Sr. Industry Marketing Manager, Startups

MKTQ427R40

We are looking for a creative, passionate and well-rounded individual to join our Digital Native and Startup marketing team to help us focus on the fastest-moving segment in tech: venture-backed startups building and scaling on AI. Our mission is to meet founders and technical teams where they are, from pre-seed to pre-IPO, with messaging, programs and community that make Databricks the obvious foundation for the companies being built right now. This is a highly collaborative strategic role that works closely with many other functions, plus the venture capital ecosystem that surrounds this segment.

As a Sr. Industry Marketing Manager at Databricks, you will guide messaging, content and GTM programs for the Startup segment. You will work with sales, partners, VCs, accelerators and our customers to build awareness, demand generation and sales enablement programs that help achieve pipeline goals. You will also build the credibility engine for this audience through founder and engineering-led content, developer channels, community programs, and startup and investor events. This role reports to the Sr. Director of Industry Solutions Marketing.

Ideal candidates will have a proven record of impact marketing to startups and developers, real technical fluency, and a working understanding of how venture-backed companies buy, adopt and expand their use of infrastructure and AI tooling. You will have a strong point of view on where this segment is going, informed by time spent with founders, investors and builders. Finally, you will have experience building strategies that resonate with a startup audience, from the first engineer evaluating a platform to the founder or CTO signing off on the spend.

The impact you will have

• Establish a startup-segment positioning and content framework used consistently across priority sales, partner, developer, field, and demand-generation programs, with adoption measured through program usage and stakeholder feedback.
• Meet or exceed agreed pipeline and consumption targets for priority startup accounts through integrated account-based, partner, venture, demand-generation, and field programs.
• Build an active venture and accelerator ecosystem that generates measurable portfolio reach, co-marketing activity, qualified opportunities, and sourced or influenced pipeline.
• Improve the conversion of startup evaluations into committed production spend by optimizing credits, trials, free-tier, and other product-led motions, measured through activation, conversion, and expansion rates.
• Increase awareness and technical credibility with startup founders, developers, and technical leaders, measured through target-audience engagement, community participation, content-assisted opportunities, and event outcomes.
• Equip go-to-market teams with startup-specific messaging, technical proof points, sales plays, and enablement that improve seller adoption and segment performance, including conversion, win rate, or sales-cycle metrics.
• Expand the segment’s customer and community proof through credible startup stories, technical content, speaking engagements, and investor or developer events that contribute to reach, engagement, and pipeline.

What we look for

• 7+ years of experience marketing technology to startups, developers, or the venture ecosystem, or equivalent experience building and scaling a venture-backed startup.
• A proven record of owning marketing strategy for a segment, product line, or go-to-market motion and delivering measurable pipeline, adoption, consumption, or revenue outcomes.
• Experience developing positioning, messaging, and content for complex technical B2B products and translating cloud, data, analytics, or AI/ML capabilities into clear customer use cases and business outcomes.
• Technical fluency in modern data and AI architectures, including the technologies and buying considerations relevant to model providers, agent frameworks, vector search, evaluation tooling, and production workloads.
• Demonstrated success building relationships with venture firms, accelerators, incubators, startup communities, customers, or strategic partners to drive awareness, co-marketing, adoption, or pipeline.
• Working knowledge of venture-backed company buying dynamics, including funding stages, budget and runway pressures, buying authority, and triggers that accelerate or stop infrastructure and AI platform decisions.
• Experience with product-led and consumption-based growth motions, including self-serve funnels, trials, credits, free tiers, and the path from technical evaluation to committed spend.
• Experience leading cross-functional programs and presenting credibly to founders, technical leaders, investors, sales teams, and partners while balancing strategic direction with fast, hands-on execution.