Head of Demand Generation

Hi, I’m Harriet. I’m the VP of Marketing at Ashby. I joined a little over 3.5 years ago to help lead our public launch. I joined because I believed deeply in the product, the team, and the intentionality and ambition behind what Benji and Abhik are building.

Today, Ashby serves nearly 4,000 customers, ranging from some of the most exciting startups in AI to companies like Snowflake, Shopify, OpenAI, Notion, and UiPath. Our marketing team has grown to 23 people, and we’re operating in a really exciting phase of growth.

My career path hasn’t been linear. I started as a yoga teacher, moved into M&A law, and since spent roughly a decade building and leading marketing teams at companies like Uber Eats, Brex, and now Ashby. That mix of disciplines — and getting to see hyperscale under some incredible marketing leaders in a B2C and B2B capacity, alongside a healthy dose of first-principles thinking, has shaped how I think about marketing: principled, customer-centric, and built to scale.

While our growth and the work we’ve produced to date is something I’m very proud of, one of the biggest highlights for me has been the marketing leadership team we’ve built here: Anum, Kat, Rosalia, Darcy, and Euphonia. After almost six years of working together with Euphonia here and at Brex, she is taking a well-earned career break and pursuing her own business, so we’re opening this role to help lead Ashby through its next chapter of growth.

Ashby is at an inflection point. We’ve built strong foundations around product, brand, content, community, and trust with our existing customers which continue to be one of our most consistent channels of growth. We are now focused on scaling thoughtfully. We’re building a generational company, not just by shipping great software, but by creating a durable moat around our customers and the way we show up in the market. This means less “quick wins” that come with the risk of brand erosion, and more focus on community and content, with a healthy dose of fun experimentations and many projects that fail (with great learnings).

This role is for someone who wants to help shape that next phase with ambition, care, and high standards, and lead while building alongside an incredible team of Demand and Growth Marketers – Antonio, Claire, Tim, and Ben (who are awesome).

The role, in plain terms

The Head of Demand Generation owns how Ashby scales demand, from first principles, with a strong bias for experimentation as we move into our next phase of growth.

It’s a leadership role that sits at the intersection of strategy, systems, people, and execution. You’ll be accountable for building a growth engine that works across PLG and sales-led motions, across geographies, and across products, without compromising taste, trust, or long-term brand.

You’ll work closely with me, the marketing leadership team, Sales, Product, RevOps, Partnerships, and CS. You’ll be expected to think holistically, prioritize relentlessly, and stay close enough to the work to know what’s actually happening.

While we are of course aware of the important nuances between Growth and Demand Generation, both profile backgrounds are very welcome as there is no one way to achieve this outcome – though you will need to be able to stretch in both directions.

What you’ll be responsible for

Your scope is broad, but intentionally so. In practice, you will:

1. Lead and grow the demand generation function, including hiring, developing, and setting clear expectations for a high-performing team.
2. Own Ashby’s growth strategy as we scale our sales-led motion and introduce a PLG motion, this will include a healthy balance of scaling already sophisticated ABM, Outbound, OOH, automation motions, while building out our AEO, Paid, and other areas required to build a holistic demand gen motion.
3. Build scalable programs across the US and EMEA, balancing global consistency with regional nuance.
4. Partner deeply with Product, PMM, and Content to reduce funnel friction end-to-end: discovery, education, conversion, onboarding, lifecycle nudges, and retention moments.
5. Work closely with RevOps and Partnerships on ICP definition, TAM analysis, list building, enrichment, and ecosystem-driven growth.

You will thrive in this role if you:

• You have a strong understanding of how world-class SaaS businesses operate, and excellent commercial acumen to apply growth tactics to match that model.
• Have owned (and enjoy) ambiguous, high-impact problems and turning them into clear strategies, systems, and shipped work. You don’t wait for perfect inputs.
• Like operating at multiple altitudes: setting strategy in the morning, reviewing dashboards or HubSpot workflows at noon, and rewriting an email subject line at 4pm because it matters.
• Care deeply about craft and taste in messaging, design, events, swag, and experiences, and believe demand generation is built on trust, relevance, and quality, not just volume.
• Get energy from building durable systems (processes, templates, dashboards, documentation) so the team can move faster and make better decisions over time.
• Are excited to lead and develop people, give clear feedback, raise the bar, and help others do the best work of their careers.
• Are naturally collaborative and effective as connective tissue across Product, Sales, CS, Ops, and Leadership, and default to partnership over silos.
• Believe great marketing is principled, thoughtful, and customer-centric; not loud, spammy, or short-term.
• Like being accountable to real outcomes: pipeline quality, conversion, retention, and long-term brand — not just activity metrics.

You will struggle in this role if you:

• Want to inherit a fully built machine rather than help shape and evolve one.
• Are only comfortable in either PLG or sales-led growth and struggle to balance both.
• Prefer to be out of the weeds.
• Dislike operational rigor, documentation, or data hygiene.
• Are uncomfortable with direct feedback and healthy debate.
• Don’t have a strong understanding and appreciation for brand and customer empathy.

Ideal background (not a checklist)

• Experience scaling growth in a B2B SaaS company through a meaningful inflection point.
• Experience working across both product-led and sales-led growth models.
• Experience supporting multi-product businesses and helping to launch new products
• A strong balance of ambition and taste.
• A track record of building and developing strong teams.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and equity.
• Opportunity to work with a talented and passionate team.
• 10-year exercise window for stock options. You shouldn’t feel pressure to purchase stock options if you leave Ashby —do it when you feel financially comfortable.
• Unlimited PTO with four weeks recommended per year. Expect “Vacation?” in our one-on-one agenda until you start taking it 😅.
• Twelve weeks of fully paid family leave in the US. We plan to expand this to employees in other countries as situations arise.
• Generous equipment, software, and office furniture budget. Get what you need to be happy and productive!
• $100/month education budget with more expensive items (like conferences) covered with manager approval.
• If you’re in the US, top-notch health insurance for you and your dependents with all premiums covered by us.

Interview Plan

1. An introductory call with Recruiting
2. Hiring Manager interview with Harriet Johnston where we will deep dive on leadership approach and mutual fit with operating principles
3. Call with departing Director, Demand Gen, Euphonia to learn more about the role and team, and to evaluate relevant experience fit
4. Call with Co-founder & CEO, Benji Encz to evaluate business acumen and past experience fit
5. An assignment that aims to give you a real sense of the work you would be tackling in this role
6. Meet the team: peers Kat Ferguson and Anum Hussain Ali, member of your team, Tim McCann, and sales leaders Mike Clapson or Leigh Brown

Ashby’s success hinges on hiring great people and creating an environment where we can be happy, feel challenged, and do our best work. We’re being deliberate about building that environment from the ground up. I hope that excites you enough to apply.

Ashby provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We are committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce and welcome people from all backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and abilities.