How to Structure a SaaS Marketing Team in 2025

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As the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry becomes increasingly saturated, a well-structured B2B SaaS marketing team is more critical than ever for companies aiming to stand out and capture market share. In 2025, successful SaaS marketing teams will need to be lean, adaptable, and deeply integrated with product and customer success teams to scale sustainably. 

In this article, we’ll show you how to strategically organize your SaaS marketing team to not only generate demand for your business but also to nurture long-term customer relationships and drive revenue. We’ll explore the key roles in a solid SaaS marketing team as well as various team structures based on company stages.

SaaS marketing team key roles

A standard SaaS business marketing team typically comprises four subteams, each with its own focus and responsibilities. These subteams are the product marketing strategy team, the growth marketing team, the content marketing strategy team, and the brand marketing team. 

1. Product marketing team 

The product marketing team acts as the bridge between the product and the market. This team is responsible for deeply understanding your product and its features, as well as the competitive landscape, and effectively positioning the product in the market. Their main focus is translating your product’s technical capabilities into value propositions that resonate with your target audience. 

The key roles in a product marketing team are: 

  • Product marketer: The product marketer is responsible for understanding the product inside and out and creating go-to-market plans for product launches. They are also responsible for creating compelling messaging that aligns with your customers’ pain points and business needs.   
  • Competitive intelligence analyst: This person analyzes competitors’ products and understands market trends. This helps them know how to differentiate your product from similar SaaS business products in the market.  

2. Growth marketing team 

The growth marketing team drives scalable and rapid growth through experimentation and executing data-driven strategies. This team focuses heavily on acquiring new users, optimizing conversion rates, and improving user retention through various channels (SEO, social media marketing, etc.). 

The key roles in a growth marketing team include: 

  • Growth marketer: This person identifies and scales successful marketing channels, runs A/B tests, and refines customer journeys to improve conversion rates. Their work involves constant analysis of metrics and performance data to fine-tune campaigns, ensuring that every marketing effort aligns with the company’s overarching goals and contributes to sustainable growth.
  • Conversion rate optimization (CRO) specialist: A CRO specialist focuses on improving the percentage of website visitors or app users who take desired actions, such as signing up for a service or making a purchase. They use user behavior insights, design optimization, and split testing to identify and implement changes that improve the user experience and boost conversions. 
  • Marketing analyst: This person tracks key performance metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLV), and campaign ROI to measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Using this data, they help the marketing team make informed decisions about targeting, budgeting, and optimizing campaigns.

Read: 12 Essential Skills for Expert Growth Marketing Managers 

3. Content marketing team

The content marketing team is responsible for creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract, engage, and convert potential customers. This team ensures that content educates and informs, ranks well on search engine results pages (SERPs), and builds trust with your audience while guiding them through the buyer’s journey. 


Social media manager: This person is responsible for building your brand’s presence across social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. They create and execute social media marketing campaigns, engage with followers, build brand awareness, and cultivate a community around your offerings.

The key roles in a content marketing team include: 

  • Content marketer: A content marketer is responsible for crafting high-quality content (blog posts, eBooks, case studies, whitepapers, videos, etc.) that helps guide prospects through the sales funnel, drive organic traffic, and build brand authority. They ensure your content strategy communicates your product’s value and resonates with your target audience. 
  • SEO Specialist: This person optimizes your company’s website and content to improve its visibility in search engine results and drive more qualified leads. They research keywords, optimize on-page elements like headings and meta tags, improve site structure, and build high-quality backlinks. 
  • Social media manager: This person is responsible for building your brand’s presence across social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. They create and execute social media campaigns, engage with followers, build brand awareness, and cultivate a community around your offerings. 
  • Paid social expert: This person manages and optimizes paid advertising campaigns across several social media platforms to reach specific audiences, drive lead generation, and boost conversions. They test different ad creatives (images, videos, etc.), refine audience segments, and manage budgets to ensure a high return on ad spend (ROAS). 
  • Email marketer: An email marketer creates and executes email campaigns that nurture leads, engage customers, and drive conversions. They manage email marketing strategies, including drip campaigns, newsletters, and promotional emails designed to guide prospects through the sales funnel and retain existing customers.

Read: What is Fractional Content Marketing, and Why Do You Need It?

4. Brand marketing team

The brand marketing team builds and maintains a strong brand identity that resonates with the target audience. This team is responsible for shaping your audience’s perception of your company and ensuring that your brand message is consistent across all channels. 

The key roles in a brand marketing team include: 

  • Brand marketer: A brand marketer develops and executes strategies that shape brand perception, including messaging, visual elements, and brand positioning across all marketing channels. They focus on creating a consistent and compelling brand narrative that improves brand reputation and increases customer loyalty. 
  • Public Relations (PR) specialist: This person creates and executes public relations strategies that promote your brand, such as writing press releases, securing media coverage, and organizing events or speaking engagements. They work to position your company as a thought leader in the industry, handling both proactive outreach and crisis communication when necessary.  
  • Graphic designer: A graphic designer produces graphics for various marketing materials, including website assets, social media posts, email campaigns, advertisements, and presentations. This ensures consistency in your brand’s visual representation across all platforms. 

Read: How to Build a Powerful Marketing Team from Scratch

SaaS marketing team structure differences to other industries

The structure of a marketing team in SaaS companies often differs significantly from that of marketing teams in other industries. This is due to the unique nature of software products, the sales cycle, and the focus on recurring revenue. 

SaaS marketing team structure

SaaS companies primarily operate on a subscription model, which means that there’s a focus not only on acquiring new customers but also on retaining existing ones. Therefore, SaaS brand marketers must focus on the entire customer lifecycle, from awareness and acquisition to onboarding, engagement, and retention. 

These long-term customer relationships require specific roles like Growth Marketers and Customer Marketing Managers, who work to optimize the customer experience and reduce churn. 

Because SaaS business products are often complex and multifaceted, marketing teams must collaborate closely with product teams to fully understand the product’s features and communicate them effectively. This calls for the presence of roles like Product Brand Marketers, who translate product capabilities into benefits for different market segments. This role is less common in industries where products are physical or service-based. 

Other industries' marketing team structure

In contrast, marketing teams in industries like retail, manufacturing, or consumer goods often focus more on acquiring new customers because many products are purchased once or infrequently. These teams are more likely to center their efforts around broad brand awareness, mass marketing campaigns, and traditional sales promotions, rather than intricate, data-driven marketing funnels. 

Here’s a table comparing the structure of marketing teams in SaaS companies to those in other industries: 

Category SaaS Marketing Team Structure Marketing Team Structure in Other Industries
Team Composition Specialized roles include Product Marketer, Growth Marketer, and Customer Marketing Manager. Generalist roles include Brand Manager, Advertising Manager, or Marketing Coordinator.
Role of Product Marketer This is a central role that translates complex product features into customer benefits, working closely with other marketing subteams. There’s less focus on technical product marketing, especially in industries with physical products or services.
Emphasis on Marketing Operations There’s a strong need for a Marketing Operations Manager to streamline tools, data, and automation. A Marketing Operations role is less common because processes are often less automated.
Growth-focused Roles There’s usually a Growth Marketer specifically focused on experimentation and scaling efforts. Growth-focused roles may not exist or are handled by broader marketing roles.
Customer-centric Roles There may be a dedicated Customer Marketing Manager who focuses on engagement, retention, and upselling. They often lack a specific role for customer retention; customer loyalty is usually managed by sales or customer service.
Cross-functional Teams It’s common to have cross-functional teams with close ties to the product, sales, and customer success teams. Collaboration between marketing, sales, and other departments tends to be more siloed.
Role Flexibility There are specialized roles, but they are flexible in cross-functional tasks, particularly in growth-stage SaaS companies. The role divisions are more rigid, with defined boundaries for each marketing function.
Data and Analytics Roles They often have a Marketing Analyst role embedded within the team to track and optimize campaigns. External teams or third-party agencies may handle data and analytics.

SaaS marketing structure by different company profiles

The stage your company is at will determine the kinds of roles you hire and the overall structure of your SaaS marketing team. Below is a rundown of typical marketing team structures in startups, growth-stage, and enterprise-level SaaS companies.

1. Startup

In the early stages of a SaaS startup, there’s often no defined marketing team. In fact, it might just be the founder wearing multiple hats alongside one other team member who helps execute marketing tasks. 

As a SaaS startup grows, building a marketing team depends heavily on where the business is in its lifecycle. For instance, the approach will differ if the company is just launching, aiming to reach $1 million in revenue, or scaling between $1 to $5 million.

In our webinar, Building a Modern Marketing Organization, Jon Levine, a seasoned Chief Marketing Officer, recommends that startups hire generalists instead of specialists. “You’re looking to stretch people to do multiple tasks at once, like posting on your social media channels, running ad campaigns on a few channels, and sending out your emails to ensure all basic marketing needs are covered.”

Since SaaS startups often operate with tight budgets, the marketing team will usually comprise 4-6 people, including a Head of Marketing (or Chief Marketing Officer) who is a generalist like the rest of the team. This person oversees all marketing efforts, from content creation and customer acquisition to growth strategies and product positioning. 

Here’s a simple yet effective marketing team structure for SaaS startups: 

  • Head of Marketing/CMO 
    • Content marketer 
      • Copywriter
    • Growth marketer 
    • Product marketer 
    • Brand marketer 
      • Graphic designer
    • Marketing operations manager 

2. Growth

At the growth stage, when a SaaS company generates $50 to $200 million in revenue, marketing demands become more complex, and the company must shift from relying on generalists to hiring specialists. This is because growth-stage companies need experts in key areas to optimize performance, streamline processes, and drive growth efficiently. 

Specialists bring deep expertise in their specific functions, allowing the company to improve strategies, execute more sophisticated campaigns, and quickly respond to market dynamics. 

At this stage, a clear hierarchy is established, starting with a Director of Marketing who coordinates all marketing activities and ensures they align with the company’s business goals. They work closely with all the heads of all the subteams to drive strategy and ensure marketing is contributing to the company’s revenue growth and market expansion. 

Here’s a proposed structure for a growth-stage SaaS marketing team: 

  • Director of Marketing
    • Head of Content Marketing/CMO
      • Content marketer
        • Copywriter 
        • Content editors 
      • Social media manager 
      • Paid social expert
      • Email marketer 
    • Head of Growth Marketing
      • Growth marketer 
      • SEO Specialist
      • Performance marketing manager 
      • CRO Specialist 
    • Head of Product Marketing
      • Product marketer 
      • Competitive intelligence analyst
      • Sales enablement manager 
    • Head of Brand Marketing
      • Brand marketer/manager
      • PR manager 
      • Community Manager
      • Graphic designer 
    • Head of Marketing Operations
      • Marketing operations manager
      • Marketing analyst
      • Project manager 

3. Enterprise 

In an enterprise SaaS company ($500+ million in revenue), the marketing team structure becomes much more complex, reflecting the company’s broader reach and need for specialization. The marketing department is led by a VP of Marketing responsible for the overarching strategy and ensuring alignment between marketing goals and business objectives across all functions.  

Here’s a proposed structure for an enterprise SaaS marketing team: 

  • VP of Marketing
    • Director of Content Marketing
      • Head of Content Marketing/CMO
        • Content manager
          • Copywriters/content writers 
          • Technical writers
          • Content editors  
          • Blog manager
          • Social media manager 
          • Email marketer 
        • Content strategist
          • Content distribution manager 
          • Video content producer
          • Video editor 
          • Motion graphics designer  
    • Director of Growth Marketing
      • Head of Growth Marketing 
        • Growth marketer
        • Paid acquisition manager 
        • SEO Specialist
        • Technical SEO spcialist
        • CRO Specialist 
      • Head of Lifecycle Marketing
        • CRM manager 
        • Lead nurturing specialist
        • Retention specialist
      • Head of Performance Marketing
        • Affiliate Growth marketing manager 
        • Programmatic expert 
        • Referral marketing specialist
    • Director of Product Marketing
      • Head of Product Marketing
        • Product marketer 
        • Sales enablement manager
        • Competitive intelligence analyst
        • Go-to-market (GTM) strategist
    • Director of Brand Marketing
      • Head of Brand Strategy
        • Brand strategist
        • Brand manager 
        • Market research analyst
      • Head of PR and Communications 
        • PR manager/expert
        • Media relations specialist 
      • Head of Events
        • Event marketing manager 
        • Field marketing manager 
        • Event coordinator
      • Creative Director
        • Graphic designer 
        • Video production manager 

Read: The Ideal Marketing Team Structure: Boost Your Success

How to build a high-performance SaaS marketing team

Building a high-performance SaaS marketing team requires a strategic approach beyond hiring talented individuals. It involves setting a clear vision, aligning team members with specific business goals, and cultivating a culture of accountability, creativity, and collaboration. 

Here are some steps on how to effectively build such a team: 

1. Define clear goals and objectives. 

Before hiring, establish clear business goals for the marketing team, including key performance indicators like CAC, CLTV, and conversion rates. Defining these objectives upfront ensures that each hire is aligned with the company’s growth goals and understands how their role contributes to the overall business strategy.  

2. Focus on cultural and skill fit during the hiring process.

When recruiting for a high-performance SaaS marketing team, look for both cultural fit and technical expertise. A great team member is not only skilled but also able to thrive in a dynamic SaaS environment. During interviews, you could focus on problem-solving abilities, adaptability and learning agility, cultural fit, and specialized expertise (if you’re a growth-stage or enterprise SaaS company). 

3. Define the scope of work for each role.

Once you have your team members, clearly define the scope of work for each role. Each person should know exactly what they’re responsible for and how their tasks contribute to the broader marketing goals. Create well-defined job descriptions and ensure that employees (or contractors) understand your expectations around deliverables, deadlines, and metrics for success. You should also document your marketing workflows, such as campaign planning, content production, and performance reporting, to maintain consistency and allow for continuous improvement.  

4. Encourage collaboration across teams. 

A high-performance SaaS marketing team doesn’t work in isolation. Collaboration across departments—particularly with sales, product, and customer success teams—is crucial to ensure marketing efforts align with customer needs and business objectives. You could hold weekly meetings or cross-functional workshops to encourage communication and knowledge-sharing between teams. 

Bonus: SaaS Digital Marketing Agencies!

5. Implement a hybrid model. 

No matter the stage your company is in, establishing a hybrid marketing team structure is often more practical than hiring all the roles full-time. Not only is it expensive to hire in-house employees for every role, but the entire process can take a very long time, which isn’t feasible if you’re looking to get a project done quickly. 

That’s where external hires (freelancers and marketing agencies) come into play. 

External hires provide the flexibility to scale marketing efforts quickly, especially for short-term projects or campaigns that require specific expertise. They also bring specialized skills that may not be available within the internal team, such as paid media management, SEO, or video production. This allows you to execute highly specialized campaigns without dedicating long-term resources to those tasks. 

In the webinar, Jon Levine observed that having a hybrid team structure (a mix of internal and external employees) works well for larger companies. “I see lots of big companies that use agencies, but have a senior growth marketing person or paid media buyer who understands the data analytics and KPIs. They’re using the agency to bring in what’s working with their other clients.” 

That’s what specialization is.

Jon particularly prefers hiring fractional talent for larger businesses. “It’s quick; you can find someone fast and get rid of them fast if the tactics aren’t working. For example, if you’re selling on Shopify and want to move to Amazon, the fastest way to do that is to hire a fractional Amazon expert to help you set up a storefront and test some sales strategies, with very little internal commitment.”

With a hybrid team model, you can execute projects faster. Internal teams can manage ongoing initiatives, while external teams can quickly ramp up for new campaigns or focus on areas that require immediate attention.

Read: Fractional Marketing: Why You Need It and How to Hire Fractional Marketers

How MarketerHire can help you build a solid SaaS marketing team

marketerhire
 Source: MarketerHire

                                                                                                                                                                                                             

If you’re looking to build or expand a SaaS marketing team, MarketerHire is your best option. We offer an extensive pool of marketers, including experts in growth marketing, brand marketing, content, SEO, paid acquisition, and more. All marketers on our platform are pre-vetted, meaning they have already been assessed for their expertise, experience, and ability to deliver results. This ensures that businesses who use our services only work with top-tier talent. 

We streamline the hiring process by using both human expertise and AI technology to match companies with top marketing talent in as little as 48 hours. This eliminates the grueling and time-consuming process of conducting multiple interviews and negotiations, making us a more convenient and cost-effective solution compared to traditional hiring methods.

MarketerHire also provides a cost advantage, as you can hire on a project-by-project basis or for longer-term engagements without the overhead of full-time hires. This flexibility allows you to scale your marketing efforts efficiently, depending on your needs at any given time.

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Schedule your first call today if you’d like to see how MarketerHire can help you build a high-performance SaaS marketing team. 

Althea StormAlthea Storm
Althea Storm is a freelance Content Marketer who has written 300+ expert-backed and data-driven articles, eBooks, and guides for top software companies like HubSpot, Thinkific, Wiza, and Zapier. When Althea’s not producing top-notch content, you’ll find her deeply engrossed in a novel or painting.
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How to Structure a SaaS Marketing Team in 2025

November 1, 2024
Althea Storm

Table of Contents

As the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry becomes increasingly saturated, a well-structured B2B SaaS marketing team is more critical than ever for companies aiming to stand out and capture market share. In 2025, successful SaaS marketing teams will need to be lean, adaptable, and deeply integrated with product and customer success teams to scale sustainably. 

In this article, we’ll show you how to strategically organize your SaaS marketing team to not only generate demand for your business but also to nurture long-term customer relationships and drive revenue. We’ll explore the key roles in a solid SaaS marketing team as well as various team structures based on company stages.

SaaS marketing team key roles

A standard SaaS business marketing team typically comprises four subteams, each with its own focus and responsibilities. These subteams are the product marketing strategy team, the growth marketing team, the content marketing strategy team, and the brand marketing team. 

1. Product marketing team 

The product marketing team acts as the bridge between the product and the market. This team is responsible for deeply understanding your product and its features, as well as the competitive landscape, and effectively positioning the product in the market. Their main focus is translating your product’s technical capabilities into value propositions that resonate with your target audience. 

The key roles in a product marketing team are: 

  • Product marketer: The product marketer is responsible for understanding the product inside and out and creating go-to-market plans for product launches. They are also responsible for creating compelling messaging that aligns with your customers’ pain points and business needs.   
  • Competitive intelligence analyst: This person analyzes competitors’ products and understands market trends. This helps them know how to differentiate your product from similar SaaS business products in the market.  

2. Growth marketing team 

The growth marketing team drives scalable and rapid growth through experimentation and executing data-driven strategies. This team focuses heavily on acquiring new users, optimizing conversion rates, and improving user retention through various channels (SEO, social media marketing, etc.). 

The key roles in a growth marketing team include: 

  • Growth marketer: This person identifies and scales successful marketing channels, runs A/B tests, and refines customer journeys to improve conversion rates. Their work involves constant analysis of metrics and performance data to fine-tune campaigns, ensuring that every marketing effort aligns with the company’s overarching goals and contributes to sustainable growth.
  • Conversion rate optimization (CRO) specialist: A CRO specialist focuses on improving the percentage of website visitors or app users who take desired actions, such as signing up for a service or making a purchase. They use user behavior insights, design optimization, and split testing to identify and implement changes that improve the user experience and boost conversions. 
  • Marketing analyst: This person tracks key performance metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLV), and campaign ROI to measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Using this data, they help the marketing team make informed decisions about targeting, budgeting, and optimizing campaigns.

Read: 12 Essential Skills for Expert Growth Marketing Managers 

3. Content marketing team

The content marketing team is responsible for creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract, engage, and convert potential customers. This team ensures that content educates and informs, ranks well on search engine results pages (SERPs), and builds trust with your audience while guiding them through the buyer’s journey. 


Social media manager: This person is responsible for building your brand’s presence across social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. They create and execute social media marketing campaigns, engage with followers, build brand awareness, and cultivate a community around your offerings.

The key roles in a content marketing team include: 

  • Content marketer: A content marketer is responsible for crafting high-quality content (blog posts, eBooks, case studies, whitepapers, videos, etc.) that helps guide prospects through the sales funnel, drive organic traffic, and build brand authority. They ensure your content strategy communicates your product’s value and resonates with your target audience. 
  • SEO Specialist: This person optimizes your company’s website and content to improve its visibility in search engine results and drive more qualified leads. They research keywords, optimize on-page elements like headings and meta tags, improve site structure, and build high-quality backlinks. 
  • Social media manager: This person is responsible for building your brand’s presence across social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. They create and execute social media campaigns, engage with followers, build brand awareness, and cultivate a community around your offerings. 
  • Paid social expert: This person manages and optimizes paid advertising campaigns across several social media platforms to reach specific audiences, drive lead generation, and boost conversions. They test different ad creatives (images, videos, etc.), refine audience segments, and manage budgets to ensure a high return on ad spend (ROAS). 
  • Email marketer: An email marketer creates and executes email campaigns that nurture leads, engage customers, and drive conversions. They manage email marketing strategies, including drip campaigns, newsletters, and promotional emails designed to guide prospects through the sales funnel and retain existing customers.

Read: What is Fractional Content Marketing, and Why Do You Need It?

4. Brand marketing team

The brand marketing team builds and maintains a strong brand identity that resonates with the target audience. This team is responsible for shaping your audience’s perception of your company and ensuring that your brand message is consistent across all channels. 

The key roles in a brand marketing team include: 

  • Brand marketer: A brand marketer develops and executes strategies that shape brand perception, including messaging, visual elements, and brand positioning across all marketing channels. They focus on creating a consistent and compelling brand narrative that improves brand reputation and increases customer loyalty. 
  • Public Relations (PR) specialist: This person creates and executes public relations strategies that promote your brand, such as writing press releases, securing media coverage, and organizing events or speaking engagements. They work to position your company as a thought leader in the industry, handling both proactive outreach and crisis communication when necessary.  
  • Graphic designer: A graphic designer produces graphics for various marketing materials, including website assets, social media posts, email campaigns, advertisements, and presentations. This ensures consistency in your brand’s visual representation across all platforms. 

Read: How to Build a Powerful Marketing Team from Scratch

SaaS marketing team structure differences to other industries

The structure of a marketing team in SaaS companies often differs significantly from that of marketing teams in other industries. This is due to the unique nature of software products, the sales cycle, and the focus on recurring revenue. 

SaaS marketing team structure

SaaS companies primarily operate on a subscription model, which means that there’s a focus not only on acquiring new customers but also on retaining existing ones. Therefore, SaaS brand marketers must focus on the entire customer lifecycle, from awareness and acquisition to onboarding, engagement, and retention. 

These long-term customer relationships require specific roles like Growth Marketers and Customer Marketing Managers, who work to optimize the customer experience and reduce churn. 

Because SaaS business products are often complex and multifaceted, marketing teams must collaborate closely with product teams to fully understand the product’s features and communicate them effectively. This calls for the presence of roles like Product Brand Marketers, who translate product capabilities into benefits for different market segments. This role is less common in industries where products are physical or service-based. 

Other industries' marketing team structure

In contrast, marketing teams in industries like retail, manufacturing, or consumer goods often focus more on acquiring new customers because many products are purchased once or infrequently. These teams are more likely to center their efforts around broad brand awareness, mass marketing campaigns, and traditional sales promotions, rather than intricate, data-driven marketing funnels. 

Here’s a table comparing the structure of marketing teams in SaaS companies to those in other industries: 

Category SaaS Marketing Team Structure Marketing Team Structure in Other Industries
Team Composition Specialized roles include Product Marketer, Growth Marketer, and Customer Marketing Manager. Generalist roles include Brand Manager, Advertising Manager, or Marketing Coordinator.
Role of Product Marketer This is a central role that translates complex product features into customer benefits, working closely with other marketing subteams. There’s less focus on technical product marketing, especially in industries with physical products or services.
Emphasis on Marketing Operations There’s a strong need for a Marketing Operations Manager to streamline tools, data, and automation. A Marketing Operations role is less common because processes are often less automated.
Growth-focused Roles There’s usually a Growth Marketer specifically focused on experimentation and scaling efforts. Growth-focused roles may not exist or are handled by broader marketing roles.
Customer-centric Roles There may be a dedicated Customer Marketing Manager who focuses on engagement, retention, and upselling. They often lack a specific role for customer retention; customer loyalty is usually managed by sales or customer service.
Cross-functional Teams It’s common to have cross-functional teams with close ties to the product, sales, and customer success teams. Collaboration between marketing, sales, and other departments tends to be more siloed.
Role Flexibility There are specialized roles, but they are flexible in cross-functional tasks, particularly in growth-stage SaaS companies. The role divisions are more rigid, with defined boundaries for each marketing function.
Data and Analytics Roles They often have a Marketing Analyst role embedded within the team to track and optimize campaigns. External teams or third-party agencies may handle data and analytics.

SaaS marketing structure by different company profiles

The stage your company is at will determine the kinds of roles you hire and the overall structure of your SaaS marketing team. Below is a rundown of typical marketing team structures in startups, growth-stage, and enterprise-level SaaS companies.

1. Startup

In the early stages of a SaaS startup, there’s often no defined marketing team. In fact, it might just be the founder wearing multiple hats alongside one other team member who helps execute marketing tasks. 

As a SaaS startup grows, building a marketing team depends heavily on where the business is in its lifecycle. For instance, the approach will differ if the company is just launching, aiming to reach $1 million in revenue, or scaling between $1 to $5 million.

In our webinar, Building a Modern Marketing Organization, Jon Levine, a seasoned Chief Marketing Officer, recommends that startups hire generalists instead of specialists. “You’re looking to stretch people to do multiple tasks at once, like posting on your social media channels, running ad campaigns on a few channels, and sending out your emails to ensure all basic marketing needs are covered.”

Since SaaS startups often operate with tight budgets, the marketing team will usually comprise 4-6 people, including a Head of Marketing (or Chief Marketing Officer) who is a generalist like the rest of the team. This person oversees all marketing efforts, from content creation and customer acquisition to growth strategies and product positioning. 

Here’s a simple yet effective marketing team structure for SaaS startups: 

  • Head of Marketing/CMO 
    • Content marketer 
      • Copywriter
    • Growth marketer 
    • Product marketer 
    • Brand marketer 
      • Graphic designer
    • Marketing operations manager 

2. Growth

At the growth stage, when a SaaS company generates $50 to $200 million in revenue, marketing demands become more complex, and the company must shift from relying on generalists to hiring specialists. This is because growth-stage companies need experts in key areas to optimize performance, streamline processes, and drive growth efficiently. 

Specialists bring deep expertise in their specific functions, allowing the company to improve strategies, execute more sophisticated campaigns, and quickly respond to market dynamics. 

At this stage, a clear hierarchy is established, starting with a Director of Marketing who coordinates all marketing activities and ensures they align with the company’s business goals. They work closely with all the heads of all the subteams to drive strategy and ensure marketing is contributing to the company’s revenue growth and market expansion. 

Here’s a proposed structure for a growth-stage SaaS marketing team: 

  • Director of Marketing
    • Head of Content Marketing/CMO
      • Content marketer
        • Copywriter 
        • Content editors 
      • Social media manager 
      • Paid social expert
      • Email marketer 
    • Head of Growth Marketing
      • Growth marketer 
      • SEO Specialist
      • Performance marketing manager 
      • CRO Specialist 
    • Head of Product Marketing
      • Product marketer 
      • Competitive intelligence analyst
      • Sales enablement manager 
    • Head of Brand Marketing
      • Brand marketer/manager
      • PR manager 
      • Community Manager
      • Graphic designer 
    • Head of Marketing Operations
      • Marketing operations manager
      • Marketing analyst
      • Project manager 

3. Enterprise 

In an enterprise SaaS company ($500+ million in revenue), the marketing team structure becomes much more complex, reflecting the company’s broader reach and need for specialization. The marketing department is led by a VP of Marketing responsible for the overarching strategy and ensuring alignment between marketing goals and business objectives across all functions.  

Here’s a proposed structure for an enterprise SaaS marketing team: 

  • VP of Marketing
    • Director of Content Marketing
      • Head of Content Marketing/CMO
        • Content manager
          • Copywriters/content writers 
          • Technical writers
          • Content editors  
          • Blog manager
          • Social media manager 
          • Email marketer 
        • Content strategist
          • Content distribution manager 
          • Video content producer
          • Video editor 
          • Motion graphics designer  
    • Director of Growth Marketing
      • Head of Growth Marketing 
        • Growth marketer
        • Paid acquisition manager 
        • SEO Specialist
        • Technical SEO spcialist
        • CRO Specialist 
      • Head of Lifecycle Marketing
        • CRM manager 
        • Lead nurturing specialist
        • Retention specialist
      • Head of Performance Marketing
        • Affiliate Growth marketing manager 
        • Programmatic expert 
        • Referral marketing specialist
    • Director of Product Marketing
      • Head of Product Marketing
        • Product marketer 
        • Sales enablement manager
        • Competitive intelligence analyst
        • Go-to-market (GTM) strategist
    • Director of Brand Marketing
      • Head of Brand Strategy
        • Brand strategist
        • Brand manager 
        • Market research analyst
      • Head of PR and Communications 
        • PR manager/expert
        • Media relations specialist 
      • Head of Events
        • Event marketing manager 
        • Field marketing manager 
        • Event coordinator
      • Creative Director
        • Graphic designer 
        • Video production manager 

Read: The Ideal Marketing Team Structure: Boost Your Success

How to build a high-performance SaaS marketing team

Building a high-performance SaaS marketing team requires a strategic approach beyond hiring talented individuals. It involves setting a clear vision, aligning team members with specific business goals, and cultivating a culture of accountability, creativity, and collaboration. 

Here are some steps on how to effectively build such a team: 

1. Define clear goals and objectives. 

Before hiring, establish clear business goals for the marketing team, including key performance indicators like CAC, CLTV, and conversion rates. Defining these objectives upfront ensures that each hire is aligned with the company’s growth goals and understands how their role contributes to the overall business strategy.  

2. Focus on cultural and skill fit during the hiring process.

When recruiting for a high-performance SaaS marketing team, look for both cultural fit and technical expertise. A great team member is not only skilled but also able to thrive in a dynamic SaaS environment. During interviews, you could focus on problem-solving abilities, adaptability and learning agility, cultural fit, and specialized expertise (if you’re a growth-stage or enterprise SaaS company). 

3. Define the scope of work for each role.

Once you have your team members, clearly define the scope of work for each role. Each person should know exactly what they’re responsible for and how their tasks contribute to the broader marketing goals. Create well-defined job descriptions and ensure that employees (or contractors) understand your expectations around deliverables, deadlines, and metrics for success. You should also document your marketing workflows, such as campaign planning, content production, and performance reporting, to maintain consistency and allow for continuous improvement.  

4. Encourage collaboration across teams. 

A high-performance SaaS marketing team doesn’t work in isolation. Collaboration across departments—particularly with sales, product, and customer success teams—is crucial to ensure marketing efforts align with customer needs and business objectives. You could hold weekly meetings or cross-functional workshops to encourage communication and knowledge-sharing between teams. 

Bonus: SaaS Digital Marketing Agencies!

5. Implement a hybrid model. 

No matter the stage your company is in, establishing a hybrid marketing team structure is often more practical than hiring all the roles full-time. Not only is it expensive to hire in-house employees for every role, but the entire process can take a very long time, which isn’t feasible if you’re looking to get a project done quickly. 

That’s where external hires (freelancers and marketing agencies) come into play. 

External hires provide the flexibility to scale marketing efforts quickly, especially for short-term projects or campaigns that require specific expertise. They also bring specialized skills that may not be available within the internal team, such as paid media management, SEO, or video production. This allows you to execute highly specialized campaigns without dedicating long-term resources to those tasks. 

In the webinar, Jon Levine observed that having a hybrid team structure (a mix of internal and external employees) works well for larger companies. “I see lots of big companies that use agencies, but have a senior growth marketing person or paid media buyer who understands the data analytics and KPIs. They’re using the agency to bring in what’s working with their other clients.” 

That’s what specialization is.

Jon particularly prefers hiring fractional talent for larger businesses. “It’s quick; you can find someone fast and get rid of them fast if the tactics aren’t working. For example, if you’re selling on Shopify and want to move to Amazon, the fastest way to do that is to hire a fractional Amazon expert to help you set up a storefront and test some sales strategies, with very little internal commitment.”

With a hybrid team model, you can execute projects faster. Internal teams can manage ongoing initiatives, while external teams can quickly ramp up for new campaigns or focus on areas that require immediate attention.

Read: Fractional Marketing: Why You Need It and How to Hire Fractional Marketers

How MarketerHire can help you build a solid SaaS marketing team

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 Source: MarketerHire

                                                                                                                                                                                                             

If you’re looking to build or expand a SaaS marketing team, MarketerHire is your best option. We offer an extensive pool of marketers, including experts in growth marketing, brand marketing, content, SEO, paid acquisition, and more. All marketers on our platform are pre-vetted, meaning they have already been assessed for their expertise, experience, and ability to deliver results. This ensures that businesses who use our services only work with top-tier talent. 

We streamline the hiring process by using both human expertise and AI technology to match companies with top marketing talent in as little as 48 hours. This eliminates the grueling and time-consuming process of conducting multiple interviews and negotiations, making us a more convenient and cost-effective solution compared to traditional hiring methods.

MarketerHire also provides a cost advantage, as you can hire on a project-by-project basis or for longer-term engagements without the overhead of full-time hires. This flexibility allows you to scale your marketing efforts efficiently, depending on your needs at any given time.

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Schedule your first call today if you’d like to see how MarketerHire can help you build a high-performance SaaS marketing team. 

Althea Storm
about the author

Althea Storm is a freelance Content Marketer who has written 300+ expert-backed and data-driven articles, eBooks, and guides for top software companies like HubSpot, Thinkific, Wiza, and Zapier. When Althea’s not producing top-notch content, you’ll find her deeply engrossed in a novel or painting.

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