improve through focused campaigns and a stronger customer journey. Out-of-home and digital media work as an integrated system, with disciplined testing, attribution, and optimization. Leadership receives concise, decision-ready reporting on reach, conversion, revenue, return on ad spend (ROAS), customer acquisition cost, and other agreed KPIs. CuriOdyssey's website, content, and search presence make it easier for families, schools, members, donors, and event customers to discover, understand, and act. The Marketing and Membership team operates with clear priorities, useful processes, high standards, and constructive accountability. Collaborations with our Education, Exhibits, Facility Rentals, and Development teams to coordinate messaging and campaigns. Essential Responsibilities Strategy and growth. Develop and lead an integrated marketing, communications, and membership strategy tied to attendance, ticket sales, membership sales and renewals, brand health, audience development, and organizational priorities. Audience and positioning. Use research, segmentation, first-party data and market insight to identify priority audiences, sharpen CuriOdyssey's value proposition and create relevant messaging for diverse Bay Area communities. Out-of-home advertising. Set OOH media strategy, including market and geographic selection, transit, billboard, street-level, and other place-based opportunities. Lead planning, buying oversight, creative adaptation, production specifications, flighting, vendor management, and effectiveness measurement. Digital advertising. Direct paid search, paid social, display, programmatic, video, retargeting and emerging digital channels. Establish testing plans, audience and conversion strategies, tracking requirements, brand-safety standards and optimization cadence. Campaign leadership. Build campaign briefs, goals, budgets, timelines and channel plans. Guide creative development and ensure accurate, accessible, on-brand delivery across paid, owned, earned and on-site touchpoints. Performance management. Create a practical measurement framework and reporting rhythm. Monitor spend and results, diagnose performance, shift resources when warranted, and communicate insights and recommendations to the CEO and senior leadership team. Membership growth. Partner with the Marketing and Membership Systems Manager to strengthen acquisition, renewal, upgrade, win-back, lifecycle communications, and member experience. Website and search. Own the marketing roadmap for website content, user journeys, and conversion. Lead SEO and evolving AI-search visibility practices, including technical and content improvements, structured data, local discovery, and measurement through analytics and search platforms. Brand and communications. Maintain brand standards and message consistency. Oversee public-facing communications and coordinate with public relations support on media opportunities, issues, and organizational storytelling. Cross-functional revenue support. Provide strategic and tactical marketing support for education programs, retail, fundraising campaigns, facility rentals, and special events while keeping primary accountability focused on attendance, ticketing, membership, and marketing performance. Budget and operations. Manage the department's approximately $550,000 annual budget, including personnel, agencies, media, production, and technology. Track forecast-to-actual spending, approve work within delegated authority, and maintain effective vendor and project-management practices. Team leadership. Lead, coach, and evaluate the Digital Marketing Manager and the Marketing and Membership Systems Manager. Set priorities, clarify decision rights, support professional growth, and build a collaborative, results-oriented culture. Organizational leadership. The Director of Marketing is a key member of CuriOdyssey's Senior Leadership Team and works cross-functionally to develop and implement organizational strategy. Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, communications, or advertising from an accredited institution. Will consider work experience in lieu of a degree. Master's or MBA with a marketing focus preferred. At least 8 years of progressively responsible marketing experience, including significant ownership of strategy, integrated campaigns, budgets, and measurable growth outcomes. At least 2 years of experience leading a department or managing a team of two or more employees. Deep experience developing and evaluating both out-of-home advertising and paid digital media strategies, with demonstrated ability to connect media choices to business outcomes. Demonstrated success driving consumer attendance, ticket sales, subscriptions, or memberships in a ticketed, membership-based, or comparable customer environment. Strong command of marketing analytics and experimentation, including conversion tracking, attribution, ROAS, customer acquisition cost, funnel performance, and budget optimization. Experience with SEO and AI-search optimization, including the evolving practices often described as answer-engine optimization or generative-engine optimization. Ability to distinguish durable, evidence-based search practices from short-lived tactics. Experience managing agencies, media buyers, creative partners, technology vendors, and production timelines. Excellent writing, editing, presentation, and executive communication skills, with sound judgment about audience, tone, and message. Strong people leadership, project management, and prioritization skills, including the ability to operate effectively in a small, hands-on organization. Ability to work occasional evenings, early mornings, and weekends for campaigns, events, or urgent communications. Preferred Experience Experience in a museum, zoo, attraction, hospitality organization, or nonprofit. Website strategy or design experience, particularly information architecture, user experience, accessibility, content management, conversion-rate optimization, or a website redesign. Experience marketing to families, schools, tourists, or culturally and economically diverse communities. Working knowledge of CRM, ticketing, membership, email automation, web analytics, and marketing technology systems. Strong visual judgment and the ability to provide useful creative direction; graphic production skills are helpful but not required. Leadership and Working Style Strategic and commercially minded, with genuine commitment to CuriOdyssey's nonprofit mission. Curious, pragmatic, and willing to test informed ideas, learn quickly, and adjust based on evidence. Clear about priorities and accountability while remaining collaborative, respectful, and supportive. Comfortable moving between long-range planning, executive discussion, detailed campaign review, and hands-on problem-solving. Highly organized, responsive, and attentive to the accuracy and accessibility of external communications.

Work Arrangement and Environment Status and Salary:

Full-time, exempt, $140,000 annual salary Hybrid schedule: Four days on-site and one day working remotely each week, subject to operational needs.

Benefits include:

Vacation, Paid Sick Leave, holidays, individual medical, dental, life insurance, 403(b) retirement plan, museum membership, and more.

Work environment:

Primarily an indoor office and public attraction setting with a moderate noise level, a fast-paced workflow, and changing deadlines. The office is reached by stairs or steep ramps and doesn't have elevator access.

Physical requirements:

With or without reasonable accommodation, the role regularly involves sitting for extended periods and climbing stairs or steep ramps; occasionally lifting or carrying up to 20 pounds, pushing a cart weighing up to 50 pounds, and providing event support that may require walking or standing for up to two hours.

Special requirements:

All positions at CuriOdyssey require final-round candidates to pass a DOJ fingerprint background check, paid for by CuriOdyssey.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

CuriOdyssey seeks to build a diverse work team and encourages applications from candidates who will add to that diversity. CuriOdyssey is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to age, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and/or related medical conditions), gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Pay:

$140,000.00 per year

Benefits:

Dental insurance Employee assistance program Employee discount Health insurance Paid time off Professional development assistance Vision insurance

Education:

Bachelor's (Preferred)

Experience:

Marketing:

8 years (Required) Team management: 2 years (Required)

Work Location:

Hybrid remote in San Mateo, CA 94401