Head of Marketing, High Impact Athletes
Remote (global), APAC strongly preferred for time zone overlap. USD 80,000 to 100,000 base (approximately A$120,000 to 150,000) plus bonus and cost of living allowance. Full-time. Apply by email to marketingrole@highimpactathletes.org.
We are hiring a Head of Marketing to build the growth engine that takes annual fundraising from $15m to $100m. If you have owned acquisition, activation, lifecycle and retention for a consumer brand through a period of serious growth, and you want every funnel you fix to move real money to the world's most effective charities, this is the role.
About us
High Impact Athletes (HIA) is a nonprofit founded by Olympians. We are the place that sports and athletes go to change the world. This year we will raise USD $10-15 million and believe we are just getting started.
Our flagship programme, Race for Impact (RFI), embeds peer-to-peer fundraising into the HYROX world. Alongside this, our network of 430+ elite athletes across 50 sports have impact through direct giving, fundraising campaigns, and using their influence to make the world a better place.
We may be purpose-led, but achievement still drives us. Our vision is for HIA to become one of the most recognisable names in sport, and for our athletes to build platforms that become the foundation for their future. Nike had Jordan. We want the next global athlete and sport to be a force for good.
The role
This is an opportunity for the right person to create a movement. A movement grounded in sports, but elevated by human stories. HIA and RFI have the platforms, the people, and the purpose. We need the right person to take ownership over every step of our experience. To build an engine that converts participation and attention into sustained fundraising and enduring brand reputation.
HIA and our Race for Impact program already have significant reach: 430 elite athletes, 50,000 HYROX racers and 150,000 donors are all supporting some of the world's most effective charities. The opportunity now is to accelerate our growth and scale, to deliver truly momentous impact.
The Head of Marketing will unlock the full potential of mass participation and athlete-led giving by designing and building the lifecycles that turn athletes and fans into donors, racers into fundraisers, fundraisers into donors and advocates, and first-time participants into repeat racers.
In this role you would be accountable for marketing strategy, investment and performance across acquisition, activation, lifecycle and retention. You'll connect our audiences, data, digital experience, content and partnerships into one measurable growth system, and build the team and capabilities required to scale it globally. Every funnel you fix will move real money, averting deaths from preventable illness, sparing women from violence, delivering mental health treatment, and creating better conditions for vulnerable animals.
- Reports to: Hugo Inglis, Managing Director. Includes Board exposure.
- Team: lead a team of 5-8, with immediate remit to hire.
- Start date: ASAP (allowing for notice periods).
What you will own
- End to end growth strategy and performance: marketing budget (over half of org spend next year, in the millions), channel execution, team, agencies, campaign calendar. Time and energy will be split roughly 70% Race for Impact and 30% elite athletes.
- Audience and lifecycle: optimise our current channel strategies and tactics, and drive new ones, to deliver a fully functioning marketing funnel, qualified leads, and sales pipelines.
- The Race for Impact user experience: own the racer and donor journeys, requirements, and conversion performance. Partner with our digital team to bring this to life, and our content team to amplify these experiences.
- HYROX and elite athlete activation: build a global marketing calendar that maximises the fundraising and audience value of the HYROX partnership across 80+ events. Turn HIA's 430+ athlete network into a scalable acquisition, advocacy and fundraising asset.
- Agencies and partners: own agency partnerships, from onboarding to account management, against a clearly defined book of work and outcomes. Current agencies include Two Circles and WRTHY.
- Operating tools and reporting: improve systems (AI should be front and centre) to deliver key results, and optimise the partnership relationship to ensure all assets are owned in HIA domains. Deliver automated reporting on key marketing metrics to leadership and board.
- The team and partnerships: grow your team, set its priorities, and partner closely with the Director of Brand & Creative to shape organisational strategy.
What success looks like
- 90 days: know the funnel, the numbers and the people. Have attended a HYROX race weekend, and started influencing athlete campaigns and direction of marketing team.
- 6 months: taken over and optimised the strategy. Clear team and marketing plan with measurable outcomes.
- 12 months: double Race for Impact's average fundraising per racer, returning racer %, and social followers, and elite athlete campaign fundraising. Completely own the vertical.
- North star: 10x Race for Impact fundraising, identify new mid-market competition partners, convert 10% of our elite athletes into our giving funds.
Role requirements
- Experience building or scaling a consumer growth engine through a period of significant growth (e.g. from $10m to $50m+ in revenue)
- A track record owning large annual marketing budgets, and managing a marketing and/or GTM function against targets
- Deep understanding of acquisition, conversion, CRM/lifecycle and retention, not simply brand or communications. Willingness to build these functions from scratch where needed
- Advanced ability to analyse data and apply insights to drive marketing innovation and growth
- Proven value extracted from agency and consultancy relationships
- Fluency with marketing systems and AI
- A bias to action, and the ability to put marketing reality in plain language for founders, board members, funders and partners
- Genuine commitment to the mission. You want your work to drive measurable benefits for other people.
Bonus points
- Mass participation sport, rights holders, or endurance events
- Consumer subscription or marketplace growth
- Charity/commercial hybrid organisations
- Built a creator or ambassador programme from scratch
Compensation and benefits
Base salary: $80,000 - 100,000 USD (approximately A$120,000 - 150,000). This includes employer superannuation, pension or equivalent statutory retirement contributions.
Cost of living adjustment: up to 25% of base for expensive locations.
Performance bonus: incremental % of salary, based on organisational performance.
Employment process: depending on your location, we may engage you as a direct employee, or through an employer of record or contractor arrangement. We will discuss this through the interview process.
Other benefits: fully remote, async-first culture. Generous leave policy. Health insurance (in jurisdictions without public healthcare). Equipment stipend. Work in a mission-driven team that is in growth mode.
How to apply
Email marketingrole@highimpactathletes.org with a single PDF containing:
- Your CV
- A ~2-minute Loom video on why this role
- One piece of marketing work you're proud of: a campaign you ran end to end, a funnel you rebuilt, a channel you scaled, a bet you killed and why
- Three to five sentences on why marketing for impact, and why now
Read the full job description. Find out more about Race for Impact and High Impact Athletes.
High Impact Athletes is an equal opportunity employer. We actively encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, particularly those underrepresented in marketing and non-profit leadership.
