Founding Marketing Lead

We help everyone feel like a badass in the wine aisle with personalized wine recs. 

Jess, the founder/CEO of Theodora, used to stand in the wine aisle overwhelmed by choice, intimidated by jargon, just trying to find something she’d actually like. She didn’t want to become a wine expert. She wanted someone to pick for her. So she built Theodora.

Answer a few quick questions about your budget, your vibes, and wines you already like (no wine knowledge required), and Theodora recommends bottles instantly and tells you exactly where to buy them.

Mission

We’re here to un-gatekeep wine. For too long, the answer in the wine aisle has been “learn more.” But most people don’t want education, they want clarity. They want to buy good wine without feeling small, confused, or judged.

The wine world wasn’t built for most consumers. We’re here to change that.

We launched our app in November 2025, have early traction, and are growing our customer base. Now we’re ready to grow the team.

The Role

We’re hiring a Founding Marketing Lead (full-time contract to hire) to help us reach more Theodora users and build the engine for how people discover, trust, and fall in love with what we’re building.

This is a foundational role. You won’t be inheriting a playbook, you’ll be writing it. The work you do here will shape what Theodora becomes.

This person is responsible for all marketing efforts at Theodora. You will strategize and execute all efforts to help the company grow. Simply put, this is a marketing generalist role, positioning Theodora becomes the go-to way for everyone to find wine they love.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Define and evolve how Theodora shows up in the world across branding, positioning, messaging, storytelling, and personas 
• Test, experiment, and iterate to find repeatable channels of growth. 
• Own decisions around what we test, what we stop, and what we double down on with the mission of finding traction that sticks. 
• Explore and validate marketing channels like:  social platforms, influencers/partnerships/UGC, GEO, founder-led socials, events, email marketing, and other community-building efforts. The idea isn’t to do all of these, but to figure out the optimal ones to try.
• Work closely with CEO   to translate internal wins to external narratives 

Success in this position looks like identifying 1–2 channels with early signs of repeatability, building a clear experimentation cadence, and driving consistent growth in Theodora users. Success isn’t getting every test we try right. It’s learning quickly to make smarter bets over time.

Compensation Range

$30/hour-$90/hour

• A true generalist with an “I’ll figure it out” mindset
• 5 years of proven experience in marketing ( branding, social content creation, SEO, paid ads, and copywriting). 
• Confident shaping strategy while also rolling up your sleeves to operate and execute
• Experience at an early-stage startup or consumer app where you’ve worn multiple hats
• Energized by scrappy, fast-paced, high-ownership environments
• Analytical and data-driven, confident driving metrics and iterating quickly
• Highly creative, with strong instincts for what grabs attention and feels culturally relevant
• You’ve tried Theodora and identify as the ICP
• Fluent in tools like CapCut, Canva, and other modern content editing tools

We aren’t looking for someone with wine knowledge, we are looking for someone who struggles in the wine aisle and wants to help make wine shopping better for us all. The current playbook (& jargon) isn’t working, and you want to be part of building something better. 

Note this is a full-time contractor role that could turn into a full-time hire. This is to ensure mutual fit and alignment. The team is currently Seattle based but open to remote work. Must be based in the US and eligible to work in the US without future visa sponsorship.

• High ownership, high impact. You’ll work directly with the CEO/Founder and help shape the future of Theodora and the wine industry
• A chance to build something from nothing and see your work matter in real time
• A fun product to test and grow, one that helps people feel confident in moments where they usually feel small
• A brand rooted in connection, intention, and everyday celebrations, not elitism
• An engaged early user base that genuinely loves what we’re building
• A massive opportunity to redefine how most people shop for wine
• We’re early, but the signal is there and we’re building deliberately