Director, Demand Generation

Why This Role Exists

Automotive retail is consolidating, and the groups leading it are choosing the partners they'll run on for the next decade. More of their research now starts inside AI answer engines, and KPA's growth is concentrated in those multi-rooftop groups and in clients who already trust us adding coverage. That calls for a deliberate growth model, not a busier campaign calendar.

This role sets that model. You'd own the vision and strategy for demand generation across the company: the go-to-market model Marketing, Sales, and Client Success run together, the playbook behind it, the plan and investment case for the pipeline number, and the multi-year build-out of the team, technology, and measurement that will carry it at scale. While the team help you run the engine, you decide what it's built to do, where it points, and how big it gets.

If you've built a demand function before and want to design the next one from the model up, with the mandate to make it the way the whole company grows, this is it.

The Role

The Director, Demand Generation owns KPA's demand strategy and marketing's contribution to lead pipeline and revenue. You report to the Chief Marketing Officer, sit on the marketing leadership team, and lead the demand team and its agency partners.

The mandate runs in order: make the funnel measurable, make the engine repeatable, then scale it. The team is lean, so you'll definitely be hands-on and in the trenches, and will stay close enough to the work to pressure-test it. But your leverage is the model, the people, and the decisions.

Success is measured in pipeline against the company plan, a funnel all commercial functions trust, and an engine that gets more efficient as it grows, with a clear answer to where the next dollar goes and where we should be consistently testing and learning.

What You'll Do

Set the Vision and the Go-to-Market Model

• Define KPA's demand generation vision and multi-year strategy, and turn it into an annual plan the company aligns to: targets, budget, channel mix, and capacity.
• Design the go-to-market model by segment: single-rooftop dealers, multi-rooftop groups, fleet and adjacent segments; new logo, account-based, and expansion. Decide which plays each gets and what each should return.
• Own the demand playbook as a company standard: the plays, the stage definitions, and the handoffs and service levels between Marketing and Sales (and Client Success). Codify it so it outlasts the current team.
• Partner with Product Marketing and Product so every launch has a pipeline plan, not just an announcement.

Own the Pipeline Number and the Investment Case

• Own marketing's sourced and influenced pipeline and revenue targets and the forecast behind them. Report against them candidly - including when the number is short.
• Own the demand budget and make the case for it: reverse-funnel models, scenarios, and a defensible return on every line across channels, agencies, events, and technology.
• Represent marketing performance to the executive team and the board with numbers that hold up under questioning.

Set the Measurement Standard

• Decide KPA's funnel definitions (lead, MQL, SAL, SQL, opportunity) and attribution approach with Revenue Operations and Sales, align the organization, and hold every team to them.
• Move KPA from counting engagements to counting true net-new demand, and be candid with leadership about what changes when the denominator does.
• Define the reporting the business runs on (pipeline, velocity, CAC, CPL, and payback by segment, motion, and program) and the roadmap to a proper BI layer.

Build the Engine to Scale

• Write the multi-year build-out plan: team structure and hiring sequence, what we build in-house versus buy from agencies, and the order in which new capabilities are deployed.
• Set the marketing technology roadmap with Marketing Operations and Revenue Operations: what the stack must do at twice our size, what we consolidate, and what we retire.
• Set the operating model for AI in demand gen, including where it helps compound output, where a person stays in the loop, and guardrails on accuracy, claims, brand voice, and data handling that a compliance company can defend.

Lead the Account-Based and Expansion Strategy

• Set the strategy for the multi-rooftop groups consolidating the market: tiering, named-account coverage with Sales, and one coordinated marketing and SDR motion against each account.
• Build the expansion strategy with Sales and Client Success. Growing coverage among the more than 15,000 clients who already trust KPA is the largest near-term growth lever we have.
• With the Product, Product Marketing, Consulting, and Revenue Operations, turn KPA's field and incident data into proof the market can see: what our consultants found and the outcomes we helped prevent, stated in numbers.

Lead the Team and the Partnerships

• Develop and retain a small team, starting with the Manager, Demand Generation and the Marketing Operations Manager. Set clear ownership, clear numbers, and a high bar for execution.
• Direct the agency roster as the strategy owner with the CMO: set the brief and the targets, judge the work on outcomes, and decide what comes in-house.
• Build the partnership with Sales leadership so the pipeline conversation is a working session rather than a negotiation.

What You Bring

Experience

• 10-15 years of progressive B2B demand generation or growth marketing experience, ideally in SaaS or technology, with at least 3 years leading a team or function.
• Demonstrated experience building a demand function and scaling it. You set the strategy, designed the model, implemented it, and hired the team, rather than inheriting one that already worked.
• Ownership of a pipeline target and the budget behind it, defended in front of a CFO, an executive team, or a board.
• Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, business, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Deep Expertise: The Core of the Job

• Go-to-market strategy. Segmentation, motion design, and channel mix, tied together by the economics: CAC, payback, pipeline coverage, and where the next dollar goes.
• Revenue planning and measurement. Reverse-funnel planning, forecasting, funnel governance, and real command of attribution methodology, including its limits.
• Building and leading teams. Org design, hiring, coaching managers, and directing agencies so a lean team performs like a much larger one.
• AI and automation as an operating model. A track record of applying AI and other automation to real marketing workflows for measurable gains, with the judgment to set the strategy and guardrails for a whole team.

Strong Working Knowledge

• Marketing technology. HubSpot (or Marketo, Pardot, or similar) and Salesforce, deep enough to set the roadmap, make changes, and audit how the stack is run.
• Channels and programs. Paid search and social, SEO and visibility in AI answer engines, ABM and intent platforms, events, and lifecycle, deep enough to direct a manager and an agency rather than accept their report.

Nice to Have

• Automotive retail, fleet, insurance, EHS, HR, or another regulated B2B category.
• Demand generation for a multi-product portfolio sold into the same buyer.

The Intangibles

• Vision with the math attached. Your strategy comes with a model, and you can make a dealer principal, a sales leader, and a board member each understand it.
• Intellectually honest. You'd rather report a bad number accurately than a good number loosely. When the attribution is ambiguous, you’re candid and upfront about it.
• Builds leaders. You measure yourself by how good your team gets, and you hire people who will outgrow the job you hired them for.
• Comfortable with unfinished ground. Much of what this role needs doesn't exist quite yet. To you, that’s the reason to take it!
• Opinionated, and warm about it. You have a point of view and you argue it without making anyone smaller.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

This is a primarily sedentary role performed at a workstation, requiring extended periods of computer use and frequent verbal and written communication. Occasional travel is required as needed.

Compensation

• Annual base salary between $150-180k commensurate with experience
• Bonus potential up to 10% annually