Director, Lifecycle Marketing

Caribou Financial; Chicago, Denver, Phoenix (IL, CO, AZ); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Incentive bonus

Equity options

Generous PTO and parental leave

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Caribou Financial is seeking an experienced Lifecycle Marketing Director to own and reimagine how we engage customers across the entire journey—from first interaction through conversion, reactivation, and post-funded advocacy.

This senior role blends strategy and hands-on execution, set the vision for cross-channel communications and leverage AI to personalize experiences while partnering with Marketing, Product, Sales, Operations, and Analytics.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of Lifecycle/CRM/retention marketing leadership.
• Hands-on expertise with marketing automation platforms (Braze preferred; SendGrid/Iterable also relevant).
• Proven track record of driving measurable conversion lift across funnels.

Responsibilities

• Own the Lifecycle strategy and communications journey from pre-submission through post-funded advocacy.
• Develop segmentation and personalization strategies based on behavior and signals.
• Partner with Marketing, Product, Sales & Operations, and Analytics to drive conversion lift.
• Lead AI-driven support for customer communications and experimentation.
• Establish testing frameworks and governance for Lifecycle programs.
• Build scalable lifecycle platforms and manage vendor relationships.
• Lead and develop the Lifecycle Marketing Operations Manager.
• Ensure compliance by design in all customer communications.

Skills

Lifecycle marketing

CRM / retention marketing

Marketing automation platforms

Braze experience

Data-driven / analytics

Tools

Braze

SendGrid

Iterable

Job description

Chicago, IL | Denver, CO | Phoenix, AZ | Remote, US

About Caribou

At Caribou, we care about giving people financial freedom so they can focus on what’s most important to them. Today, less than two percent of Americans refinance their auto loans despite drastic increases in the cost of new and used cars. We see huge potential to help folks reduce their monthly auto expenses, as well as increase the predictability of those expenses over time. We do this by building technology to pair customers with community banks and credit unions, and ushering them through the process quickly. On average, our drivers save $162/month on their car loans while protecting their investment long term.

Caribou is led by leaders from the technology, automotive, and finance industries. We’re proud to be backed by a great team of investors, including QED Investors, Goldman Sachs, Moderne Ventures, Accomplice, Link Ventures, Motley Fool Ventures and others.

About the Role

Caribou is seeking an experienced Lifecycle Marketing Director to own and reimagine how we engage customers across the entire journey — from first interaction through conversion, reactivation, and post-funded advocacy.

This is a high-impact role with broad ownership and influence. You’ll set the strategy for how Caribou communicates with customers across channels, using data and experimentation while leveraging AI where it can make communications more personalized and effective. You’ll help build a more intelligent, personalized communications experience — one that makes refinancing easier for customers while driving meaningful growth for Caribou.

You’ll operate as both a strategist and a builder — setting the vision while staying close enough to the work to turn it into reality. You’ll partner closely with leaders across Marketing, Product, Sales & Operations, and Analytics & Data Science to shape how customers experience Caribou and build Lifecycle into a measurable growth engine.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the Lifecycle strategy and communications journey. Set the end-to-end strategy for how Caribou communicates with customers across email, SMS, and call scripting — from pre-submission through conversion, reactivation, and post-funded advocacy. Continuously identify gaps and opportunities and maintain a clear, up-to-date communications architecture.
• Build a sophisticated communications segmentation and personalization strategy. Define how customers are segmented and targeted for Lifecycle communications based on behavior, lead source, intent, Lifecycle stage, and other relevant signals to make every interaction increasingly relevant and effective.
• Drive measurable conversion and growth. Partner closely with Performance Marketing, Brand, Product, Sales & Operations, and Analytics & Data Science to improve the customer journey and deliver measurable conversion lift across the funnel.
• Help shape how AI supports the customer journey. Represent Lifecycle Marketing in cross-functional planning for AI-driven customer decisioning, ensuring communications strategy informs how and when customers are engaged as these capabilities mature.
• Leverage AI within Lifecycle execution. Apply AI to content generation, creative personalization, campaign optimization, and other Lifecycle workflows to increase the quality, speed, and personalization of customer communications.
• Set a rigorous experimentation and measurement agenda. Partner with Analytics to establish testing and measurement frameworks, including holdout-based incrementality testing, that clearly demonstrate the impact of Lifecycle programs on conversion and business outcomes.
• Build for operational excellence and scale. Own Lifecycle marketing platforms and vendor relationships, establish strong processes and governance, and ensure high-quality execution and deliverability as the program grows.
• Ensure communications are compliant by design. Partner closely with Legal and Compliance to establish appropriate review and governance for customer-facing communications, particularly as personalization and AI-driven decisioning increase the scale and complexity of customer engagement.
• Lead and develop the Lifecycle team. Manage and develop the Lifecycle Marketing Operations Manager while building a high-performing function that combines strategic thinking, analytical rigor, and exceptional execution.

About You

• 10+ years of experience in Lifecycle, CRM, or retention marketing, with meaningful ownership of communications strategy, communications segmentation, and customer journeys at scale — not just campaign execution.
• Deep, hands‑on expertise with marketing automation platforms and the technical fluency to understand how sophisticated Lifecycle programs are built and executed. Experience with Braze is strongly preferred; SendGrid, Iterable, or similar platforms are also relevant.
• A demonstrated track record of driving measurable conversion lift through Lifecycle programs, with a strong understanding of how communications influence customer behavior across the funnel.
• Highly analytical and experimentation-driven. You’re comfortable with cohort analysis, funnel performance, incrementality testing, and connecting Lifecycle performance to revenue and business outcomes.
• Experience using AI to improve marketing execution, including content development, personalization, campaign optimization, or other applications that improve the quality and scale of customer communications.
• A strong cross‑functional leader. You’ve partnered closely with Product, Sales, Operations, and Analytics/Data Science teams and can influence priorities, negotiate tradeoffs, and drive shared outcomes as a peer.
• Experience connecting marketing and human‑assisted customer journeys, including communications across digital and sales/contact‑center channels and the handoffs between them.
• A strategic thinker who is equally comfortable getting into the details. You can set a long‑term vision while digging into segmentation logic, campaign performance, or platform capabilities when the work demands it.
• A strong people leader with experience managing and developing high‑performing team members.
• Experience in a regulated or compliance‑sensitive industry — such as financial services, lending, healthcare, or insurance — is a strong plus.

Location

Candidates are welcome to work remotely from the states of AZ, CO, DC, IL, MD, TX, and VA with a preference for the Chicago IL, Denver CO, or Phoenix AZ areas. Caribou does provide the option to work in‑office or hybrid from our Denver, CO or Chandler, AZ offices. We may consider remote candidates in CA, FL, MA, NY, OR, WA, and WI, subject to additional approval. Eligibility by state is subject to change.

How we will take care of you

Everyone at Caribou is a valued team member. Our compensation and benefits package includes:

• Competitive compensation: $160k-$195k
• Eligible for annual performance‑based incentive
• Equity options
• Generous paid time off including Flexible Time Off (FTO) for all employees and 100% paid parental leave for all parents
• Exceptional benefits including highly subsidized medical, dental, and vision plans, and fully company‑paid mental health, disability, and basic life insurance
• Optional benefits to suit your individual circumstances such as HSAs (with Caribou HSA contributions), FSAs, supplemental life and health, legal, and pet insurance
• Up to $1,000 per year for eligible professional development expenses
• Employee referral program

Our Core Values

We come from all walks of life and are joined together by our shared values, which guide our work and how we work together.

• Give a damn. What we’re doing matters. We show up determined to deliver results, and we love it.
• Velocity. We’re intentional about where we’re going and we race towards it.
• Make the assist. We have diverse strengths. We offer and ask for help so we all win.

The essential functions of this position require consistent attendance, availability, and active engagement throughout your full scheduled shift.

Caribou is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, marital status, military or protected veteran status, genetics, or any other characteristic protected by law. This position is not restricted solely to the responsibilities listed above, and the scope and responsibilities are subject to change. A pre‑employment background check is required as a condition of employment.

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