About iNaturalist

Protecting nature starts with noticing it. On iNaturalist, millions of people around the world share photos and audio recordings of the plants, animals, fungi, and more near them. After more than 18 years of noticing nature, the community has created one of the world’s largest open biodiversity databases — one that has informed over 8,000 scientific papers, supported on-the-ground conservation efforts, and connected people to the nature around them.

iNaturalist is an independent nonprofit with a mission to connect people to nature and advance biodiversity science and conservation. We believe anyone, anywhere can contribute — you don’t need to be an expert to make a difference — and that community science is critical to protecting global biodiversity. Our small, dedicated team builds technology to scale community science, with humans in the loop.

We’re growing, and we’re looking for people who want to help millions more around the world turn their everyday curiosity into lasting impact for nature!

Position Summary

iNaturalist already reaches millions of people and has grown largely through its product, community, and word of mouth. We believe there is an enormous untapped audience of people who are curious about nature but have never heard of iNaturalist. This new department is being created to reach them intentionally and at scale.

As Head of Marketing, you will build iNaturalist’s first dedicated growth and marketing function. You will be accountable for dramatically increasing the number of new people who discover iNaturalist and become participants while expanding our reach to new audiences and communities around the world — using brand, communications, partnerships, campaigns, and experimentation. You’ll inherit an established communications capability, including our Senior Communications Manager, and build the team and capabilities needed for our next stage of growth.

Marketing brings new people to iNaturalist. Product & Engineering builds the product experiences through which they participate. Engagement helps people become and remain active participants, deepen their participation, get support, govern the community, and give back. These teams work closely together across the participant journey.

Key Responsibilities

• Own iNaturalist’s new-user growth and acquisition strategy, with measurable goals for new participation.

• Identify and test the audiences, geographies, channels, campaigns, and partnerships with the greatest potential for growth.

• Build a portfolio of repeatable growth channels and continually identify new ways to reach prospective participants.

• Use experimentation and attribution to understand which efforts produce incremental new participants, and scale, refine, or stop investments based on impact and cost-effectiveness.

• Partner with Product & Engineering and Engagement to ensure a strong handoff from reaching new audiences to activating and retaining new participants.

• Build a clear and compelling global brand that makes iNaturalist accessible and appealing to much broader audiences.

• Participate in iNaturalist’s cross-organizational communications function, working with the Executive Director and the Heads of Engagement and Philanthropy to align the stories we tell and carry them consistently across audiences and channels.

• Lead Marketing’s communications and storytelling, ensuring they advance our growth, brand, and organizational priorities.

• Help new audiences understand what iNaturalist is, why they should participate, and why their participation matters.

• Develop partnerships with organizations, companies, creators, educators, and institutions that can introduce iNaturalist to new communities.

• Design scalable collaborations whose success is measured in part by the new audiences and participants they bring to iNaturalist.

• Partner with Philanthropy on relationships that combine mission impact and audience growth.

• Lead, grow, and mentor a high-performing Marketing team, beginning with our existing Senior Communications Manager.

• Build a culture of ownership, experimentation, measurement, and continuous improvement.

• Own Marketing’s annual strategy, budget, priorities, and success metrics.

Required Experience and Qualifications

• 15+ years of professional experience in marketing, including  8+ years in senior leadership or growth roles with responsibility for measurable audience or user acquisition.

• Demonstrated success substantially growing the user base, audience, or community of a consumer product, online platform, or mission-driven organization.

• Experience building or substantially evolving a growth function, including identifying promising channels and deciding where to invest limited resources.

• Strong understanding of consumer growth funnels, audience segmentation, acquisition channels, conversion, and the cost-effectiveness of growth investments.

• Demonstrated experience using experimentation, attribution, funnel analysis, and performance data to make growth decisions.

• Experience building, mentoring, and leading high-performing teams.

• Excellent strategic, collaborative, and communication skills, with a willingness to execute as well as lead.

• Ability to work effectively in a remote, collaborative environment.

• Ability and willingness to travel as needed (e.g., annual staff retreat).

• Authorized to work in the U.S. and a resident of one of the lower 48 states (i.e., not Alaska or Hawaii).

Preferred Experience and Qualifications

• Experience growing products through community and word of mouth.

• Experience in conservation, education, science, nonprofits, or other mission-driven organizations.

• Familiarity with digital product marketing and user lifecycle strategies.

• Experience marketing to international or multilingual audiences.

• Interest in nature, biodiversity, or community science.

Why It's Great to Work at iNaturalist

A mission that matters. Biodiversity is changing rapidly, and understanding and protecting nature depends on people noticing what’s happening around them. iNaturalist gives millions of people a way to participate.

A great team. We value and celebrate unique perspectives and contributions. We are committed to collaborating, supporting, learning from, and learning about each other.

Flexible work. We are a virtual team, and this position’s work can be performed from home or wherever you are comfortable with a strong internet connection. You’ll even get some funds to set up your office and a monthly stipend to defray some of the costs.

For this position, to facilitate collaboration across time zones, we require that you be a resident of one of the lower 48 states (i.e., not Alaska or Hawaii). Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas.

Competitive pay. The starting compensation for this position is $189,980.66 per year, non-negotiable.

Great benefits. We offer a robust benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, plus an employer-funded health reimbursement account and employee-funded flexible spending accounts. There is a 401k plan with a 5% match and an employee assistance plan. This position is eligible for unlimited personal time off — and unlike some tech companies, we really mean it: everyone is expected to take a minimum of three weeks a year off.

Additional Information

A background investigation is required prior to employment for applicants who receive a conditional offer of employment. Applicants given a conditional offer will be required to sign authorization and release forms enabling such an investigation.

Application Process

Instead of a cover letter, we will ask you to answer a few questions that will be reviewed (by real people, not AI) and assessed separately from each other, your resume, and your name. Randomization and anonymization of each element in the initial review process allows us to focus on the content of your answers, which minimizes bias. Application materials submitted outside of Applied (e.g., via email) will not be considered. 

Applied asks for your demographic information, but we never see it in association with you — only summarized in aggregate. We use it to assess the overall demographics of the candidate pool.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We encourage you to submit your application by November 15, 2026 for priority consideration. The position will remain open until filled.

Expected Timeline for Advanced Candidates:

• Application Priority Consideration Date: November 15, 2026

• Hiring Committee Interview: 1–2 weeks after initial application review

• Leadership Team Interview: 1 week after a successful hiring committee interview

• Reference Checks & Offer: 1 week after a successful Leadership Team interview

• Background Check: 1 day after offer acceptance

• Target start date: January 1, 2027

Research shows that members of marginalized groups may not apply for jobs unless they meet 100% of the qualifications. We encourage anyone who would be excited to do this work every day to apply.

iNaturalist is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other applicable characteristics protected by law.

iNaturalist is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities during the hiring process. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, please contact Head of Administration Adrienne Pettit at adrienne@inaturalist.org.