Sr Director, Marketplace Experience Marketing

Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s largest work marketplace, connecting businesses with highly skilled professionals worldwide. From entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 enterprises, companies trust Upwork’s platform to access expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive meaningful business outcomes.

Upwork’s AI-powered platform has facilitated over $20 billion in economic opportunity for professionals worldwide. With professionals spanning 10,000+ skills, including AI and machine learning, software development, sales and marketing, customer support, finance and accounting, and more, Upwork empowers businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and build agile teams.

Upwork is seeking a strategic, customer-obsessed Senior Director of Marketplace Experience Marketing to lead teams responsible for our product marketing touchpoints across our self-serve marketplace. This role is responsible for owning and optimizing the full journey—turning registrations into customers and deepening engagement through product marketing, lifecycle activation, and feature adoption strategies.

You’ll lead the teams focused on product marketing and lifecycle marketing, building branded experiences that deliver business outcomes, including onboarding, repeat usage, upsell/cross-sell, and long-term loyalty. You’ll work in lockstep with Product, UX, and Analytics to shape how customers engage with Upwork—from their first visit to meaningful value realization.

Responsibilities

• Define the Marketplace Experience Vision: Lead the creation and execution of an integrated GTM and lifecycle strategy that supports Upwork’s marketplace tiers and drives measurable adoption, engagement, and monetization.
• Own All Product Marketing Touchpoints: Lead marketing strategy and execution across onboarding, in-product messaging, lifecycle campaigns, and feature launches.
• Lead Lifecycle Marketing Across Channels: Own the end-to-end lifecycle strategy for both clients and freelancers, including off-platform communication and engagement. Define the calendar of messaging moments and work across brand, creative, and product to ensure every touchpoint drives connection, clarity, and value.
• Drive Strategic Planning: Own GTM planning across the organization to align product launch, lifecycle and adoption motions with corporate objectives and marketplace evolution.
• Operationalize Growth Execution: Translate high-level goals into executional roadmaps and funnel programs, ensuring conversion metrics improve across tiers, categories, and lifecycle stages.
• Improve Funnel Health: Define and track KPIs across registration, activation, hiring, and repeat usage. Identify bottlenecks and drive the roadmap to remove them.
• Champion Customer-Centricity: Be the bridge between customer feedback and product leaders to drive holistic improvements to our product. Ensure messaging is grounded in customer needs and expectations, reflects good segmentation, and uses data signals.
• Enable Executive Clarity: Support GTM storytelling in exec-level forums—board decks, business reviews, and company-wide updates—with clear narratives around funnel impact and experience improvements.

What it takes to catch our eye

• 15+ years of experience in lifecycle, growth, or product marketing, ideally in a high-scale customer-centric business.
• Proven success owning product adoption, onboarding, lifecycle engagement, and communications that directly drive retention and revenue
• Experience crafting a voice that connects brand to business, and designing messaging strategies that resonate across channels and segments
• Deep understanding of customer journey design, onboarding UX, PLG mechanics, and behavioral targeting
• Strong leadership skills; ability to build and inspire multi-disciplinary teams
• Data fluency; ability to interpret KPIs and turn insights into action
• Experience with operational planning and GTM strategy across functions
• Executive communication skills; clear, concise, and grounded in impact
• Familiarity with Martech tools, customer segmentation, and growth KPIs.
• Passion for shaping how customers experience and succeed on a platform

Come change how the world works.

At Upwork, you’ll shape the future of work for a global, remote-first workforce, creating economic opportunities for professionals worldwide. While we have a physical office in Palo Alto, we currently hire full-time employees in 21 U.S. states, making it easier than ever to join our mission from wherever you call home.

Our culture is built on trust, risk-taking, customer focus, and excellence, all in service of our core mission: to create economic opportunities so people have better lives. We embrace authenticity and inclusion, encouraging everyone to bring their whole selves to work. Personal and professional growth is a priority here, supported through development programs, mentorship, and our Upwork Belonging Communities.

We’re proud to offer benefits that go beyond the basics, including comprehensive medical coverage for you and your family, unlimited PTO, a 401(k) plan with matching, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Visit our Life at Upwork page to learn more about our values, working principles, and the overall employee experience.

Ready to help shape the future of work? Check out our Careers page and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X to learn more about life at Upwork.

Upwork is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, or other legally protected characteristics under federal, state, or local law.

Please note that a criminal background check may be required once a conditional job offer is made. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered in accordance with applicable law, including the California Fair Chance Act and local Fair Chance ordinances.