VP, Marketing

Upwork Inc.’s (Nasdaq: UPWK) family of companies connects businesses with global, AI-enabled talent across every contingent work type including freelance, fractional, and payrolled. This portfolio includes the Upwork Marketplace, which connects businesses with on-demand access to highly skilled talent across the globe, and Lifted, which provides a purpose-built solution for enterprise organizations to source, contract, manage, and pay talent across the full spectrum of contingent work.

From Fortune 100 enterprises to entrepreneurs, businesses rely on Upwork Inc. to find and hire expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive business transformation. With access to professionals spanning more than 10,000 skills across AI & machine learning, software development, sales & marketing, customer support, finance & accounting, and more, the Upwork family of companies enables businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and transform their workforces for the age of AI and beyond.

Since its founding, Upwork Inc. has facilitated more than $30 billion in total transactions and services as it fulfills its purpose to create opportunity in every era of work.

About the role

We are seeking a Vice President of Marketing to lead and scale the company’s end-to-end marketing function, with a clear mandate: build a durable, performance-driven growth engine that delivers measurable business outcomes.

This role sits at the center of Marketplace performance, accountable for the systems that drive acquisition, activation, and monetization across SMB and mid-market customers - and for ensuring those systems scale efficiently and predictably.

We have strong foundations: a scaled marketplace, global supply, and growing demand across key AI categories. What’s needed now is a step-change in how we convert that demand into durable growth. 

This is a senior executive role with significant autonomy and company-wide influence. You will lead a multi-disciplinary organization and partner closely with Product, Engineering, Data Science, and Finance to improve the full customer journey.

Responsibilities

• Own and scale the Marketplace growth system for SMB and mid-market customers, translating company strategy into a multi-year, integrated operating plan across acquisition, activation, engagement, and monetization, with clear accountability to business outcomes such as GSV per active client and overall company growth.
• Drive a step-change in how Marketing operates by scaling experimentation, improving efficiency, and building a more integrated, high-performing system across all disciplines.
• Define and lead the long-term vision, strategy, and execution roadmap for Marketing, positioning the function as a core driver of growth, profitability, and competitive differentiation aligned to Upwork’s enterprise priorities.
• Lead performance marketing and demand generation across channels - including paid, organic, lifecycle, and emerging surfaces - with a focus on high-intent demand capture, efficient acquisition, faster time-to-first-hire, and long-term customer value.
• Oversee Product Marketing, Brand, and Content to ensure clear positioning, strong trust signals, and a seamless path from discovery to hire for SMB and mid-market buyers.
• Operate as an enterprise leader, influencing company strategy, investment decisions, and cross-functional priorities as a member of the extended leadership team.

What it takes to catch our eye

• Deep experience building and scaling performance-led growth systems, with demonstrated ownership of acquisition efficiency, funnel optimization, and long-term customer value in a scaled marketplace or platform business.
• Proven track record of operating at an enterprise level, setting vision and strategy for a marketing function or business unit, and delivering measurable impact on company growth and financial performance.
• Strong command of paid acquisition, SEO, lifecycle marketing, and experimentation, with the ability to translate data into clear decisions, tradeoffs, and investment strategies.
• Experience integrating multiple marketing disciplines (performance, brand, product marketing, content) into a cohesive, high-impact system aligned to business outcomes.
• Deep experience serving SMB and/or mid-market business customers, with a strong understanding of buyer intent, urgency, budget sensitivity, and the need for fast, trusted outcomes.
• Fluency in data, experimentation, and marketing analytics, with the ability to partner effectively with analytics and finance to guide forecasting, capital allocation, and ROI decisions.
• Comfort operating in an AI-forward environment, using AI to accelerate analysis, experimentation, and execution while applying strong judgment to guide decisions.
• A leadership style grounded in clarity, accountability, and outcomes, with the ability to align cross-functional leaders and deliver results at scale through others.