Marketing & Communications Manager

underdog & company; New York (NY); On-site; USD 75,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

underdog & company is seeking a Marketing & Communications Manager to own the connective work describing our value proposition and coordinate external/internal communications. You will work across leadership and independent teams, reporting to the COO/CSO, with a strong focus on writing, events, and executive visibility.

The role requires 4-5+ years in marketing, communications, PR, or brand management in agency or multi-brand environments.

Qualifications

• Excellent writing skills, capable of distilling messaging for executive audiences.
• Strong project management skills; able to manage calendars with multiple stakeholders.
• Proven ability to build alignment and drive cross-team processes.
• Familiarity with media relations and PR planning.
• Comfortable presenting recommendations to senior leadership.
• Highly organized and self-directed.

Responsibilities

• Partner with senior leadership to refine the company's vision and value proposition.
• Ensure messaging is consistent and clear across all levels and external channels.
• Collaborate with creative strategy and design to pull messaging into external materials.
• Own the corporate website and digital/social presence; ensure voice consistency.
• Develop social media strategy (LinkedIn, Instagram) and internal communications for announcements.
• Build a proactive PR calendar; identify opportunities tied to industry moments.
• Develop external leadership speaking plan and secure panel appearances.
• Cultivate media and industry relationships to support thought leadership content.
• Identify and evaluate new partnerships to boost visibility and reputation.
• Lead an awards strategy and end-to-end submissions.
• Develop and launch an underdog podcast with the Founder/CEO.

Skills

Writing

Project Management

Media Relations

PR Planning

Communications Strategy

Job description

underdog & company is a marketing and brand experiences agency - delivering consulting, strategic partnership, experiential and integrated marketing work across the sports, culture and entertainment.

We're looking for aMarketing & Communications Managerto own the connective work that describes who we are and coordinates how we communicate that value proposition internally and externally - from press moments to partnerships to events to awards.

This is a highly cross-functional role that requires proactive work, creativity, strong writing, and the ability to build alignment across leadership and independent teams. It is a full-time role that reports to the COO/CSO.

Key Responsibilities

Vision and Value Proposition

• Partner with senior leadership to continuously refine the company's vision and value proposition
• Ensure our messaging is consistent and clear across all levels of the organization and external
• Collaborate with our creative strategy and design teams to pull core messaging into external-facing materials, including the company website, socials and capabilities collateral

Digital and Social Strategy

• Own the corporate website and digital/social presence, ensuring consistency in voice, tone, and positioning
• Develop the company's social media strategy (LinkedIn and Instagram) - posting cadence, content ideas, copywriting, posting and internal communications to ensure alignment; creative will help build templates for posting
• Build and manage a proactive public relations and communications calendar; identifying opportunities tied to industry moments and milestones
• Develop process for internal communications ahead of external announcements or releases (e.g., new clients, work spotlights, events, awards etc.)

Events: Client/Prospect Hosting & Executive Thought Leadership

• Develop and manage underdog's client & prospect hosting calendar (e.g., how does underdog show up at WNBA All-Star, Cannes, Art Basel, Super Bowl, NWSL Championship etc.); identify the key moments we should have a presence at and own the event planning and communications (internal coordination, invites, creative, budget and programming) in collaboration with senior leadership
• Identify thought leadership themes and opportunities that strengthen the company's external reputation and visibility (e.g., women's sports, college etc.)
• Develop an external leadership speaking plan (e.g. outline where our leaders should represent us at events and on panels to improve our visibility and authority in key areas); lead outreach on behalf of senior leadership, help secure their placements on panels & guide panel coordination/prep (if needed)
• Begin to cultivate media and industry relationships to support placement, coverage, and distribution of thought leadership content (Note: underdog has senior leadership to help with this outreach and begin establishing connections for you)

Strategic Partnerships (Media & Other)

• Manage the company's portfolio of strategic and media partnerships, including scope, terms, and asset delivery (e.g., Sports Business Journal partnership)
• Identify and evaluate new partnership opportunities that support goals of increasing underdog visibility and reputation in the industry
• As applicable, support client-based PR work (e.g. emerging sports league launch)

Awards

• Develop and lead an awards strategy across the organization - identifying opportunities for both collective and individual recognition
• Own the end-to-end awards submission process, including submission writing, deadline management and cross-team coordination

Podcast

• Develop and launch an underdog podcast (to be hosted by Founder/CEO Dan Mannix); in collaboration with Dan, outline the podcast's focus, guest list and amplification strategy

Qualifications

We are looking for candidates with 4-5+ years of experience in marketing, communications, PR, or brand management - agency or multi-brand/multi-business environment strongly preferred.

• Excellent writing skills, with the ability to distill and tighten messaging for executive audiences
• Strong project management skills; comfortable owning a calendar of moving parts across multiple stakeholders
• Proven ability to build alignment and drive process across teams
• Familiarity with media relations and PR planning
• Comfortable presenting recommendations directly to senior leadership
• Highly organized and self-directed

Salary: $75,000 - $125,000 dependent on experience