Marketing & Communications Manager

underdog & company is a marketing and brand experiences agency – delivering consulting, strategic partnership, experiential and integrated marketing work across the sports, culture and entertainment.

We’re looking for a Marketing & Communications Manager to own the connective work that describes who we are and coordinates how we communicate that value proposition internally and externally – from press moments to partnerships to events to awards.

This is a highly cross-functional role that requires proactive work, creativity, strong writing, and the ability to build alignment across leadership and independent teams. It is a full-time role that reports to the COO/CSO.

Key Responsibilities

●      Partner with senior leadership to continuously refine the company’s vision and value proposition

●      Ensure our messaging is consistent and clear across all levels of the organization and external

●      Collaborate with our creative strategy and design teams to pull core messaging into external-facing materials, including the company website, socials and capabilities collateral

●      Own the corporate website and digital/social presence, ensuring consistency in voice, tone, and positioning

●      Develop the company’s social media strategy (LinkedIn and Instagram) – posting cadence, content ideas, copywriting, posting and internal communications to ensure alignment; creative will help build templates for posting

●      Build and manage a proactive public relations and communications calendar; identifying opportunities tied to industry moments and milestones

●      Develop process for internal communications ahead of external announcements or releases (e.g., new clients, work spotlights, events, awards etc.)

●      Develop and manage underdog’s client & prospect hosting calendar (e.g., how does underdog show up at WNBA All-Star, Cannes, Art Basel, Super Bowl, NWSL Championship etc.); identify the key moments we should have a presence at and own the event planning and communications (internal coordination, invites, creative, budget and programming) in collaboration with senior leadership

●      Identify thought leadership themes and opportunities that strengthen the company’s external reputation and visibility (e.g., women’s sports, college etc.)

●      Develop an external leadership speaking plan (e.g. outline where our leaders should represent us at events and on panels to improve our visibility and authority in key areas); lead outreach on behalf of senior leadership, help secure their placements on panels & guide panel coordination/prep (if needed)

●      Begin to cultivate media and industry relationships to support placement, coverage, and distribution of thought leadership content (Note: underdog has senior leadership to help with this outreach and begin establishing connections for you)

●      Manage the company’s portfolio of strategic and media partnerships, including scope, terms, and asset delivery (e.g., Sports Business Journal partnership)

●      Identify and evaluate new partnership opportunities that support goals of increasing underdog visibility and reputation in the industry

●      As applicable, support client-based PR work (e.g. emerging sports league launch)

●      Develop and lead an awards strategy across the organization – identifying opportunities for both collective and individual recognition

●      Own the end-to-end awards submission process, including submission writing, deadline management and cross-team coordination

●      Develop and launch an underdog podcast (to be hosted by Founder/CEO Dan Mannix); in collaboration with Dan, outline the podcast’s focus, guest list and amplification strategy

Qualifications

We are looking for candidates with 4-5+ years of experience in marketing, communications, PR, or brand management — agency or multi-brand/multi-business environment strongly preferred.

●      Excellent writing skills, with the ability to distill and tighten messaging for executive audiences

●      Strong project management skills; comfortable owning a calendar of moving parts across multiple stakeholders

●      Proven ability to build alignment and drive process across teams

●      Familiarity with media relations and PR planning

●      Comfortable presenting recommendations directly to senior leadership

●      Highly organized and self-directed

Salary: $75,000 - $125,000 dependent on experience