Community Marketing Manager

Company Background:

Shibumi is a growth-stage outdoor lifestyle brand based in Raleigh, NC. Shibumi was founded in 2016 by two brothers and their best friend, who, assigned to the task of beach setup and takedown during their annual family vacations, were fed up with the beach shade offerings on the market and decided to take matters into their own hands.

The company’s iconic first product, the Shibumi Shade, has garnered a cult-like following and can be seen on beaches around the country - from Emerald Isle to Santa Monica and from Cape Cod to Oahu. The Shibumi Shade works with the wind instead of against it, and stands out for being lightweight, easy to set up and take down, and durable. The Shibumi Shade is sold in both premium local retailers and direct-to-consumer, where the product sold out in minutes throughout the business’s early history. In 2021, Stripes, a leading growth equity firm whose investments include Vuori, On Running, Monday.com, Reformation, and Erewhon invested in Shibumi to support the business as it expands across geographies and categories. In 2025, Shibumi launched its first new product category with the Shibumi Chair.

Position Overview:

The Community Marketing Manager will report to the Chief Marketing Officer and work closely with the broader organization to lead Shibumi’s regional marketing program, Regional Activation (putting “toes in the sand” on beaches across the US). The Community Marketing Manager will lead a team of full-time and part-time employees based in our strategic markets, helping grow Shibumi’s sales and awareness through grassroots strategic partnerships, events, product gifting, and guerilla marketing.

Responsibilities:

• Lead team of ~40 part-time Community Managers and Brand Ambassadors, as well as one full-time Regional Marketing Coordinator, to grow Shibumi’s sales and awareness in strategic markets
• Identify, vet, negotiate, plan, and execute various activations including event integrations, brand-owned events, partnerships and guerilla beach setups at the local level
• Conduct market research, leveraging Community Managers and Brand Ambassadors, to identify local influential businesses and influencers as well as beachgoer habits and demographics
• Build relationships with key stakeholders in strategic markets, including chambers of commerce, tourism boards and local businesses
• Leverage Community Managers to drive online engagement in strategic markets via Facebook groups and other online communities.
• Review and approve Community Manager and Brand Ambassador hours and expenses on a bi-weekly basis; keep them engaged and productive team members
• Own Regional Activation budget, regularly communicating with VP of Finance to ensure spend is on-track and being deployed effectively
• Run hiring processes for additional Community Managers and Brand Ambassadors as necessary
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Social Media, Design and Integrated Marketing to amplify impact of Regional Activation initiatives
• Shoot photography, film videos and content as directed by the Social Media team to be shared on in-house channels.
• Partner with other departments such as Wholesale Department and Product Department to support their departmental goals as needed

The Ideal Candidate Possesses:

• Minimum of 3-4 years work experience in consumer products marketing; prior experience in community marketing is a plus
• Exceptional people management skills; understands how to motivate teams while maintaining a sense of humility
• Strong communicator with the ability to manage numerous projects at once across a wide range of subjects and geographies
• Excellent capital allocator; strong judgment when picking where to spend budget
• Scrapy mindset; ability to often drive >80% of the impact for <20% of the cost
• Exceptional critical thinking skills, being able to solve problems with logical reasoning
• Incredibly organized with impeccable attention to detail
• Ability to travel as required (up to 2-3 trips per month during peak season/summer months)
• Content creation experience a plus