Senior Manager, Demand Generation

About the role

About Backstory Backstory (formerly People.ai) is the leading AI answers platform for sales teams. With more than a decade of training AI models on billions of sales interactions, Backstory enables modern sales teams to ask questions and get the right answer in the moment directly within their existing AI workflows. Sales leaders from companies like Red Hat, Five9, Palo Alto Networks, Iron Mountain, TransUnion, Randstad and others rely on Backstory to get trusted answers wrapped in real business context helping them orchestrate deals more effectively and drive revenue. By connecting every signal to the right accounts and opportunities, Backstory shows teams exactly what is happening and what to do next. Customers across industries including enterprise, cybersecurity, data and analytics, and defense use Backstory to drive trillions in pipeline and revenue. Recognized by Gartner and Forrester, the Inc. 5000, Y Combinator Top Companies, and the Forbes AI 50, Backstory is based in San Francisco and backed by ICONIQ Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Akkadian Ventures and Mubadala Capital. The Role As Senior Manager of Demand Generation at Backstory, you will own how buyers find us and how they convert into pipeline. This is an AI-first marketing seat—equal parts strategy and hands-on execution. You will manage paid media, agency partners, web conversion, and organic discovery across both traditional search engines and AI answer engines. Partnering directly with the SVP of Marketing, you will commit to an enterprise pipeline target and build the automated systems to hit it. Responsibilities Own paid acquisition and performance marketing across paid search, paid social, display, and digital ABM, optimizing toward pipeline, CAC, and payback. Manage performance marketing agency partners, driving strong execution, creative output, experimentation, and efficient campaign performance. Lead SEO and AI-driven discovery (AEO) across Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and other emerging channels, including technical SEO, content strategy, schema, and site health. Own Backstory’s Share of Model strategy, increasing brand visibility, citations, and recommendations across AI answer engines relative to competitors. Build AI-powered campaign automation using tools like Clay, Make, n8n, LLM prompts, and AI creative tools to scale enrichment, personalization, research, and campaign execution. Own web performance and CRO, continuously testing landing pages, messaging, offers, and user experiences to increase qualified conversions and pipeline. Lead lifecycle nurture and funnel optimization, improving segmentation, messaging, sequences, and conversion across MQL → SQL → Opportunity. Co-own integrated campaign strategy and pipeline performance with the SVP of Marketing, aligning paid, search, content, and distribution while measuring impact through multi-touch attribution. Drive performance creative strategy, partnering with Creative and agencies to develop, test, and optimize campaign assets based on CTR, conversion, and pipeline contribution. Qualifications 6+ years in Demand Generation / Growth Marketing at a high-growth B2B SaaS or enterprise AI startup. AI-Forward Operator: Proven track record of testing and integrating cutting-edge AI software into campaign operations. You are deeply technical with modern tools (Clay, Make/n8n, LLM prompts, AI creative suites) and constantly look for ways to replace manual marketing tasks with automated AI workflows. Proven Pipeline Ownership: Track record of owning a qualified enterprise pipeline number and managing paid digital budgets end-to-end. Full-Funnel & Lifecycle Mastery: Strong experience managing paid performance, CRO, and automated email nurture streams Data & Attribution Rigor: Fluency in CAC, payback periods, multi-touch attribution, and CRM/MAP reporting (Salesforce, HubSpot/Marketo). Cross-Functional Partner: Ability to work smoothly alongside Product Marketing, Creative Directors, and Sales to turn messaging and content into scalable pipeline. Curiosity, collaboration and a focus on impact. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Backstory is backed by Y Combinator and Silicon Valley’s top investors, including ICONIQ Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Akkadian Ventures, and Mubadala Capital. Backstory is listed in the top 20 percent of Inc 5000 companies, is a regular leader in our key categories on G2, and is on the Forbes list of America’s Best Startup Employers. For more information, please visit www.Backstory.ai. – Regular employees may be eligible for commissions or bonus programs (target included in OTE), equity, and benefits. The range is subject to change. Backstory takes into wide range of factors when determining an individual’s pay. These factors can include, skill set, training and experience, licensure and certifications, and location and metropolitan area. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.