Everyone is welcome at Handshake. We know diverse teams build better products and we are committed to creating an inclusive culture built on a foundation of respect for all individuals. We strongly encourage candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized or underrepresented groups to apply.

Your impact

Handshake is hiring an experienced and strategic Sr. Director, Lifecycle Marketing, Product-led growth to lead efforts in designing, optimizing, and scaling our customer journey to drive acquisition, engagement, retention, and expansion of small businesses. If you’re passionate about data-driven growth and crafting impactful customer experiences, we want to hear from you!

In this role, you’ll be the architect of the customer journey, driving engagement and conversion of our large body of free employer users. You’ll also collaborate closely with our PMM and Demand team to drive awareness of Handshake among small and medium businesses, leading to free job creation. You will be close partners with cross-functional teams, including Product, and Sales to drive awareness and job creation to build marketing programs that increase product adoption and drive measurable growth in a PLG environment, ultimately leading to upsell into enterprise sales when appropriate.

This position will be based in our San Francisco office location and requires a hybrid work week.

Your role

Lifecycle strategy: Develop and own the end-to-end customer lifecycle strategy to maximize user engagement, retention, and monetization.
Onboarding optimization: Design onboarding flows and campaigns that educate, activate, and convert new users into power users.
Engagement & retention: Build targeted campaigns to re-engage inactive users, nurture active users, and reduce churn through tailored communications and interventions.
Cross-functional collaboration: Partner with Product, Data, and Customer Success teams to align lifecycle initiatives with business goals and user needs.
Experimentation & growth: Implement A/B testing and multivariate experiments to optimize campaign performance and customer touchpoints.
Data-driven insights: Leverage data analytics to understand user behavior, segment audiences, and refine lifecycle strategies.
Expansion & advocacy: Identify opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, and converting free users to paid tiers, while nurturing loyal advocates for referral programs.
Team leadership: Lead and mentor a team of lifecycle marketing professionals, fostering a culture of creativity and performance excellence.

Your experience

Experience: 8+ years in lifecycle marketing, retention marketing, or a related role, preferably in a PLG environment.
PLG expertise: Deep understanding of product-led growth strategies and experience driving growth in SaaS or subscription-based models.
Analytical skills: Strong proficiency in using data analytics tools (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel, Looker) and CRM platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo, Braze).
Customer-centric mindset: A passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences through targeted and relevant messaging.
Strategic thinker: Ability to connect the dots between user behavior, business goals, and marketing tactics to deliver impactful outcomes.
Leadership: Proven ability to manage and inspire a high-performing team.
Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence and align stakeholders.

Bonus areas of expertise

Experience working with freemium or usage-based pricing models.
Familiarity with customer feedback loops and NPS programs.
Strong technical understanding of marketing automation tools and personalization platforms.

Compensation range

Base Pay of $240K-$280K + bonus

For cash compensation, we set standard ranges for all U.S.-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. In order to be compliant with local legislation, as well as to provide greater transparency to candidates, we share salary ranges on all job postings regardless of desired hiring location. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including geographic location as well as candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.

About us

Handshake is the career platform for Gen Z. With a community of over 17 million students, alumni, employers, and career educators, Handshake’s network is where career advice and discovery turn into first, second, and third jobs. Nearly 1 million companies use Handshake to build their future workforce—from Fortune 500 to federal agencies, school districts to startups, healthcare systems to small businesses. Handshake is built for where you’re going, not where you’ve been.

When it comes to our workforce strategy, we’ve thought deeply about how work-life should look at Handshake. With our hybrid-work model, employees benefit from collaboration and shared team experiences three days per week in our vibrant offices, and enjoy the flexibility of remote work two days per week. Handshake is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, London, and Berlin.

What we offer

At Handshake, well give you the tools to feel healthy, happy and secure.

Benefits below apply to employees in full-time positions.

💰 Equity and ownership in a fast-growing company.
🍼 16 Weeks of paid parental leave for birth giving parents & 10 weeks of paid parental leave for non-birth giving parents.
💝 Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision policies including LGTBQ+ Coverage. We also provide resources for Mental Health Assistance, Employee Assistance Programs and counseling support.
💻 Handshake offers $500/£360 home office stipend for you to spend during your first 3 months to create a productive and comfortable workspace at home.
📚 Generous learning & development opportunities and an annual $2,000/£1,500/€1,850 stipend for you to grow your skills and career.
💰 Financial coaching through Origin to help you through your financial journey.
🛜 Monthly internet stipend and a brand new MacBook to allow you to do your best work.
🚃 Monthly commuter stipend for you to expense your travel to the office (for office-based employees).
🥗 Free lunch provided twice a week across all offices.
🤝 Referral bonus to reward you when you bring great talent to Handshake.

(US-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)

🏦 401k Match: Handshake offers a dollar-for-dollar match on 1% of deferred salary, up to a maximum of $1,200 per year.
🏝 All full-time US-based Handshakers are eligible for our flexible time off policy to get out and see the world. In addition, we offer 8 standardized holidays, and 2 additional days of flexible holiday time off. Lastly, we have a Winter ## ShakeBreak, a one-week period of Collective Time Off.
🍼 Family support: We partner with Milk Stork to provide comprehensive 100% employer-sponsored lactation support to traveling parents and guardians. Parental leave coaching and support provided by Parentaly.

(UK-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)

🏦 Pension Scheme: Handshake will provide you with a workplace pension, where you will make contributions based on 5% of your salary. Handshake will pay the equivalent of 3% towards your pension plan, subject to qualifying earnings limits.
🏝 Up to 25 days of vacation to encourage people to reset, recharge, and refresh, in addition to 8 bank holidays throughout the year.
🤝 Regular offsites each year to bring the team together + opportunity to travel to our HQ in San Francisco.
🛍️ Discounts across various high street retailers, cinemas and other social activities exclusively for Handshake UK employees.

(Germany-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)

🏝 25 days of annual leave + 5 days of a winter ## ShakeBreak, a one-week period of Collective Time Off across the company.
🤝 Regular offsites each year to bring the team together + opportunity to travel to our HQ in San Francisco once a year.
🧘 Urban sports club membership offering access to a diverse network of fitness and wellness facilities.
🛍️ Discounts across various high street retailers, cinemas and other social activities exclusively for Handshake Germany employees.

Looking for more? Explore our mission, values and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.

Handshake is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at people-hr@joinhandshake.com.