Job: Marketing Director (Licensed Fan Apparel)

Company Description

Our client is a founder-led designer and distributor of officially licensed collegiate and professional sports apparel, headquartered in Los Angeles. Established approximately ten years ago, the company holds licenses with major college and professional sports leagues and maintains hundreds of school and team partnerships. Approximately 70% of revenue is generated through wholesale across close to 1,000 doors, including college bookstores, national sporting goods chains, and specialty retailers. The remaining 30% comes from a direct-to-consumer e-commerce channel that has grown every year. Having recently secured additional league licenses, the company is preparing to expand into new licensing territories and product categories.

Objective of the Role

In this newly created position, the Director of Marketing will take over leadership of the marketing function from the Co-Founder and Co-CEO, to whom the role reports. The primary objective is to bring analytical rigor and accountability to an established brand: scale the direct-to-consumer channel profitably, optimize the existing marketing budget, and build the structure, measurement, and processes required for the company’s next stage of growth. The role is performance-driven first, while requiring sound creative judgment.

Ideal Profile

The ideal candidate is a performance-oriented marketing leader with a background in apparel, licensed sports products, or another consumer category with high SKU complexity, such as color cosmetics. Relevant backgrounds include licensed sports apparel companies such as Fanatics, ’47, or Homage, digitally native apparel brands, and multi-SKU beauty brands such as e.l.f. Cosmetics or ColourPop. The candidate combines a command of unit economics with the management experience needed to develop an early-career team, and works effectively alongside hands-on founders in an entrepreneurial environment. Adaptability and openness to an unconventional approach are essential.

Responsibilities

• Own the marketing budget, its allocation across channels and campaigns, and accountability for returns.
• Build the measurement framework: attribution, CAC by channel, contribution margin, campaign ROI, and executive reporting.
• Lead paid media end to end, managing the in-house media buyer and the external search advertising agency against defined targets.
• Oversee lifecycle email and SMS, site conversion and merchandising presentation, organic social, and creator partnerships.
• Establish a testing roadmap and reallocate spend weekly based on sales performance.
• Manage and develop a team of five: Media Buyer, Brand and Graphic Designer, Campaign and Creative Content Coordinator, Marketing Coordinator, and Marketing and PR Coordinator. Customer service also sits within the team.
• Assess the team structure, define future hiring priorities, and determine what remains in-house versus outsourced.
• Build the annual and seasonal marketing plan and calendar in alignment with product and sales, including the peak back-to-school and football season.
• Brief and approve creative output and manage photo shoots within budget.
• Lead go-to-market for new licenses and categories, oversee PR, and support the wholesale team with brand assets for key accounts and trade shows.

Requirements

• At least five years of marketing experience, including a minimum of two years directly managing a team.
• Demonstrated ownership of a marketing budget, with specific accountability for CAC, ROAS, MER, and contribution margin.
• Hands-on analytical ability, including building financial and performance models independently.
• Experience managing media buyers or agencies against performance targets.
• Proficiency with Shopify, Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta and TikTok Ads reporting.
• Consumer brand experience in apparel, DTC, or lifestyle, with exposure to high-SKU assortments.
• Strong visual judgment and the ability to articulate creative feedback.
• A track record of building or restructuring a team and scaling a function through growth.
• Experience with licensed product and wholesale or B2B channels is a plus.
• Hybrid position based in Los Angeles, CA, three days per week in the office.