Head of Marketing

Swarm Aero Inc.; Oxnard (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful equity

Competitive base salary

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Job summary

Swarm Aero is seeking a senior marketing leader to define the company’s identity and tell its story across defense and tech audiences. You’ll craft compelling narratives from complex autonomy and C2 technology for executives, reporters, investors, and engineers, while shaping internal communications and a fast-growing culture.

You’ll own launches, partnerships, funding announcements, and milestones, and partner with recruiting to build Swarm Aero’s employer brand.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in marketing or brand at a high-growth startup
• Storyteller who can translate technical concepts into memorable one-liners
• Shaped a company's identity before or eager to
• Value internal comms as much as external storytelling
• In defense, credibility matters; bold but realistic
• Work directly with founders/CEO and provide constructive pushback
• Self-starter who ships rather than briefs an agency
• Believes deterrence matters and wants work to contribute to it

Responsibilities

• Define Swarm Aero's identity from the ground up and craft the core message
• Turn complex autonomy and C2 tech into accessible stories for diverse audiences
• Lead internal comms with leadership messages, milestones, and culture narratives
• Own launches, program wins, funding announcements, partnerships, and milestones
• Own the defense footprint at key industry events and forums
• Build relationships with defense and tech media; prep executives for appearances
• Develop and mentor the employer brand in collaboration with recruitment
• Shape tools, budget, vendors, and the next marketing hire

Skills

Brand storytelling

Internal comms

Executive collaboration

Defense credibility

Scrappy execution

Stakeholder management

Job description

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results.

The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.

This is the one you've been waiting for

You've told other people's stories. You've polished brands someone else built. You've waited for the company where you get to help create that story.

This is that company.

Swarm Aero is building the autonomous systems the U.S. and its allies need to deter a peer conflict: Gamera, a Group 5 autonomous aircraft, the specialized manufacturing capacity to build them at incredible scale, and Legion, our autonomy and command and control software for coordinating swarms of uncrewed systems. Our autonomy software is already running on real programs and real hardware. Now we're scaling it onto our own aircraft.

We have never had a marketer. We have a mission, a team that ships, and a story that is growing and evolving everyday. You'll be the one to shape it and tell it.

What you'll build

• Who we are. Define the identity of Swarm Aero from the ground up: what we stand for, how we sound, how we look, and why anyone should care. When someone asks "what does Swarm do?", the answer everyone gives will be the one you wrote.

• How we tell it. Turn complex autonomy and C2 technology into a story that lands with a general, a program manager, a reporter, an investor, and a senior engineer, without watering it down for any of them.

• Internal comms. Make sure everyone inside Swarm knows where we're going, why it matters, and what just happened. All-hands narratives, leadership messages, milestone moments, and the culture that holds a fast-growing team together. A company that understands its own story tells it better outside.

• The big moments. Own launches, program wins, funding announcements, partnerships, and flight, delivery, and customer milestones. Make each one land.

• Our presence in defense. Own our footprint at AUSA, Modern Day Marine, Sea-Air-Space, SOF Week, and the rooms where requirements get shaped. Be the booth, the panel, and the name people remember.

• Press and platform. Build relationships with defense and tech media, prep leadership for stages and interviews, and manage agency partners who make us better.

• Employer brand. Partner with our recruiting team to make Swarm the place the best engineers and operators in the country want to be.

• The function itself. Tools, budget, vendors, process, and your next hire. You build it your way.

You, if we're right

• 8+ years in marketing or brand, including time as an early marketer at a high-growth startup where you built, not inherited

• A storyteller first. You can take something technical and make it unforgettable in one sentence

• You've shaped a company's identity before, or you've been itching to

• You care about internal comms as much as external. You know culture is a story too

• You know that in defense, credibility is everything. Bold, yes. Overpromising, never

• You work directly with founders and the CEO and aren't afraid to push back on the story

• Scrappy. You'd rather ship it yourself this week than brief an agency for next month

• You believe deterrence matters and want your work to be part of it

Bonus points

• Experience with DoD, defense procurement, or government affairs

• A network across defense media, industry associations, or DC

• You've built a marketing function from zero

Why now, why here

• Timing. Defense tech is one of the most important categories in the country. The companies that define themselves now set the terms for everyone else.

• Ownership. The whole brand, inside and out. Rarely does one person get this.

• Backing. Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and Coatue.

• Equity. Real ownership in the thing you're building.

Requirements

• Remote/Hybrid with an ability to be onsite in Oxnard, CA on as needed basis

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

• Travel to industry events and DC as needed

ITAR requirement

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.

What We Offer

• Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company

• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience

• Medical, dental, vision, and 401k

• PTO and paid sick leave

• Monthly wellness stipend

• Daily catered lunch (office)

• Paid parental leave

• Direct impact on a critical national security mission

• A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems