About This Role

Strava is the leading social platform for athletes and the largest sports community in the world, with over 95 million athletes in 195 countries. If you sweat you’re an athlete, and Strava’s mobile apps and website connect millions of active people every day!

We are looking for a VP of Brand Marketing & Strategy to join our team, reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer. This leadership role will be critical in building the broader marketing function at Strava and will also serve on Strava’s senior leadership team (MTeam). The aim of this role is to define and grow Strava into a leading brand that transcends the fitness category and drives meaningful impact in the world through movement.

The VP of Brand Marketing & Strategy will stand up our Brand Marketing function to define the positioning for the Strava brand, deepen the emotional connection with existing Strava users, attract new audiences to the brand, and find ways to drive cultural conversations with our community both on and off our platform. You will get to build a team of brand marketers from the ground up, to drive relevance and distinctiveness with our core audiences (runners and cyclists) while defining how to expand the brand to new audiences, including younger and more diverse audiences. As the brand expands, this role will play a critical part in bringing the company’s commitment to anti-racism to life by explicitly attracting BIPOC athletes to the platform and via brand actions that expand the inclusivity of sport.

You will work cross-functionally with leads across Country Marketing, Member Growth, Product Marketing, Global Communications and Strava Business to build the brand across all consumer touchpoints. As a Global leader, you connect personally with Strava’s mission, and have a passion for understanding what motivates athletes and how to translate those insights into brand actions and stories. As one of Strava’s most senior leaders, you are driven to contribute to the greater health and success of your team and the broader company by cultivating a culture of inclusivity, living a commitment to anti-racism and championing creativity in the organization.

You’re excited about this opportunity because you will:

• Be insatiably curious about understanding the athlete and what motivates them so that we can find even more meaningful ways for Strava to add value to their lives.

• Have the desire to build something and get your hands dirty while doing it. Strava is an incredible brand for the athletes that already know us; we have a tremendous opportunity to recruit more athletes to the community by creating a magnet with the brand.

• Work brilliantly with teammates in various product, marketing, communications, partnerships and revenue functions at all levels in the organization, pushing to elevate the brand equity in the athlete’s heart and mind at all times.

• Understand how to create big, bold, brand moments that marry fundamental human truths, brand truths and cultural truths. You can’t wait to one-up yourself with an even better campaign than your last.

• Value creativity and measurement, ensuring the company understands how brand marketing is driving short term business outcomes as well as long term brand outcomes.

• Inspire the organization to dream big about what the Strava brand can be. Relish the opportunity to bring the brand to life in key cultural moments that will elevate our brand and drive conversation, while also reinforcing our brand values.

You will be successful here by:

• Building a brand strategy muscle in the organization - Building a brand strategy team is a first for Strava. You will play a critical role in educating the organization on the role that brand strategy can play across the organization - from product development to campaign execution - and will write the playbook for the processes and practices that we need to cultivate to build a successful brand.

• Being a champion of simplicity and focus for the brand - As we expand the brand to younger and more diverse audiences, you will distill a seemingly complex set of choices into a simple playbook to unlock relevance with a wider audience. This will include guiding how we incorporate Strava’s global social impact strategy focused on climate change, equity and inclusion in sport and environmental racism into the broader brand narrative.

• Unlocking Creative Excellence - You will be a strong strategic driver and collaborator with Strava’s brand creative teams, unlocking creative excellence through sharing powerful insights and killer creative briefs.

• Living the values of the Brand - As a key leader not only on the marketing team, but across the organization, you will live the values of the brand in the way that you recruit, build and lead the brand strategy team. You will lead with authenticity, compassion and create an inclusive environment for all.

We’re excited about you because you:

• Have 15+ years or equivalent relevant experience in building brands, either agency or brand-side, with some experience driving a digitally forward brand.

• Are a respected leader, motivator, who is unafraid to roll-up sleeves and lead from the front. People are drawn to you even if they don’t directly report to you. You’ve been in a global leadership role before.

• Can build a brand team from the ground up and will empower your teams with a clear vision for the work and direction for the brand.

• Have experience building and scaling brands to weave together a global brand story that has room for local relevance.

• Have a proven track record of big, global brand campaigns that have driven brand conversations with new audiences in new mediums.

• Are highly strategic - you can break down a consumer and/or brand opportunity and create a simple plan to unlock growth for the brand.

• Are deeply curious about Strava’s target audiences and can translate deep insights into meaningful brand plans and creative briefs.

• Are a critical thinker who is comfortable operating without a playbook and is able to be a driving force for a culture of creativity, experimentation and learning.

• Are adept at collaboration and communicating clearly in a fast-paced, sometimes ambiguous environment.

• Are comfortable communicating/working with virtual teams across several locations, but even so, manage to stay in sync and influence internal partners.

About Strava

Strava is Swedish for “strive,” which epitomizes who we are and what we do. We’re a passionate and committed team, unified by our mission to connect athletes to what motivates them and help them find their personal best. And with billions of activity uploads from all over the world, we have a humbling and audacious vision: to be the record of the world’s athletic activities and the technology that makes every effort count.

Strava builds software that makes the best part of our athletes’ days even better. And just as we’re deeply committed to unlocking their potential, we’re dedicated to providing a world-class, inclusive workplace where our employees can grow and thrive, too. We’re backed by Sequoia Capital, Madrone Partners and Jackson Square Ventures, and we’re expanding in order to exceed the needs of our growing community of global athletes. Our culture reflects our community – we are continuously striving to hire and engage diverse teammates from all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives because we know we are a stronger team together.

In light of the global pandemic, Strava is currently working in a fully remote capacity. As always, we remain committed to fully supporting our employees, especially their mental health and wellbeing, through these challenging times. Despite challenges in the world around us, we are continuing to grow camaraderie and positivity within our culture and we are unified in our commitment to becoming an antiracist company. We are differentiated by our truly people-first approach, our compassionate leadership, and our belief that we can bring joy and inspiration to athletes’ lives — now more than ever. All to say, it’s a great time to join Strava!

Strava is an equal opportunity employer. In keeping with the values of Strava, we make all employment decisions including hiring, evaluation, termination, promotional and training opportunities, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, physical handicap, mental disability, medical condition, disability, gender or identity or expression, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, marital status, height and/or weight.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

California Consumer Protection Act Applicant Notice

For more information on compensation and benefits, please click here.