Manager, Strategic Communications & Marketing

Aurelius Systems; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

United Health Care medical, dental, &

Flexible PTO

Travel to field test events

Office snacks and beverages

Direct access to leadership

Job summary

Aurelius Systems in San Francisco is seeking a Strategic Communications & Marketing Manager to own the in-house marketing and comms function. This net-new role sits between our fractional Head of Communications and our Creative and Brand lead, with strong support from both as you ramp.

You will own positioning, BD enablement, events and industry presence, recruiting marketing partnerships, and the operational layer that turns external surface area into pipeline and hires.

Qualifications

• 5 to 10 years in marketing or strategic communications with end-to-end ownership across positioning, content, events, and operations.
• Strong writer who can match a defined voice and has a portfolio demonstrating it.
• Operationally sharp with calendar management, vendors, tools, and budgets across multiple workstreams.

Responsibilities

• Strategic positioning and message architecture for Aurelius across every external surface.
• BD enablement materials including capability briefs, one-pagers, customer-facing collateral, and demo communications for the growth team.
• Industry events and conference presence including major defense industry events; calendar, presence strategy, booth and demo logistics, and on-site execution.
• Recruiting marketing in close partnership with Talent as engineering headcount grows.
• Executive thought leadership pipeline including bylines, podcast bookings, and stage opportunities for the Co-Founders and the ELT.
• Channel strategy direction for paid and organic across social surfaces, with marketing execution.

Skills

Positioning strategy

BD enablement

Events management

Executive thought leadership

Channel strategy

Marketing operations

Editorial writing

Strong writing

Cross-functional collaboration

Startup environment

Job description

Who We Are:

Aurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.

We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.

Our namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing.

That's how we operate - small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable.

In addition to our San Francisco lab, we've opened a Detroit manufacturing hub and we field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.

The Role and Your Impact:

We need a Strategic Communications & Marketing Manager to own the in-house marketing and comms function at Aurelius. This is a net-new role that sits between our fractional Head of Communications (strategy and PR) and our Creative and Brand lead (design and social production), with strong support from both as you ramp. You'll own positioning, BD enablement, events and industry presence, recruiting marketing partnership, and the operational layer that turns external surface area into pipeline and hires. We're hiring at the Manager level for someone with the trajectory to grow into a Head/Director as the company scales.

What You'll Own:

• Strategic positioning and message architecture for Aurelius across every external surface
• BD enablement materials including capability briefs, one-pagers, customer-facing collateral, and demo communications for the growth team
• Industry events and conference presence including AUSA, Re-Industralize, AFA, Sea-Air-Space, AFCEA, and equivalent - calendar, presence strategy, booth and demo logistics, and on-site execution
• Recruiting marketing in close partnership with Talent, especially as engineering headcount roughly triples
• Executive thought leadership pipeline including bylines, podcast bookings, and stage opportunities for the Co-Founders and the ELT
• Channel strategy direction for paid and organic across LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and any new surfaces, with Wilson executing on creative and production
• Marketing operations including website, email, analytics, and tooling
• Editorial support across the company including writing, editing, and proofing under deadline

What We're Looking For:

• 5 to 10 years in marketing or strategic communications, with end-to-end ownership across positioning, content, events, and operations
• Strong writer who can match a defined voice rather than impose one, with a portfolio that shows it
• Operationally sharp, comfortable owning a calendar, vendors, tools, and budgets across multiple workstreams at once
• Experience working alongside or owning a PR or comms function and a creative function without stepping on either
• Comfortable in defense, hardware, deeptech, or other technically rigorous environments where marketing earns credibility instead of buying it

Where you probably come from:Marketing or comms roles at early-stage defense tech, hardware startups, deeptech, or technical companies where you owned positioning, BD enablement, and events as a small team. Bonus if you've supported a non-traditional vendor breaking into government customers.

We want to talk if:You can write short and credible. You'd rather build a one-pager that closes a customer meeting than a campaign deck that doesn't. You want to grow into running marketing and comms for a defense tech company.

Not a fit if:Your background is B2B SaaS demand gen and ABM, you've only worked agency side, or you need a six-figure paid budget to do anything.

Nice to Haves:

• Defense, national security, or military background or close exposure
• Experience writing in a founder’s voice
• Experience supporting BD or capture teams with customer-facing materials
• Experience running booth and demo presence at major defense industry events
• Recruiting marketing or employer brand experience
• Marketing analytics and operations tooling fluency

Education:

No degree required. Portfolio and writing samples matter more.

How You Operate:

• Extreme bias for action. You ship campaigns, materials, and events - not strategy decks about them
• You can write, edit, and proof under deadline without losing voice
• Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment
• Clear communicator across founders, comms, creative, BD, and engineering
• Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

Why Join Aurelius Systems:

• Build more in 1 month than most technicians build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.
• Career velocity is real. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between you and impact.
• Work on a problem that actually matters. Small cheap drones are changing warfare. Our laser systems are the asymmetric answer - infinite magazine, near zero cost per shot, scalable to every base, border, facility, and truck.
• Join the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.

How We Work:

Core hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 6. When we're sprinting toward a demo or field test, the team ramps up - nights, weekends, whatever it takes to ship. When the sprint lands, we ramp down. We don't manufacture intensity for show.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary and equity
• United Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Flexible 18 days PTO plus 5 sick days
• Travel to field test events and range days
• Covered daily lunches and office snacks and drinks
• E-bike and scooter stipend up to $500
• Direct access to leadership and real ownership over your work

Export Control Notice:

This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require U.S. Person status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a U.S. Person: (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).