The Role
Pilot is seeking an Industry Marketing Lead, Franchises to drive awareness, demand generation, and revenue growth within the franchise ecosystem. This person will serve as the marketing expert for the franchise industry, building go-to-market strategies that position Pilot as the trusted financial operations partner for franchise owners, multi-unit operators, emerging franchise brands, and franchisors.
Franchise networks are one of the largest underserved opportunities in small business accounting. A single franchisor can represent hundreds, sometimes thousands, of operators, each running a real business with real books, real tax filings, and real cash flow to manage. We've already proven we can win in this segment. Now we need a leader who can scale it.
You will work cross-functionally with Sales, Product Marketing, Customer Success, Partnerships, and Leadership to create industry-specific programs that generate pipeline and establish Pilot as a thought leader in franchise finance. Winning here means understanding the psychology of franchise owners and franchisors, building integrated campaigns that speak to that specific reality, and earning pipeline through ideas no one has tried before.
What You'll Own
This role has two distinct motions, and you'll be accountable for both.
- Net new franchise acquisition. Sign new franchise networks to Pilot. Build the integrated programs across paid, partnerships, events, content, and outbound that bring franchisor decision-makers into our pipeline. Own the number.
- Adoption expansion within signed franchises. Once a franchise network signs, drive adoption across their franchisees. This is a different motion: smaller audiences, deeper personalization, longer relationships. You'll partner with our Sales and Customer teams to convert known franchisee universes into Pilot customers, network by network.
Specifically, you will:
Own Franchise Industry Strategy
- Develop and execute Pilot's franchise industry marketing strategy.
- Build deep expertise in franchise business models, financial operations, unit economics, and industry trends.
- Identify growth opportunities across franchise segments, including multi-unit operators, franchisees, franchisors, and emerging brands.
- Monitor competitive activity and industry developments to inform positioning and campaigns.
Build Industry-Specific Messaging
- Develop franchise-focused value propositions, messaging frameworks, and content that clearly articulate Pilot's differentiation.
- Translate accounting, bookkeeping, tax, and CFO services into outcomes that matter to franchise operators, including profitability, cash flow visibility, expansion readiness, and multi-location reporting.
- Partner with Product Marketing to create verticalized sales and marketing assets.
Drive Demand Generation & Growth
- Design and execute integrated campaigns that combine paid media, content, partnerships, events, lifecycle, and field marketing into coherent plays. Every channel earns its keep against the pipeline number.
- Build expansion plays that activate franchisee bases inside signed networks. Think of this as a hybrid of demand generation and lifecycle marketing inside a closed audience.
- Create industry-specific nurture programs and conversion strategies across the customer lifecycle.
- Partner with Sales to improve engagement and pipeline generation within the franchise segment.
Create Thought Leadership
- Develop content including webinars, research reports, customer stories, playbooks, blog posts, and executive presentations.
- Establish Pilot as a trusted voice in franchise finance and operations.
- Work with subject matter experts and Pilot's CFO Services team to produce educational content for franchise operators.
- Identify speaking opportunities at franchise conferences, industry events, and association programs.
Make Creative Bets
- We are not interested in generic B2B tactics.
- We are interested in ideas that work because you understand this audience better than anyone else.
- Some will work, some won't. Bring conviction and the math to back it up.
What You'll Bring
- 7-10+ years of experience in one of the following areas:
- B2B marketing, vertical marketing, product marketing, or demand generation to franchises
- Franchise Operator - You are an owner of a franchise
- Franchise Developer - You have extensive experience developing franchises through sales, marketing and recruiting of franchisees
- Other franchise expertise such as an influencer, association leader, keynote speaker, etc.
- Expertise of franchise economics, franchise operations, and multi-unit business models.
- Experience working with franchise associations and industry events.
- Experience marketing to franchise businesses, multi-location operators, SMBs, or professional services organizations.
Nice to haves:
- Proven ability to develop and execute integrated marketing programs that drive measurable business outcomes.
- Strong storytelling and content development skills.
- Experience partnering closely with sales teams and revenue organizations.
- Excellent project management and cross-functional leadership abilities.
- Experience in fintech, accounting, financial services, SaaS, or business services.
Within Your First Year, You Will:
- Establish a clear franchise vertical marketing strategy.
- Increase qualified pipeline sourced from franchise businesses.
- Expand Pilot's visibility within key franchise communities and events.
- Build a scalable content and thought leadership engine for franchise operators.
- Strengthen alignment between marketing, sales, and partnerships around franchise growth.
About Pilot
Pilot launched in 2017 to bring the back office into the modern era. Pilot provides small businesses with dedicated finance experts - which Pilot hires as full-time, U.S.-based employees - who learn the ins-and-outs of their business. Pilot integrates directly with the billing, banking, expense, and payroll systems customers already use. With a special blend of custom software and expert bookkeepers, Pilot delivers accurate, consistent bookkeeping and financial management and tax services that give entrepreneurs the freedom to focus on their business.
Pilot has over 3,000 customers and has raised over $170 million in financing from Sequoia, Index Ventures, Stripe, Bezos Expeditions, and Whale Rock. Our investors also include a long list of world-class entrepreneurs, including Patrick and John Collison, Drew Houston, and Diane Greene. Our most recent funding round doubled our valuation to $1.2 billion – Meet Fintech’s Newest Unicorn.
Why Pilot?
- We invest in our employees’ development and happiness because our employees are the keys to our success and ensuring happy customers
- The opportunity to join a seasoned founding team that has led companies through two prior successful startups and acquisitions (by Oracle and Dropbox).
- Flexible vacation/time-off policy
- All federal holidays are observed
- Competitive benefits package including additional wellness benefits
- Parental leave for birthing or non-birthing parents – 100% pay for 12 weeks
- 401(k) plan
The base pay range target for the role seniority described in this job description is $127K - $215K in most remote locations, and between $159K - $215K in San Francisco, CA and New York City, NY. Final offer amounts depend on multiple factors such as candidate experience and expertise, geographic location, total compensation, and market data. In addition to cash pay, full-time regular positions are eligible for equity, 401(k), health benefits, and other benefits; some of these benefits may be available for part-time or temporary positions.
Pilot commits to provide a work environment free of discrimination and harassment, as well as equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. You may view all of Pilot’s recruiting notices here, including our EEO policy, information about requesting a reasonable accommodation in the job application process, recruitment agency policy, recruitment scam notice, and important E-Verify information. You may view our job candidate privacy policy here.
