Digital Marketing Program Manager / Team Captain – SEO, AI Search, Email & Content

Digital Marketing Program Manager / Team Captain – SEO, AI Search, Email & Content Long-Term Part-Time Role | Approx. 10–15 Hours/Week Initially | U.S. B2B Company CRATIV Packaging is looking for an experienced Digital Marketing Program Manager to lead the execution of our digital marketing strategy and coordinate the specialists already working on our team. This is not primarily a hands-on SEO, email marketing, content writing or web-development position. We already have specialists doing that work. We need the person who runs the program. You will report directly to our CEO and Founder and be accountable for making sure our marketing strategies are translated into action, our specialists work together, commitments are completed, results are measured, and management has a clear picture of progress every week. Think of Yourself as the Captain of a Cricket Team A great cricket captain doesn't personally bowl every over, take every wicket or score every run. The captain understands the strategy, coordinates the specialist players, watches the scoreboard, identifies problems, adjusts the game plan and keeps everyone focused on winning. That's the role we're hiring for. You will be the captain of our digital marketing team. Your success will not be measured by how much marketing work you personally produce. Your success will be measured by whether the team executes the strategy, hits its commitments, improves its KPIs and produces measurable business results. The Marketing Program You Will Lead We already have detailed strategies covering two primary workstreams: SEO, AI Search & Digital Authority Our program includes: Technical and on-page SEO Keyword strategy and optimization Google Search Console Google Analytics / GA4 SEMrush Crawlability and indexing Site architecture Schema and structured data Content optimization AEO / GEO / AI-search visibility Competitor analysis Backlink strategy Digital PR and authority building Keyword and ranking monitoring Website conversion tracking Email Marketing, CRM & Content Our program includes: Weekly email campaigns CRM segmentation Customer and prospect targeting Lead nurturing Drip campaigns and automation Campaign testing and optimization Email performance analysis Database health Weekly blog content SEO optimization of blog content Calls-to-action and conversion improvement Your job is to make sure all of these activities work together rather than operating as separate silos. What You Will Own You will own marketing execution leadership. At the beginning of every week, the team should know: What are we trying to accomplish? Who owns each task? When is it due? How will we measure whether it worked? At the end of every week, our CEO and Founder should know: What got done? What didn't get done—and why? What happened to our KPIs? What did we learn? What needs management attention? What are we doing next? You will be expected to identify problems and missed commitments before management has to ask about them. Your Responsibilities You will: Run a short weekly marketing team meeting Maintain our master marketing execution plan and calendar Translate strategy into specific tasks, owners and deadlines Coordinate our SEO, email, content, website and other marketing resources Track commitments and follow up with team members Hold specialists accountable for agreed deliverables Coordinate dependencies between different marketing activities Review deliverables against our approved strategies Identify roadblocks and drive them to resolution Review marketing KPIs and identify trends Question activities that aren't producing measurable value Recommend changes based on performance data Keep the team focused on the highest-value priorities Escalate issues to management when a decision is actually required Provide a concise weekly executive report to the CEO and Founder Weekly CEO / Founder Reporting We don't want a 20-page marketing report. We want a simple executive scorecard that allows us to understand the health of our marketing program in approximately 10–15 minutes. You will consolidate information from the different specialists and report on KPIs such as: Organic search traffic Google search impressions and clicks Priority keyword movement Website conversions AI-search visibility where measurable Email delivery and engagement CTR / CTOR Replies and qualified enquiries Content published Backlink / authority progress CRM engagement Marketing-generated opportunities Your weekly report should clearly identify: WINS — What worked? MISSES — What didn't happen or underperformed? DECISIONS NEEDED — What requires CEO/Founder input? NEXT WEEK — What are the 3–5 most important commitments, who owns them and when are they due? Your Authority You will have authority to manage execution. That means you can: Establish and manage deadlines Follow up with contractors Request status updates Coordinate work between specialists Request corrections when deliverables don't meet the approved strategy Identify missed commitments Recommend changes to priorities or tactics Major strategy changes, significant spending, hiring/firing contractors, changes to company positioning or other major business decisions remain with CRATIV management. We want you to run the game plan—not wait for the CEO or Founder to manage every play. What We Are NOT Looking For We are not looking for someone who simply: Schedules meetings Takes meeting notes Creates activity reports Passes messages between freelancers Checks boxes Waits for management to tell them what to do Tries to personally perform every marketing function This is not an administrative project coordinator position. And it is not an outsourced CMO position where you replace our existing strategy with your own. We need someone who can understand digital marketing well enough to manage specialists, challenge assumptions, recognize problems, connect activities to business objectives and drive execution. Who We Think Will Succeed Your background might include roles such as: Digital Marketing Program Manager Digital Marketing Manager Marketing Operations Manager Growth Marketing Manager Digital Marketing Project Manager Agency Account Manager Fractional Marketing Manager You don't need to be the world's best SEO or email technician. But you must understand these disciplines well enough to manage people who are. We especially value: Leadership & Accountability You are comfortable establishing commitments and holding people accountable for delivering them. Organization You naturally turn strategy into priorities, tasks, owners, deadlines and measurable outcomes. Data & Analytics You care about results—not simply marketing activity. Proactivity If something is going wrong, you identify it before management discovers it. Communication You can turn complicated marketing activity into a concise executive-level explanation. B2B Understanding You understand that successful B2B marketing is about reaching the right decision-makers and generating qualified opportunities—not simply maximizing impressions or traffic. Commercial Thinking You understand that marketing ultimately needs to contribute to customers, revenue and profitable growth. About CRATIV Packaging CRATIV Packaging is a U.S.-based packaging company specializing in innovative child-resistant packaging for regulated products, with significant experience serving the cannabis industry. Our customers and prospects include cannabis brands, manufacturers, processors and other regulated-product businesses. This is a specialized B2B sales environment. We care much more about generating the right qualified opportunities than generating large quantities of low-value website traffic or leads. Your First 30 Days Your first responsibility will be to understand the existing program—not immediately reinvent it. You will review our: SEO / AI Search / Off-Page Growth Strategy Email Marketing & Weekly Execution Strategy Marketing calendar Existing team and responsibilities Current marketing metrics and reporting You will then organize these activities into a simple integrated execution system: Priority → Task → Owner → Deadline → KPI → Status From there, you will lead the weekly execution process. Hours & Working Relationship We anticipate approximately 10–15 hours per week initially, with the potential for the ongoing workload to decrease once the management system and reporting cadence are established. This is intended to be a long-term relationship with the right person. We prefer to begin hourly through Upwork. How to Apply Please begin your proposal with the exact words: “I can captain the team.” This tells us you read the entire posting. Then briefly tell us: What experience do you have managing a digital marketing program involving multiple specialists? Have you managed SEO, email/CRM, content and website resources as one integrated program? How do you hold remote contractors accountable without micromanaging them? What marketing KPIs would you consider most important for a specialized B2B company? What tools have you used to manage marketing projects, teams and dashboards? How many hours per week do you believe you would need to effectively manage a program like this? Please also include a 2–3 minute Loom video introducing yourself and explaining why you believe you would be effective as the captain of this team. One Final Thought We are not hiring someone to tell us they are “working on SEO,” “working on email” or “working on content.” We want someone who can tell us: Here was the objective. Here is what the team committed to. Here is what we accomplished. Here is what the data tells us. Here is what isn't working. And here is what we're doing about it next week. If that sounds like the way you naturally operate, we would like to talk with you.