Marketing Principal at Punchcard Systems

Punchcard is a digital transformation studio that helps organizations modernize operations, decision-making, and service delivery through custom digital systems and AI-enabled transformation. We work with clients who want to do things differently, and we build teams that reflect that same standard.

We are looking for a Marketing Principal to lead Punchcard’s marketing strategy and growth initiatives. This is a senior individual contributor role with no direct reports, but full ownership of strategy, positioning, and the systems that drive growth. You will work directly with the CEO to shape how Punchcard is positioned in the market, how its services are packaged and communicated, and how the company generates pipeline.

Several execution partners are in place to support marketing. Your job is not to replace them; it is to lead them. You set the strategy, own the brief, and hold the results. This role succeeds by prioritization, leverage, and orchestration; not by personally producing every asset.

Punchcard has a strong referral base and a respected brand in its market. You are not starting from zero. You are building a modern, scalable marketing function on top of a foundation that already works. Success is measured in qualified organic leads per month: a number you will help set in your first 30 days, and own from there. This role will be evaluated first and foremost on its ability to generate qualified pipeline and consistently increase inbound lead volume over time.

Areas of Practice

This role spans five interconnected areas. You will not be executing everything manually; you will be designing the systems, leading the partners, and using AI tools to operate at a level of leverage that a traditional single-person marketing function cannot reach.

Market Positioning and Strategy

This is the foundation everything else is built on. You will own how Punchcard is understood in the market.

• Define and maintain Punchcard's positioning: who we are for, what problem we solve, and why we are the right choice
• Develop and refine ideal client profiles (ICPs) based on data, client interviews, and market research
• Lead competitive and market analysis to surface opportunities and threats
• Own the annual marketing plan and ensure it connects directly to business objectives
• Bring a point of view on where the market is going and what Punchcard should be saying about it

Solution Offering Design

Punchcard's services need to be packaged in ways that resonate with buyers, not just practitioners. You will work closely with the CEO and delivery leads to shape that.

• Translate Punchcard's capabilities into clearly articulated service offerings that buyers can understand and act on
• Develop the language, framing, and narrative for each offering across all channels
• Identify gaps between what Punchcard delivers and what the market is asking for, and surface those as strategic inputs
• Ensure pricing, packaging, and positioning are coherent and competitive

Content, Digital Channels, and Lead Generation

The primary measurable output of this function is qualified organic leads per month: a baseline established in your first 30 days, a target set collaboratively, and a number you own from there.

• Own content strategy across blogs, case studies, white papers, newsletter, and LinkedIn/Instagram
• Drive SEO and LLM-based discoverability: Punchcard should surface when the right buyers are asking the right questions, in search engines and in AI-assisted research
• Build and manage email nurture sequences that move prospects from awareness to conversation
• Oversee website strategy, content, and performance in partnership with the design, product and development teams
• Orchestrate AI workflows (Claude, Perplexity, n8n, and equivalents) to produce and distribute content at a scale and speed a traditional one-person function cannot match
• Track funnel performance and iterate relentlessly based on what the data shows

Brand, PR, and Campaign Management

You will own Punchcard's brand integrity and its presence in earned and paid channels.

• Own brand management: voice, visual standards, and consistency across all touchpoints
• Lead sub-contractor relationships, including strategy and briefings
• Own campaign planning and management across organic and paid channels
• Brief and manage paid search and social execution through external partners
• Manage awards submissions and recognition programs
• Oversee Clutch, Google Reviews, and other social proof channels

Sales Enablement and Internal Communications

Marketing at Punchcard does not stop at top of funnel. You will ensure the sales team is equipped and that the broader team understands and can articulate what Punchcard does.

• Support the development of sales collateral, one-pagers, and presentation materials in collaboration with BD
• Build content that helps prospects understand Punchcard's process and what working with us looks like
• Create a feedback loop with sales to understand recurring objections and questions, and turn those into content and collateral
• Own internal communications: ensuring the team is aligned on positioning, offerings, and market narrative
• Support speaking engagements, events, and webinars as needed

Measuring Success

Within this role, we'll look at several KPIs to understand what success looks like:

• Organic lead generation: qualified leads per month, tracked from baseline and grown over time
• Pipeline contribution: percentage of deals with marketing-attributed touchpoints
• Content performance: organic traffic, search rankings, newsletter engagement
• Brand presence: share of voice in relevant media, awards, and recognition
• Sales enablement quality: feedback from BD team on collateral and content usefulness

What We Are Looking For

• You think strategically and execute precisely. You can develop a positioning framework in the morning and write the blog post that expresses it in the afternoon.
• You are AI-native. You use Claude, Perplexity, n8n, or equivalent tools as a normal part of how you work. You build workflows and systems, not one-off prompts.
• You have driven measurable B2B pipeline from content or organic channels. You can point to the work, explain the strategy behind it, and show the result it produced.
• You write with authority. You can take a complex idea, find its core, and express it in language that lands with a senior buyer.
• You hold vendors accountable. You know how to brief an agency, evaluate their output, and have the hard conversation when the work is not good enough.
• You are comfortable with ambiguity. Punchcard is building something new. You will not always have a clear playbook and that should excite you, not slow you down.

Background and Experience

• 7-10 years of B2B marketing experience, with at least a portion in technology, professional services, or a digital agency
• Demonstrated experience owning positioning and messaging for a complex service or product, not just executing someone else's strategy
• Experience working as a senior individual contributor with broad functional ownership
• Strong understanding of SEO, content strategy, and digital analytics; genuine curiosity about LLM-based discoverability as an emerging channel
• Experience managing external agency or vendor relationships at a strategic level
• Comfort with paid search and social at the briefing and accountability level; you do not need to execute, but you need to lead

The signals we're looking for fit

• You have worked in a company where the sales cycle is long, relationship-driven, and complex, and you have found ways to shorten or supplement it through marketing
• You have done ICP or market segmentation work and can describe what the business did differently as a result
• You publish under your own name: a newsletter, a LinkedIn presence, a blog, or something that demonstrates how you think in public
• You have an informed point of view on how AI is changing marketing operations, not just content creation

What You Can Expect at Punchcard

• A direct working relationship with the CEO on strategy, positioning, and business direction
• Full ownership of the marketing function with the authority to make real decisions
• A clear mandate and measurable goals, not a vague list of responsibilities
• Interesting client work in digital transformation that gives you genuine expertise to draw on and write about
• A distributed team across Canada that operates on outcomes, not hours
• Flexible hours and a remote-first workplace
• Employee group benefits including health, dental, disability, and life insurance
• A team that values craft, supports each other, and does not tolerate internal politics

This role will grow with Punchcard. As the company scales, the Marketing Principal becomes the foundation of a marketing function, not a permanent one-person band. The right person will have the opportunity to shape what that function looks like.

How to Apply

Skip the generic cover letter. Send us two things instead:

• A brief description of a positioning or content initiative you owned: what the strategic problem was, what you did, and what changed as a result.
• One specific observation about how Punchcard could improve its market positioning or digital presence, and why.

Punchcard is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business need.