Vice President, Marketing

About Karius

Karius is a venture-backed life science startup that is transforming the way pathogens and other microbes are observed throughout the body.  By unlocking the information present in microbial cell-free DNA, we're helping doctors quickly solve their most challenging cases, providing industry partners with access to 1000’s of biomarkers to accelerate clinical trials, discovering new microbes, and reducing patient suffering worldwide. 

Position Summary

The Vice President of Marketing is responsible for leading the company’s marketing strategy with a strong emphasis on product marketing and ensuring exceptional customer experiences. This role involves developing, implementing, monitoring and executing marketing strategies for new and existing products, driving brand awareness, and fostering strong relationships with customers to enhance satisfaction and loyalty, while aligning with business goals and strengthening our market position.

Why Should You Join Us?

Karius aims to conquer infectious diseases through innovations around genomic sequencing and machine learning. The company’s platform is already delivering unprecedented insights into the microbial landscape, providing clinicians with a comprehensive test capable of identifying more than a thousand pathogens directly from blood, and helping industry accelerate the development of therapeutic solutions. The Karius test we provide today is one of the most advanced solutions available to physicians who aim to deliver better care to many otherwise ineffectively treated patients. Our test is the result of some incredible work done by our scientists, statisticians, engineers, and physicians, all driven by the same mission. You, as part of the Karius team, will be able to see how directly your work has a life-changing impact on people, and at scale. 

Reports to: CCO 

Location:  Redwood City, CA or Remote 

Primary Responsibilities

•  Develop and implement comprehensive marketing strategies to drive growth and market presence, with a focus on product marketing.

•  Lead product marketing efforts, including go-to-market strategies, product positioning, messaging and life cycle management. 

•  Coordinate and execute product launch strategies, collaborating with cross-functional teams.

•  Oversee, build, manage, mentor and coach a high performing marketing and customer experience team.

•  Oversee brand positioning and messaging to ensure consistency across all channels.

•  Lead initiatives to enhance the overall customer journey, ensuring high levels of satisfaction and retention.

•  Conduct market analysis to identify trends, customer needs, and competitive landscape, with a focus on product opportunities.

•  Drive digital marketing efforts, including SEO, SEM, social media, email campaigns, and content marketing.

•  Provide marketing support to the sales team, including the development of sales materials and training focused on product features and benefits.

•  Monitor and analyze marketing metrics to measure effectiveness and inform decision-making, with an emphasis on product performance.

•  Implementation of marketing campaigns that meet business objectives and drive leads and revenue.

•  Direct and Support market research collection, analysis and interpretation of market data for short and long-term market forecasts, and reporting related to marketing messaging, product development, evidence generation and customer targeting.

•  Develop and execute a multi-channel marketing strategy by leveraging customer insights and working closely with the field sales and medical teams, medical affairs, and other teams across the company.

•  Develop messaging, marketing materials, campaigns, and programs to facilitate product adoption and increase utilization.

•  Manage marketing budget and expenditures.

Maintain brand standards and ensure compliance across all marketing and communications channels.

•  Develop Corporate Communications Strategy.

•  Direct our sales targeting strategy based on customer and market insights.

•  Gain a deep understanding of the customer and generate new ideas to improve the customer experience and drive growth.

•  Become an expert in the clinical data and the “go-to” resource for our sales team for product-related questions.

•  Maintain strong relationships with our KOLs.

•  Effectively set KPIs and metrics that meet business goals.

•  Ensure adherence to regulatory guidelines for promotions.

•  Lead and manage corporate PR strategy, plan, and outreach.

•  Team with head of sales to lead new hire sales training, including development of agenda/materials and presentation of content.

•  Consistently keep a pulse on the latest developments in infectious disease and competitive activity, proactively educating sales and refining our strategy as necessary.

•  Develop and execute patient education strategy.

•  Travel within the US for meetings, training, and conferences. 

What’s Fun About the Job?

Karius is operating at the edge of what is now known to be possible in infectious disease diagnostics. With that, comes a wave of new and incredible challenges and opportunities. To deliver on that value, you will be tapping into some of the most advanced technologies, architecting and innovating where the current solutions simply don't suffice. You will get to see how much your work really matters. 

Travel:         Travel required up to 30%. 

Physical Requirements

Subject to extended periods of sitting and/or standing, vision to monitor and moderate noise levels. Work is generally performed in an office, lab or clinical environment. 

Position Requirements

•  Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field; MBA preferred.

•  12+ years of experience in marketing, with at least 5+ years in a senior leadership role.

•  Extensive experience in product marketing within the healthcare or life sciences industry required. •  Previous experience as a VP or Senior Director preferred. Diagnostic, infectious disease and/or hospital experience preferred.

•  Highly motivated, results-driven attitude with entrepreneurial drive and a strong track record of success in marketing.

•  Strong desire to own the product, from crafting the strategy to rolling up your sleeves and executing the tactics. 

Personal Qualifications

Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills.

•  Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities.

•  Expertise in digital marketing tools and platforms.

•  Demonstrated expertise in leading and motivating teams.

•  Proven track record of driving customer satisfaction and brand growth.

•  Demonstrated expertise in product marketing and lifecycle management.

•  Excellent analytical skills and solid experience in translating medical/scientific information into marketing strategies.

•  Outstanding communication skills including public speaking, written communication, and interpersonal skills with an ability to communicate technical concepts with clarity and accuracy.

•  Ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment and prioritize effectively.

•  Ability to work independently and be a self-motivator. An activator; action-oriented and driven.

•  Detail oriented with excellent organizational and self-management skills.

•  Ability to perform multiple tasks, proactively plan, adhere to timelines, and have a creative approach to problem solving.

•  Has curiosity and is passionate about having an impact on patient’s lives.

•  Excellent interpersonal skills to build strong relationships.

At Karius, we value a diverse and inclusive workplace and provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees and are committed to honor and invest in the full diversity of people, in our hiring, recruiting and development of employees across the Company.  All qualified applicants for employment are encouraged to apply and will be considered without regard to an individual’s race, color, sex, gender identity and gender expression (including transgender individuals who are transitioning, have transitioned, or are perceived to be transitioning to the gender with which they identify), religion, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local laws. If you are unable to submit your application due to a disability, please contact us at recruiting@kariusdx.com and we will accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities.