Head of Marketing & Communications

Head of Marketing & Communications

garden3d is looking for a Head of Marketing & Communications who can turn what we make into what people can’t stop thinking about.

Across the internet (and increasingly, in the world), you’ll be the person responsible for making sure every post, page, episode, and campaign feels compelling, intentional, and unmistakably us—even though we’re a house of multiple studios, multiple communities, and multiple creative languages.

You can be based anywhere. We’re global by default, but there’s some pull toward New York because a lot of our people and projects orbit there. If you’re the right operator, we’ll meet you where you are—Europe, Singapore, Chicago, or wherever you land.

About garden3d

garden3d is a worker-owned creative collective innovating across brands, IRL communities, IoT devices, and cross-platform apps. We share profit, open source heavily, spin out new businesses, and invest in exciting ideas through financial and/or in-kind contributions.

We build for—and partner with—teams and institutions that include Google, Stripe, Figma, Hinge, ACLU, Mozilla, MIT, Etsy, and more. We’re also the software team behind products like The Light Phone and Mill, and we operate a global, decentralized community space collective called Index Space.

Our studio culture is built around collective care: a happy, talented, and diverse team; deep respect for craft; and genuine curiosity about life outside of work.

Our Vertical Studio Ecosystem

• Sanctuary Computer — Development: close collaboration between client and craftsperson, spanning design-forward websites, robust web apps, and native mobile development.
• XXIX — Design: a design studio built on autonomy, growth, transparency, and shared responsibility.
• Index Space — Community: a network of physical spaces worldwide that enables exchange of knowledge, tools, and ideas—with trust nurtured through generosity.
• garden3d TK — Media: our experimental media company exploring emerging themes in technology, design, and culture (books, screenplays, music, activations—and monetization plans that are actually ambitious).

And under the garden3d umbrella, everything connects—without sounding identical.

About The Role

The mandate is simple: make sure everything we put on the internet is compelling and interesting.

garden3d is a house of brands—and each brand needs its own voice, its own audience, and its own drumbeat of work worth sharing.

Working closely with our founder & president Hugh Francis, you’ll decide what we make, where it runs, and whether it clears our bar.

You’ll interface with: studio leads, designers, developers, editors, animators, photographers, community managers, event producers, and ad platforms—across every garden3d vertical.

You’ll be able to context shift quickly, spot the most compelling stories, and help get them produced at an exceptionally high standard.

What You’ll Own (End-to-End)

This role owns our channels end to end:

• garden3d Substack
• Podcast
• Instagram
• X
• Paid accounts supporting these channels

You’ll collaborate with our internal team and a rotating cast of freelance editors, designers, and animators—and you’ll run the editorial calendar that keeps multiple workstreams shipping on time.

You’ll think in PESO terms (paid, earned, shared, owned), with a deliberate emphasis on shared and owned media. Traditional press is a bonus, not the core strategy.

What We’re Really Building (Beyond “Marketing”)

This role isn’t only about marketing a services business.

garden3d TK is our young experimental media company—and your work will function as its engine:

• Books
• Screenplays
• Music
• Activations
• A “record label for ideas” approach to publishing and production

If you look at a worker-owned collective with four studios, a network of community spaces, and an open P&L—and you see the best content brief on the internet… you’ll probably love this job.

Responsibilities & Mandates

Quality Never Less Than 8/10

• Set and protect a publishing standard of 8/10 minimum—aspire to 10/10, celebrate 9/10.
• Hold the bar across every post, video, essay, and episode across all verticals.
• Give feedback that makes work better and faster—without micromanaging the creators.
• Prefer to kill a piece that would ship as a 6 over releasing something that doesn’t deserve to exist.

Social That Stops the Scroll

• Maintain a current, practitioner-level read on how platforms work right now.
• Understand what arrests someone mid-scroll and how a hook earns the next three seconds.
• Know why formats succeed on TikTok and fail on LinkedIn (and vice versa).
• Treat short-form video as first-class craft—not an afterthought.

A House of Brands, Each in Its Own Voice

• Manage multiple messaging columns simultaneously.
• Keep each studio’s tone distinct (Sanctuary Computer ≠ XXIX ≠ Index), while maintaining a coherent umbrella story.

Case Study Production

• Ensure every client engagement across our creative agencies ends in a case study worth reading.
• Own the production line:
  • Interview the team
  • Shape the narrative
  • Art-direct assets
  • Ship case studies that help each studio win its next project

Websites That Put Our Best Foot Forward

• Own the strategy behind every garden3d site:
  • What we say
  • What work we show
  • How clearly each studio communicates its capabilities
• Keep sites, decks, and collateral current as the work evolves—so what people find feels sharp and true.

Editorial Ownership

• Run the Substack, podcast, and transparency publications (including our annual open-source P&L).
• Own:
  • the editorial calendar
  • the standards
  • the growth strategy
• Capture what happens in our spaces—Index, USB Club, and the communities around them—and translate it into work worth sharing.

Producing, Paid & Distribution

• Direct producers, editors, and freelancers like a showrunner:
  • clear briefs
  • real deadlines
  • multiple workstreams moving at once without quality dropping
• Run paid spend on Meta and Instagram (and wherever our audiences live).
• Build and learn:
  • audience building
  • A/B/C testing on narrative and ad set
  • budget ownership tied to results we can show

Data-Driven Reporting & ROI

• Measure what content actually does:
  • audience growth
  • engagement
  • leads
  • pipeline influenced
• Report plainly and honestly—paid spend, organic effort, and production time all get evaluated on return.
• Let next quarter’s plan follow the numbers.

Presence IRL

• garden3d shows up in person: events, conferences, talks, Index programming, and gatherings.
• Decide which touchpoints are worth our time and ensure we look like ourselves when we arrive.
• Bring back stories worth publishing—content should follow real-world presence.

Culture

• Model garden3d values: partnership, curiosity, and accountability.
• Creators you direct do their best work here because feedback is honest, recognition is real, and taste is shared.

Special Projects (Examples)

In addition to day-to-day responsibilities, you may spearhead or support initiatives such as:

• Turning garden3d TK into a real experimental media brand: books, screenplays, music, and live shows
• Growing the podcast into a property with its own audience and momentum
• Launch campaigns for new Index spaces, USB Club drops, and community programs
• Making our annual open-source P&L release a media moment
• Standing up a small content studio that supports all four studios’ new-business pipelines
• Building systems (and hiring people) so we publish more often—while never dropping below an 8/10 bar and aiming for 10/10

What We’re Looking For

Must Have

• 8+ years in marketing, content, or brand leadership, with real time inside creative studios, agencies, or founder-led companies
• A portfolio that proves exceptional taste—visual, narrative, and tone of voice
• Design background and/or fluency producing visual assets to the required quality level in Figma when necessary
• Experience owning a company’s web presence:
  • site strategy
  • messaging
  • keeping capabilities collateral current
• Exceptional project management:
  • content calendars
  • production pipelines
  • many workstreams at once
• Short-form video fluency—you’ve shipped Reels, TikTok, and/or Shorts and can clearly explain what worked and why
• Extensive, comfortable experience managing creatives and producers (editors, designers, animators, freelancers) and raising the output beyond what they’d produce alone
• Hands-on experience running paid social on Meta/Instagram and more:
  • audience building
  • budget ownership
  • A/B/C testing across narrative and ad set
• Working fluency in PESO with a point of view on where paid, earned, shared, and owned each earn their keep

Nice-to-Have

• Experience producing a brand’s IRL presence (events, conferences, talks) and turning them into content
• Podcast or audio production experience
• Comfort managing multiple messaging columns in a house of brands
• Newsletter growth experience—Substack especially
• Community & events marketing: programming, launches, and IRL moments