Aristotle - Performance Marketing Manager

Aristotle - Performance Marketing Manager Type: Full-time | On-site | San Francisco, CA Compensation: $140K-$160K base (flexible for exceptional candidates) + early-stage equity Hiring count: 1 Visa sponsorship: Yes. Open to transfers (OPT, H-1B) and new sponsorships (new H-1B, TN). Prior experience with J1, TN, O1. Relocation support ~$5K within North America. Reports to: Shan Reddy, Co-founder / CEO About Aristotle Aristotle is an applied AI research lab building the world's first AI tutor: a voice agent that deeply knows each student and can teach anyone anything, anytime. The company combines LLM research with product design to deliver personalized tutoring with memory, personality, consistency, and genuine care. Founded: 2025 | Team size: 8 | Total funding: $5M Industry: AI, Consumer, Edtech, Education, Marketing, Software Development Website: www.heyaristotle.com Office: San Francisco, CA (Salesforce Park area) Founded by a Stanford '22 graduate who scaled a consumer startup from seed to Series C as the 5th employee and later invested at True Ventures. Raised $5M plus an angel round of nearly 50 angels including executives and heads of engineering from Ramp, Sierra, Anthropic, and OpenAI. Flat, autonomous, high-velocity culture. Why Candidates Should Join Own the entire growth engine: first dedicated marketing hire at an AI company with real product traction, owning top-of-funnel end to end. Elite backing: $5M raised, with angels including executives and heads of engineering from Ramp, Sierra, Anthropic, and OpenAI. Early equity upside: equity-heavy offers, particularly for younger candidates, at a company with momentum and credibility. Clear path to leadership: room to grow into a leadership role as the function scales. Intake Call Summary On-site in SF daily with one flexible remote day per week; working hours ~10am-7pm, Monday to Friday. Hiring to scale product sales; product is in a strong spot but prior efforts lacked focus on proven strategies like Meta ads. Core need: strong communicator who executes; hands-on performance marketing (especially Meta ads) is crucial. Ideal candidate is high agency, data-driven, with startup experience; preferably has run campaigns at $50K+ budgets. Comp $140K-$160K with flexibility for exceptional candidates; open to a range of experience levels from young talent to senior. Interview: initial chat, tactical case study, one-day on-site work trial; reference checks emphasized. Visa sponsorship available (past J1, TN, O1); relocation support ~$5K within North America. Urgent fill; HM currently covering the function; immediate start preferred. The Role Own Aristotle's entire top-of-funnel growth engine as the sole marketing function, from the first ad a parent sees to the moment they book a call, with a track record of scaling paid acquisition at a consumer brand with measurable CAC results. What You'll Be Doing Own performance marketing end to end: creative strategy, campaign structure, budgets, attribution, and CAC optimization across Meta, Google Search, Reddit, X, and new channels as they earn spend. Build and run the short-form video content engine: produce it yourself, direct creators, or grow the Content Fellowship into a consistent creative pipeline. Audit and refresh the existing Meta ads strategy with a rigorous, data-grounded testing cadence: what to launch, what to kill, and why. Ship and iterate landing pages and funnel experiments with engineering, routing visitors dynamically by ad and instrumenting everything. Turn parent and student feedback into sharper positioning and creative that converts. Manage influencer relationships and UGC pipelines to scale creative volume. Explore in-person activations and events as a complementary channel. Tech stack: Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads, Reddit Ads, X Ads, Google Analytics, Conversion APIs, pixel tracking, attribution tools, landing page CRO, short-form video production, TikTok, YouTube Qualifications Seniority 2-5 years in performance marketing or paid acquisition at consumer companies [Required] Work Experience Scaled Meta paid ads at a consumer or DTC startup [Must have] Direct budget ownership ($50K+ spend) with measurable results [Must have] Built or managed a short-form video content pipeline [Strongly preferred] Ran a successful creator channel or influencer strategy (YouTube) [Strongly preferred] Education No specific degree required; scrappy self-starters preferred [Strongly preferred] Hard Skills Meta Ads campaign management and optimization expertise [Must have] Short-form video creation or creative direction ability [Strongly preferred] Miscellaneous Must work on-site in San Francisco daily [Must have] Traits to Avoid Slow to focus; experiments endlessly without pruning losers Job-hopper with no intentionality about career choices Role Details Salary | $140K-$160K (flexible for exceptional candidates) Equity | Early-stage equity; equity-heavy, especially for younger candidates On-site policy | On-site in SF daily, up to one remote day/week; ~10am-7pm Visa sponsorship | Yes - transfers (OPT, H-1B) and new sponsorships (new H-1B, TN); relocation support ~$5K within North America Employment type | Full-time Location | San Francisco, CA Screening Questions Have you managed a Meta ads account for a consumer product before? Walk us through the budget you handled and the results you drove. Tell us about your experience with short-form video content and creative production. Have you made ads yourself or built a pipeline of creators/influencers to produce them? Can you work on-site in San Francisco? If not, are you willing to relocate? What is your salary expectation? How actively are you exploring new opportunities? Interview Process Stage 1 - Submit candidate After submission, you are notified if the hiring manager wants to proceed. Stage 2 - Initial Screen with Hiring Manager (30 minutes) Intro conversation with Shan Reddy. Evaluates communication, high agency, intentionality about career choices, and general fit. Covers background, performance marketing (especially Meta ads), consumer B2C acquisition understanding, and motivation for joining an early-stage AI startup. Strong communication and clarity are key signals. Stage 3 - Case Study & Strategy Presentation (1 hour) 45-60 min with Shan Reddy. The candidate is shown Aristotle's current Meta ads setup and asked to audit and propose a refreshed strategy. Evaluates Meta campaign structure, creative instincts, what's working vs. what to kill, data-driven decisions, and creative-pipeline approach. Probes attribution and channel prioritization. Stage 4 - Full-Day On-Site Work Trial (1 day) Full day at the downtown SF office working with the team on a real project (auditing campaigns, drafting creative concepts, proposing a testing cadence, or building a content strategy). Evaluates execution, speed, focus, collaboration with engineering, and cultural fit. The candidate meets the full team including co-founders. Stage 5 - Reference Checks (30 minutes per reference) 3-4 reference calls, flagged IMPORTANT given lessons from a previous hire. Validates consistent execution, focus on high-leverage channels vs. endless experimentation, communication quality, and follow-through. Stage 6 - Offer Extended Stage 7 - Candidate Hired Ideal Companies & Backgrounds Updated Aug 12, 2026 High-growth DTC/consumer subscription startups with strong paid acquisition engines Whisper (Wispr Flow), hims & hers, Robert Half, Nurx from Thirty Madison, Keepsafe Software, Ritual.co, Curology, Noom, Calm Consumer apps targeting parents/families with B2C paid marketing Greenlight, Life360, BARK, Caribu, HOMER, Lovevery, KiwiCo, Talkiatry, Babylist, Winnie High-growth consumer fintech/social apps known for scrappy performance marketing teams Cash App, Venmo, Albertsons Companies, Dave, Chime, Current, Steptoe LLP, Fizz, Lemon8, BeReal. AI-native consumer startups with aggressive paid growth strategies Photoroom, Lensa, Replika, Character.AI, Speak, Ello, Synthesis, Quizlet, Brilliant Earth, Headway Creator-led or content-heavy consumer brands with strong Meta ads operations MANSCAPED, Ridge Wallet, True Classic, HexClad Cookware, ObvioHealth, BARKBOX Inc., FabFitFun, HelloFresh, Factorial Other TikTok Non-ideal companies - do not source Large enterprise/B2B (marketers lack consumer/startup scrappiness): Salesforce, Oracle, SAP, IBM, Microsoft, Adobe, HubSpot, MarketOne International, Workday, ServiceNow Large agencies (account managers lacking hands-on ownership and startup speed): WPP, Omnicom Media, Publicis Sapient, dentsu, IPG Mediabrands, Havas Creative Network, VMLY&R (MA), Ogilvy, McCann, Greystar Ideal Candidate Profiles For reference only - do not source these specific profiles. Hector Serrano Martin - LinkedIn Growth @ Wispr Flow | United States Early at Wispr Flow, a high-growth consumer company - the startup background the HM wants Is a creator, which the HM values as a signal of high agency and content intuition Combines growth/performance marketing at a fast-moving consumer startup with creative skills Lisa Phan - LinkedIn Growth @ Mine | Brand & Content Manager | New York, United States Worked at a B2C fintech app selling to students - similar demographic and consumer product expertise Promoted at her company (founders known personally to the HM, described as "killers") - strong performance signal Creator background aligned with the content/creative pipeline need Non-traditional school, fitting the HM's preference for scrappy over pedigree Rejected Candidate Feedback Startup exposure: prioritize candidates with a demonstrable high-growth tech/startup background rather than legacy or purely retail/D2C; they should explicitly mention startup challenges and metrics. Proven metrics: candidates must articulate clear Meta ad performance metrics (CAC, ROAS) with hands-on budget ownership at meaningful spend (>$50K/month) and tangible results. Creative pipeline expertise: proven experience building and managing short-form video/UGC creative pipelines, not just campaign management; direct creative production or influencer sourcing. HM has rejected specific candidates for lacking a high-growth consumer company background and for lacking tech/startup experience.