How to apply for Head of Marketing

About High Impact Athletes

High Impact Athletes is a nonprofit that mobilizes professional athletes to pledge a portion of their income to evidence-based charities, turning athletic influence into global giving. What makes it unique is the combination of elite sports partnerships (like HYROX across 80+ events) with a rigorous, effective-altruism approach to philanthropy. Working here means scaling a proven model from $15M to $100M annually, directly translating marketing growth into lives saved.

About the role

As Head of Marketing, you will own the entire marketing engine—strategy, budget (millions), and a team of 5–8—to scale athlete-led fundraising from $15M to $100M. You’ll optimize full-funnel acquisition, conversion, and retention for mass participation events (Race for Impact) and elite athlete campaigns, while activating the HYROX partnership and converting a 430+ athlete network into a fundraising and advocacy asset. This is a rare chance to build a global growth engine where marketing KPIs directly map to charitable impact.

A typical day

A typical day might involve reviewing funnel metrics with your data team, meeting with agency partners on campaign performance, and collaborating with the athlete partnerships team to plan a HYROX activation. You could also be coaching your team on lifecycle optimization, interviewing candidates for an open role, or presenting a budget reallocation to the executive team. Expect a fast pace where marketing decisions directly translate into charitable dollars raised.

Who High Impact Athletes is looking for

• 5+ years of experience building consumer growth engines with a proven track record of scaling revenue from tens of millions to $100M+ annually, ideally in subscription, events, or marketplace models.
• Deep expertise in full-funnel optimization (acquisition, conversion, lifecycle, retention) and advanced data analysis—comfortable owning a multi-million dollar budget and making data-driven investment decisions.
• Experience managing agency partnerships and marketing systems (CRM, marketing automation, analytics) while leading a team of 5–8 across digital, content, and campaign functions.
• Genuine commitment to effective altruism and nonprofit missions; able to translate athlete influence into donor action and comfortable working with high-profile athletes and event partners like HYROX.

Tips for this application

• Quantify your scaling impact: explicitly state the revenue or user growth you’ve driven (e.g., “scaled from $X to $Y in Z years”) and tie it to funnel metrics—this role is defined by a $15M→$100M mandate.
• Show familiarity with the effective altruism movement and High Impact Athletes’ model; reference specific evidence-based charities they support or the concept of pledge-based giving in your application.
• Highlight any experience with mass participation events (races, walks, challenges) or athlete/celebrity partnerships, as Race for Impact and HYROX activation are central to the role.
• Demonstrate budget ownership at the millions level: mention the exact budget you managed, how you allocated it across channels, and the ROI you achieved.
• If you have nonprofit or mission-driven experience, emphasize it—but even without it, connect your for-profit growth skills to the nonprofit context by discussing how you’d optimize donor lifetime value and retention.

What to cover in your cover letter

In your cover letter, focus on: (1) a specific example of scaling a consumer growth engine from ~$15M to a much larger figure, including the funnel levers you pulled; (2) your experience managing a multi-million dollar budget and a team of 5–8, with details on agency and systems management; (3) your understanding of High Impact Athletes’ model and why athlete-led fundraising excites you; and (4) how you would approach activating the HYROX partnership and the 430+ athlete network to drive both fundraising and advocacy.

Research before applying

• Study High Impact Athletes’ website, especially their list of supported charities and the pledge model—understand how they vet charities and what “evidence-based” means in their context.
• Research the HYROX partnership: what HYROX events look like, their global footprint, and how High Impact Athletes currently activates at those events (check news, social media, and press releases).
• Look into the Race for Impact mass participation events—past locations, participant numbers, fundraising totals—to understand the scale and growth potential.
• Read about effective altruism and giving pledges (e.g., Giving What We Can) to grasp the philosophy behind the organization and speak the language of impact-driven donors.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• How would you build a growth roadmap to scale athlete-led fundraising from $15M to $100M annually? Walk us through your first 90 days.
• Describe a time you optimized a full funnel (acquisition to retention) for a consumer product or event. What metrics did you move and how?
• How would you activate the HYROX partnership across 80+ global events to maximize racer acquisition and donor conversion?
• Tell us about your experience managing a large marketing budget. How do you decide allocation across channels and measure ROI?
• How would you turn a network of 430+ elite athletes into a scalable fundraising and advocacy asset? What systems or incentives would you put in place?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Focusing only on for-profit growth tactics without connecting them to nonprofit impact—this role requires a genuine commitment to the mission, and candidates who seem purely mercenary will be filtered out.
• Neglecting to mention specific numbers: vague claims like “grew revenue significantly” are red flags when the job explicitly demands scaling from $15M to $100M.
• Ignoring the athlete and event components: applying as a generic growth marketer without addressing how you’d leverage athlete networks and mass participation events shows a lack of role-specific thinking.