Fanbase Growth Engineer for Music Artist

Fanbase Growth Engineer — Sam Nicholson

Type: Full-time · Location: Remote, with travel for key moments and tour · Comp: $50K base + commission/performance bonus tied to KPIs — total comp can exceed $100K for someone who hits and beats their numbers.

About the role

Sam Nicholson creates music that captures the rush of youth, the ache of nostalgia, and the beauty of being alive. Blending indie folk and anthemic pop influences from Vance Joy, Noah Kahan, and Coldplay, his songs feel like the soundtrack to a coming-of-age film — equal parts romantic, adventurous, and deeply human. The purpose behind the music is to make timeless, euphoric music that reminds listeners to live fully and feel everything.

Sam has over 400k total followers, over 250k monthly listeners, over 20k on the email/SMS list, and a 2,500-person Discord — but engagement and conversion don't yet match the size of that following. Your job is to fix exactly that: turn a big, passive audience into an engaged, mobilized fanbase that shows up, buys tickets, and streams. This is a data-driven, experiment-heavy role for someone who thinks like a growth engineer, not a traditional social media manager. On top of that, you'll be working on the entire fan funnel — from bringing people in at the top to taking them down the fan journey to becoming superfans at the bottom.

Why this role, right now

The hard part is already done: the audience exists. 400k+ followers, 250k+ monthly listeners, an owned list, and an active Discord — the fuel is in the tank, and the conversion engine hasn't been built yet. That's the dream setup for a growth operator, because the upside is sitting right there waiting to be unlocked, and every point of engagement or conversion you move is directly attributable to you. This isn't a maintenance job; it's a build. And it's built to reward results: your commission and bonus are tied to the numbers you move, so hitting and beating your KPIs pushes total comp past six figures. Sam is one artist on Ignite Music Marketing's roster — so for the person who does this exceptionally, there's a clear path to grow into a Head of Growth / Head of Marketing seat at Ignite: building and leading a team, owning a bigger budget, and running growth not just for Sam, but across every artist we work with. Prove the engine here, then run it company-wide.

What you'll lead

• The growth engine end to end: audience growth, engagement rate, email/SMS list growth, Discord activation, streaming numbers, and ticket conversion — with clear KPIs you're accountable for.
• Paid acquisition & retargeting: building and running Meta / TikTok / YouTube / Snap ad campaigns, custom audiences, lookalikes, and retargeting funnels — including tour ticket campaigns city by city.
• Owned-audience CRM: growing, segmenting, and nurturing the email and SMS lists (including by geography), and running smart, well-timed campaigns around releases and shows.
• Funnel & data: instrumenting pixels, links, and analytics so we actually know what's working; reporting on what moves the needle and reallocating spend/effort accordingly.
• Experimentation: a constant cadence of tests — hooks, formats, CTAs, landing pages, offers — killing what fails and scaling what wins.
• Superfan activation: turning the Discord and top fans into a mobilized community and street team.
• Release & tour growth playbooks: repeatable systems so every drop and every show sells better than the last.
• UGC / influencer campaigns: managing and further building a network of creators and in-house accounts to manufacture virality around Sam and his music.
• Creative marketing: leading any other marketing tactics relevant to growing and activating Sam's fanbase (for example, local in-person strategies).
• Managing a team: potentially managing a small team if it's necessary to implement relevant growth/activation strategies.

Who you are

• Someone who is ambitious and wants to make a massive impact with their work.
• A proactive go-getter.
• A leader who can run everything and doesn't need someone to tell them what to do or how to do it.
• A growth marketer / growth engineer with a track record of measurably moving audience, engagement, or conversion numbers — ideally for artists, creators, or DTC/consumer brands.
• Hands-on with paid social (Meta Ads Manager especially), custom/lookalike audiences, and retargeting — you've spent real budget and know the levers.
• Comfortable with data: analytics, attribution, A/B testing, spreadsheets, and reading a funnel.
• Fluent in the mechanics of each platform (what actually drives reach and conversion, not just posting).
• Fast-moving, self-directed, and obsessed with results over vanity metrics.
• You know how to build a cult-like fanbase that listens on repeat, buys tickets to shows, buys merch, etc.
• Bonus: email/SMS platforms (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, community.com, etc.), Discord community building, familiarity with ticketing/streaming analytics, light creative/copy skills.

What winning looks like

• Engagement and conversion start tracking with the size of the following — the audience stops being passive.
• You've stood up clean attribution: pixels, links, and dashboards that tell us exactly what's driving streams, list growth, and ticket sales.
• List and Discord aren't just bigger — they're activated, segmented, and converting on releases and shows.
• Tour dates sell better city by city because you're running real acquisition and retargeting behind them.
• There's a repeatable release/tour playbook so every drop outperforms the last, and the wins compound instead of resetting.

What we offer

• $50K base + commission/performance bonus tied to KPIs — total comp can clear $100K for someone who hits and beats their targets. The better the results, the better the pay.
• A clear path to grow into a Head of Growth / Head of Marketing role at Ignite Music Marketing — build and lead a team, own the budget, and run growth across every artist we work with, not just Sam.
• Real ownership and autonomy — you run the engine, and the results are visibly yours.
• A rare "the audience already exists, now go convert it" setup where your impact is directly measurable.

How to apply

Submit your resume and send a short email to tim@ignitemusicmarketing on a growth result you're proud of — the number you moved, how you moved it, and how you knew it worked. If you want to stand out, include a quick teardown of where you'd start with Sam's funnel and the first two or three experiments you'd run. We care far more about how you think and what you've actually moved than about a polished resume.