At YNAB, we build the world’s best budgeting software. But teaching people how to get control of their money and changing lives one budget at a time is what gets us up in the morning. In order to teach the masses the YNAB way of budgeting, it requires sending emails...lots and lots of emails (and messages, really). That’s where you come in!
You are an HTML email-crafting savant on wheels. You scorn the decision makers at Microsoft for their implementation of Outlook 2003’s HTML rendering, but you also love the challenge and job security it brings. Also, it was a different time...who knew CSS would be a thing (everybody knew, but still)?
Even though you love getting into the weeds, creating and troubleshooting HTML emails and in-app messages, you also have never met a mind map that you don’t like. You’re building customer lifecycle messaging funnels in your sleep. You’re targeting, triggering and delaying like a procrastinating hunter! You’re fascinated by the user journey and you absolutely love finding new ways to convert, engage, and retain anyone and everyone who comes into the marketing automation orbit.
Requirements (these are real, actual requirements):
- You have a ton of experience using Marketing Automation platforms. We use Braze, but they all have similar rules (Marketo, Iterable, SFMC, Eloqua, etc.).
- You can take a messaging series strategy, develop the emails (we have designers to design them), implement all of automation details, troubleshoot, A/B test and optimize it to a degree that impresses everyone you know and have ever talked to.
- You are a highly skilled HTML/CSS email developer. You can (and probably should) use a solid template as a base, but there’s no email client issue you can’t troubleshoot.
- Oh, hey, also, it probably goes without saying, but you can make those same emails look amazing on mobile. Are we still using the word “responsive?” You get the idea.
That gives you a pretty good idea of the job, but first, you need to know if you’ll even like working with us. (We think you will.)
A Bit About Us
We build the best budgeting software around, YNAB or “You Need a Budget” if you have a lot of extra time on your hands. For more than a decade, people have been buying YNAB and then telling their friends what a difference it has made in their lives. (
Google us, or read some of our
reviews on the app store, and you’ll see what we mean.) We love building something that has a huge positive impact on people’s lives.
We’re profitable, bootstrapped, and growing. YNAB started in 2004 and we haven’t taken any outside funding—we’re in it for the long haul.
We have one overarching requirement when it comes to joining our team: our
Core Value Manifesto has to really
click with you. If you’re nodding emphatically while reading it, you’ll probably fit right in, in which case, we can’t wait to hear from you!
First, let’s talk about life at YNAB and then we’ll go into detail about what we’re looking for.
Who you’d be working with:
Lindsey & The Gang aka the Marketing Team aka just a rag-tag but lovable bunch of underdogs who defy the odds—making budgeting software hilarious, emotional, and accessible—day in and day out. (Disney, are you listening?)
We love musical theater, board games, stand-up comedy, the Enneagram, video games, and art, to varying degrees, depending on who you talk to first. Our internal Slack channel is so much fun, it has a growing fanbase.
Lindsey, our Chief Marketing Officer, will be the first to delete something very important, but also the first to celebrate your wins—big and small. Ryan, our Digital Marketing Director, will quickly become your lifeline in any type of bracketology-related emergency and even under website-launch-level-stress, he can sneak in the jokes that make you feel like, “if Dad’s OK, we’ll all be OK.”
And then there’s, Ben B. and Janelle, who lead out on Community Engagement and Social Media, respectively. They both have huge hearts, and a tangible passion for our customers, plus they are hilarious. Reema, our Marketing Production Manager, keeps all the balls in the air, while wearing many different hats, basically, if there is a need, yo, she’ll solve it (and yes, that was a seamless incorporation of Vanilla Ice lyrics).
Plus, our brilliant creatives, Lauren and Marian (designers), Tristan (animation), Hannah and Ashley (video), and Rachel (writing) bring everything to life. They are a veritable idea machine who serve to make us look good on a daily basis. What more could you ask for?
More importantly, you get to work with Arturo, our brilliant marketing developer whose mult-lingual humor and je ne sais quoi (I don’t know what that means, but Arturo probably does) will restore all your faith (if you had lost any) in humanity on a daily basis.
But wait, there’s more! As the sole Email Marketing Automation Specialist at YNAB, you’ll be working with Support reps to craft in-app messages and Product Designers to communicate with beta testing cohorts that help test new features in YNAB. Essentially, you will be the glue that holds together the YNAB email marketing machine (don’t ask us why our machine uses glue instead of, like, bolts and more-machiney-type things).
How You’ll Work at YNAB
We work really hard to make working at YNAB an amazing experience. In fact, we were recently recognized as
Fortune's #4 best small company to work for in the United States! We have a team full of truly exceptional people—the kind you’ll be excited to work with. Here’s how we operate:
Live Where You Want
We’re a distributed team, so you can live and work wherever you want. Proximity doesn’t influence productivity. Taylor, our CTO, was traveling who-knows-where for a couple of years before he bought a farm. Up and move to France for a year? Sure, Todd did that. Don’t like France? How about London, where Janelle trotted off to. Tulsa Remote? Can do. Or if you just love LA or Baltimore or Buenos Aires, we’ve got people there, too. Not all of us move around, but the fact that these folks have is totally okay because we’re all adults. Just make sure you have a reliable internet connection.
No Crazy Hours
We rarely work more than 40 hours per week. There have been a few occasions where things got a little crazy and people had to log some extra hours. But then they took some extra time off, so it all balances out. We work hard and smart but we’re in this for the long haul, no need to go crazy on the hours.
Take Vacation (Seriously)
We want you to take vacation. In fact, we have a minimum vacation policy of three weeks per year. Five weeks feels about right (plus two extra weeks for Christmas break). It’s important to get out and do something. We’ll look forward to seeing pictures of your vacation in our Slack channel, creatively named #office_wall.
The YNAB Meetup
We get the teams together once a year to catch up on spreadsheets and powerpoints in a Best Western conference room. Just kidding. So far, we’ve done
Costa Rica, a
gigantic cabin in the mountains, a beach house in the Outer Banks, a ranch in Montana, and most recently,
Laguna Beach. We work together, play together, and reinforce the bonds we’ve made as a team and company. Every year, we leave refreshed, motivated, and excited for the year ahead together.
Up Your Game
We’re serious about helping you improve your craft. We budget for it (hey-o!). Think conferences, Lynda subscriptions, dedicated time away from work to learn something new… it’s really up to you and your manager. But we love to see our people growing.
International is Absolutely Okay
If you are Stateside, we’ll set you up as a W2 employee. If you’re international, you’ll be set up as a contractor. Employee or contractor, it’s all the same to us. You’re part of the team. (We are spread all over the world: Switzerland, Scotland, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Canada, and all over the United States.)
If You’re Stateside…
YNAB offers fantastic health, dental, and vision insurance, where we cover 100% of the premium for you and your family. (No need to check your vision, you read that right, 100%. Although if you did need to check your vision, we’ve got you covered!)
We also have a Traditional and Roth 401k option. YNAB contributes three percent whether you choose to throw any money in there or not. It vests immediately. (Are you a personal finance junkie like our founder Jesse? He set up YNAB’s 401k to have the lowest fee structure possible, where all plan costs are paid by YNAB, not your retirementnest egg. The investment funds available are fantastic, passively-managed, ultra low-cost index funds. You’re not a PF junkie? Trust us, it’s awesome.)
Other Tidbits
- Once you start, we DEMAND (in a friendly, ALL CAPS IS YELLING way) that you fill out your “Bucket List” spreadsheet with 50 items. (That’s harder than it sounds!)
- The bucket list really helps in deciding what we should give you for your birthday and the holidays.
- We have a bonus plan based on profitability. You’ll be in on that from day one. YNAB wins, you win. That kind of thing.
- We’re all adults. There’s no need to punch a clock, or ask for permission to take off early one afternoon to go see the doctor (health insurance premium 100% covered!). We look at what you accomplish, not how long you sit (have you tried standing?) in front of a computer.
- We want you firing on all cylinders so we’ll set you up with a shiny new computer and replace it every three years.
- Did I mention we make a huge, positive difference in people’s lives? You may not think that matters much, but then a few months down the road you’ll realize it’s made your job really, really enjoyable. Don’t underestimate this one!
If this sounds like your ideal environment, read on because now I want to talk about you. You will play a big, big part in helping YNAB customers achieve success. You will change lives. I’ll only say that six more times.
Now, back to you, our new Email Marketing Automation Specialist...
We’re educators and content marketers here at YNAB, and email and in-app messages are the principal way that we teach and engage with our users after they have made the decision to give us a chance. We feel like our content is something that sets us apart from our competitors in an extremely crowded space, so you will be on the front lines, delivering that content (precious cargo). We’re counting on you. You’re our only hope!
You’ll have all of the tools you need to deliver engaging, personalized messages to these new, budding budgeters as they learn how to gain total control of their money. We have writers and designers to help craft the content that you’ll develop. We have full stack developers who will keep all the systems functioning and keep all the data (for targeting) nice and clean.
Now, we need you to develop the emails/messages, set the targeting, configure the triggers and unleash the campaigns into the world.
You are our ideal candidate if you:
- Have at least 3-5 years of experience using Marketing Automation platforms. Braze is preferred, but experience with any similar platform totally works. This probably wouldn’t include some ESP’s like Constant Contact. We’re really looking for more powerful Automation platforms.
- Have at least 3-5 years of experience developing responsive HTML/CSS emails.
- Are comfortable creating strategies for all phases of the customer lifecycle (acquisition, conversion, retention, winback).
- Have some pretty stellar writing skills.
- Make us laugh.
- Manage your time exceptionally well and you are comfortable working remotely.
- Incredibly organized, flexible, and collaborative.
- Never met a deadline you didn’t love.
- Self-motivated and driven by nature, maybe even a little competitive.
- Stay laser-focused on the big picture, without losing sight of every. last. detail.
- Wildly productive and independent, but a team-player at heart.
Bonus Points:
- You already use and love YNAB.
- You are familiar with webhooks and API integrations and might even know a little bit of JavaScript.
- You write some pretty amazing email copy, or at least you know it when you see it.
YNAB is an equal opportunity employer. We believe diversity of backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences to be critical to our success and are passionate about creating a welcoming, supportive, and collaborative environment for all employees. All are encouraged to apply as we continue to grow a smart, hard-working, and diverse team who love working together to build something that matters.
How to Apply
-
Apply here by 11:59PM on March 9th, 2020. Firm. It’s a real deadline. The kind you love.
- Attach a pdf of your cover letter. In your cover letter:
- Introduce yourself and explain why this position is of interest to you, and why you would be a great fit. Please limit this section of the cover letter to 1.5 pages.
- On a separate page of your cover letter, answer the following questions (with each response being about a paragraph in length):
- 1. What attracted you to this position? (This is not about what attracted you to the software.)
- 2. What criteria do you look for when searching for your next company or position?
- 3. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of your current job?
- 4. Tell us about a time when you had to learn something new to excel at your job.
- 5. Tell us about the craziest email client bug/issue that you’ve ever troubleshooted (troubleshot?). What was it? How did you discover it and how did you fix it? What do you do now to make sure you never have to fight it again?
- 6. What are some of the differences between emails, messages and automation strategies that you would implement to convert users vs. those that you would send to retain users?
- If you have a prepared resume, attach it in PDF form. If you don’t have a resume because you aren’t even sure you’re looking to change jobs, that’s fine! An informal list of your work and education history are all we’re looking for.
- Please send all attachments as PDFs.
P.S. If you’re not interested in or available for this position, but know someone who is, we would really appreciate it if you passed this along!