The 10 best places to find marketing jobs in San Francisco include:
1. ClickThrough
2. Built In SF
3. AngelList
4. Glassdoor
5. Simply Hired
6. LinkedIn
7. The Muse
8. Zip Recruiter
9. Indeed
10. Twitter
As the leading hub for high-growth startups, there’s no shortage of digital marketing jobs in San Francisco. Whether your skills lie in marketing strategy, social media, product marketing, or even marketing analytics – there’s a high demand for quality marketers to help startups rapidly scale. As a result of this demand, the average marketer in San Francisco is paid 26% above the national average.
With access to so many opportunities at some of the world’s leading startups, beginning the job search can often seem overwhelming. With more job boards available than ever, it’s hard to decipher which ones will offer the best opportunities.
This in-depth article covers everything you need to know about finding marketing jobs in San Francisco, including:
- An overview of the most in-demand marketing jobs in San Francisco
- A detailed guide of the 10 best job boards to use throughout your search
- Actionable advice to help you land your dream marketing job
In-demand marketing jobs in San Francisco
If you’re about to begin your job search, you should first evaluate what specific digital marketing roles are currently seeing the most demand in San Francisco. This can help you to identify any key matches with your current skills and experience.
1. Product Marketing
With so many startups building digital products, product marketers are one of the most in-demand jobs across San Francisco.
In short, product marketers are responsible for promoting products and increasing user adoption. Unlike general digital marketers, product marketers aren’t responsible for managing an overall brand, but are instead tasked with leading the success of an individual product.
When searching for product marketing jobs in San Francisco, you should first evaluate what particular industries or products you’re personally interested in. By reviewing your preferences, it will help refine your job search, allowing you to focus on the most relevant opportunities.
2. Marketing Strategist
As startups look to gain an advantage over competing products, the need for effective marketing strategies has become more important than ever.
The role of a marketing strategist is to build a marketing roadmap for a team to execute. With a deep understanding of the industry, strategists can identify the most effective opportunities, channels, and tools to capitalize on current trends.
A marketing strategist is also responsible for delegating tasks to individual members across the marketing team. By orchestrating tasks, every channel can complement one-another – driving the most effective performance results.
If you’re on the hunt for marketing strategist jobs in San Francisco, you’ll need to have prior experience working across a multitude of core marketing areas. It’s not the role of a strategist to be a specialist in one domain, but is instead to have a good knowledge of all key areas.
3. Marketing Analyst
With access to more data than ever, brands are rapidly expanding their data science and marketing analyst teams. These positions play an essential role in gleaning valuable insights that can help inform data-driven decisions.
The role of a marketing analyst is a hybrid between a data scientist and a digital marketer. In short, they understand how to analyze data, then determine what impact it can have specifically across marketing campaigns.
Marketing analysts play an important role in helping influence which audiences to target, what channels to prioritize, and what prices to charge.
If you’re searching for marketing analyst jobs in San Francisco, I’d recommend having past experience in a paid performance role. It’ll also be helpful to have a thorough understanding of tools like Segment and Clearbit, and even a history working in a data-driven environment.
Where to find the best San Francisco marketing jobs
1. ClickThrough
ClickThrough is a culture-driven directory of marketing teams that allows you to find a position you’ll love. On ClickThrough, startups can share a list of their core culture values, then provide real-world examples of how they transact into daily practices.
I initially built ClickThrough to solve my own pain point as a marketer. Having worked in the industry for years, I always found it difficult to source reliable information about marketing teams within startups.
With most career pages catering to software engineers, it made it difficult to identify opportunities that were best suited to my personal preferences as a marketer.
By connecting with marketing managers and recruiters, I’ve taken the time to uncover unique insights about marketing functions within each team. I treat every partnership as if I’m taking part in a regular job interview. This allows me to ask the hard question related to marketing, saving you the time of having to do it yourself.
If you’re ready to find your next marketing opportunity, ClickThrough is a great place to begin your search. You can get started by identifying which teams share your personal values.
With over 80% of the featured companies based in San Francisco, you’re bound to find an opportunity that aligns with your preferences.
2. Built In San Francisco
Built In is a collection of directories that highlights tech companies across the United States. Built In SF is their dedicated hub serving anyone working within San Francisco.
Built In SF highlights the latest news, events, and jobs from any company operating in San Francisco. I’ve found Built In to be one of the most reliable places to find high-quality marketing jobs at startups of interest.
One of the key benefits to their job board is the breadth of information provided about each company. Each team profile shares an insight into their internal culture and objectives. This information allows you to identify if you’d be a suitable fit within the current team.
Although Built In certainly doesn’t have the biggest collection of marketing job ads, I genuinely believe it’s one of the highest quality sites to begin your search.
3. AngelList
With a background working in tech, AngelList has always been a personal favorite of mine for sourcing marketing jobs in San Francisco. With the sole purpose of serving startups, there’s no shortage of new marketing roles across the platform.
What I love the most about the AngelList job board is the ability to add very specific tags across a number of important factors. When searching for digital marketing jobs, it’s possible to filter by your preferred area of expertise (product marketing, marketing analytics, growth marketing). Additionally, it’s also possible to filter positions by:
- Salaries and equity options
- Industries e.g. healthcare, ecommerce, fintech
- Company size (team members) and company stage (series A, B, etc)
When applying for a role on AngelList, each application prompts you to submit your CV, as well as a personalized message to the founder of each startup. If you’re looking to stand out from the crowd, this is an effective way to make an engaging introduction.
4. Glassdoor
If you’re determined to find a digital marketing job at a company you’ll enjoy, Glassdoor is one of the best places to start your search. Glassdoor is another platform that highlights some of the best digital marketing jobs from relevant San Francisco-based startups.
With a mission to create a layer of transparency around company salaries and employee reviews, Glassdoor helps candidates source valuable information to empower their job hunt.
With an emphasis on company culture, I’ve always found roles posted on Glassdoor to go above and beyond most traditional job boards. Each listing will always include additional information about each company’s values, benefits, and salary expectations.
5. SimplyHired
Launched in 2003, SimplyHired is a general-purpose job board that serves all industries and positions. Although the job board caters to a diversity of roles, I’ve personally found it useful for sourcing quality marketing jobs in San Francisco.
One of the core features of SimplyHired is the ability to filter relevant job searches by their distance from your home. This will help you source a role with a friendly daily commute.
As SimplyHired only approves job ads with high-quality position descriptions, you’ll often find everything you need to know before having to submit an application. This will save you a ton of time throughout your job search.
Beyond this, each role also includes a detailed list of the recommended skills and experiences that are necessary for each role. Each job ad will even highlight the specific tools you’ll use within the position. As a candidate, this can help you quickly identify if you’re familiar with a company’s current stack, or if you’ll need to upskill your toolbelt.
One of my favorite features across SimplyHired is the list of company benefits displayed on each job ad. If you value specific requirements like health insurance or a 401k, you quickly identify if they’re on offer.
6. LinkedIn
As a marketer myself, I’ve had a love/hate relationship when using LinkedIn to source marketing jobs. As the leading platform for work, LinkedIn houses a large portion of any marketing jobs in San Francisco. When most startups are looking to hire marketing candidates, LinkedIn is often their first point of call.
The benefit to LinkedIn’s job board is the ability for candidates to easily learn more about a hiring company. With a company’s profile just a click away, you can quickly review useful information, or even get a peek into their own content marketing strategy.
Over the years, LinkedIn’s added some pretty sweet integrations between company pages and job listings. Now, it’s possible to review a list of a company’s benefits, essential information about the existing team, and even information about commuting times thanks to Bing maps (I know right, Bing. Remember, it’s Microsoft we’re talking about here).
From my experience, one of the core benefits of using LinkedIn is the ability to connect with existing members of a team.
After applying for any position, I’d recommend taking the time to review each company’s current workforce. In particular, you should identify who’s in charge of recruitment, as well as the current marketing manager.
By sending a personalized connection request to these key team members, it can help foster a real relationship instead of being just another applicant.
7. The Muse
When it comes to finding marketing jobs in San Francisco, The Muse is one of my personal favorite sites.
Not only is The Muse a job board, but it also acts as a directory for companies. The platform itself empowers companies to provide an authentic insight into their culture and workplace through the stories of their team members.
As a US-based platform, The Muse has partnered with some of the biggest brands within San Francisco. As a result, you’ll find thousands of incredible marketing opportunities across their job board.
Within each job ad, you’ll also have the opportunity to review detailed insights about a company’s internal culture. This can help you determine if you’d be a suitable fit within a team before applying to any role.
8. ZipRecruiter
As a job board, ZipRecruiter does exceptional work to aggregate a plethora of positions across all industries. With over 30 million candidates actively using the platform each month, it’s one of the leading places to discover your next marketing gig.
With a job board that predominantly serves the US, there’s no shortage of active marketing jobs within San Francisco.
One of the core features of ZipRecruiter is the platforms ability to connect candidates with relevant opportunities. After registering an account, you’ll receive regular updates on the latest roles that match your skills and experience. This can help save hours by removing the need to manually scan for roles yourself.
Although the platform does a laudable job of aggregating thousands of relevant opportunities, one of the downsides is the lack of information shared on each job ad. This can often make it difficult to learn more about a role without having to click-through to a company’s website.
9. Indeed
As far as job boards go, Indeed certainly needs no introduction. As one of the most renowned sources for job listings in any industry, the number of opportunities is unmatchable.
From my experience, I’ve found that startups will often cross-post any job listings from their website to Indeed. This gives access to a powerful aggregation of available opportunities.
Although Indeeds job board features ads from all industries and fields, it’s adapted over time to include specific filters for marketing-related roles.
Similar to Glassdoor, Indeed has also worked hard to create a directory of employee reviews from each company. If you’re looking to find a digital marketing job for a startup in San Francisco, Indeed is hard to miss.
10. Twitter
If you’re working in the startup landscape, you’ll know just how essential Twitter is within the industry. Particularly in San Francisco, Twitter is used as a way to build your personal brand and connect with like-minded people.
Although Twitter itself doesn’t have a dedicated job board, it’s very possible to quickly discover relevant marketing roles from your favorite Silicon Valley startups.
One of the main benefits to Twitter is how quickly the platform moves with real-world events. When new roles appear, they’ll often be shared to Twitter immediately by the hiring brand, team members, or internal recruiters.
Using Twitter advanced search, you can structure specific queries to identify tweets with keywords such as “product marketing manager jobs” and “San Francisco”.
You can even filter these keywords by specific Twitter handles, allowing you to uncover opportunities from company profiles.
When you find someone sharing a job ad of interest, I’d suggest DMing them to make a personalized introduction.
If you’re using Twitter to source job opportunities, it’s also important to maintain an active profile at the same time.
By sharing your thoughts on the industry, or any articles you’ve read, it can help highlight your passion for marketing.
How to successfully land a San Francisco marketing job
Now that we’ve uncovered the best places to source marketing jobs in San Francisco, it’s time to properly prepare yourself for the recruitment process.
With so many candidates also seeking these unique opportunities, the job market can quickly become competitive. As a marketer, it’s essential to understand how you can gain an advantage and become a successful candidate.
With high competition for every role, simply submitting an application isn’t going to cut it. If you’re interested in working for some of the world’s leading tech startups, you’ll a strategy to stand out from the crowd. Ironically, you’ll need to understand how to properly market yourself.
The best way to get started is by taking the time to filter through all of the available opportunities, then identify those which are most relevant to your preferences. Is there a particular industry that you’re interested in? Are you passionate about travel, fintech, or even connecting people?
By identifying the most relevant opportunities, it will allow you to prioritize your time across the positions that matter instead of spreading yourself thinly.
1. Reviewing your skill set
After you’ve created a shortlist of marketing jobs that meet your personal requirements, you should take the time to review the list of skills and experiences needed for each role.
When working in a startup, each team member is expected to manage their work and take ownership of outcomes.
If you don’t currently have a specific skill set for a role, I’d suggest finding a way to build this experience yourself. As a digital marketer, the best way to learn is by doing.
Is there a side project you can create that will allow you to learn a new skill set? If you need experience in product marketing, for example, creating your own product is a great way to acquire this knowledge in your own time.
2. Making a personalized connection
After creating a shortlist of job opportunities, you should spend some time preparing a personalized outreach strategy. Simply submitting a CV isn’t enough to help separate yourself from the pool of applicants.
To stand out as the best candidate, you’ll need to make a connection with the existing team members inside a company. Whether it be a hiring manager, the founder, or the marketing team – making a connection is your ticket to success.
Start by connecting with these individuals on LinkedIn or Twitter. At this initial stage, you should always include a personalized message sharing your interest in the company, as well as your experience as a digital marketer.
While building these connections, you should also actively share valuable content across your profile. This allows the team to better understand your skills and interests.
Your outreach doesn’t just stop here. Throughout this period, you should also make a conscious effort to engage with any content these team members post themselves.
After building these relationships, you can then follow up and ask about available job opportunities. By this point in time, the team member is familiar with your work, and is more likely to help provide any valuable insights.
If you follow this process, it’ll significantly increase your chances of securing an interview for the marketing job.
3. Preparing for an interview
If you’ve already taken the time to build a personal connection with a hiring team, the interviewing process should feel intuitive and run smoothly.
Throughout an interview, it’s not only important to thoughtfully respond to the hiring managers questions, but it’s just as critical to prepare a list of your own queries. This will showcase your ability to proactively seek information and take ownership of tasks.
If you’re unsure what to ask, I’ve previously shared a list of the essential questions to ask throughout a marketing interview in the post below.
If you’re preparing for a digital marketing job interview, these are the top 10 questions to ask a hiring manager.
There’s never been a better time to start searching for digital marketing jobs in San Francisco. With new startups constantly emerging, marketers are seeing more demand than ever for their skills and experience.
Using the platforms and job application strategies listed throughout this guide, you can easily uncover the best opportunities and increase your chances of success.
If you’re interested in finding opportunities in a marketing team that aligns with your values, I’d recommend viewing the list of featured marketing teams in my culture-driven directory.
Each team has shared an overview of the internal values that influence their day-to-day work. These team profiles will help you find relevant opportunities in a position you’re truly passionate about.
