---
title: 'Head of Marketing at Haystack News'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-marketing-haystack-news-san-francisco-3zw0mh7nqd18'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-12'
---

# Head of Marketing at Haystack News

- **Company:** Haystack News
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2025-10-10
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/haystacknews/083cce0e-3fcd-488f-bce3-e7f6bc385898

## Job description

## About Us

Haystack News is the leading news streaming platform, connecting 40+ million viewers to local, national, and world news. We’re redefining how people consume news—personalized, free, and on-demand—across mobile, web, and connected TVs. We partner with hundreds of broadcasters and are expanding into premium experiences that combine innovation, trust, and convenience. We’re looking for a Head of Marketing to lead Haystack’s next phase of growth—building awareness, deepening engagement, growing our new subscription business, and shaping our story across platforms.

## About the Role

This is a high-impact, hands-on leadership role for a creative and analytical marketer who thrives in startup environments. You’ll define and drive Haystack’s marketing strategy across performance, brand, lifecycle, partnerships, and PR. You’ll lead a small but mighty team to develop campaigns that attract new audiences, scale our Premium subscription business, and strengthen loyalty among millions of viewers. This is a player-coach, hands-on role. You’ll own everything from paid acquisition and lifecycle marketing to messaging, creative, and comms. You’ll shape our story, measure what matters, and move fast.

## Key Responsibilities

- Marketing Strategy & Leadership: Develop and execute a holistic data-driven marketing strategy that integrates awareness, performance, and retention channels across mobile, CTV, and web.
- Brand & Consumer Marketing: Build and evolve Haystack’s brand identity as the most trusted and personalized way to watch the news. Oversee storytelling across all touchpoints, from social to product messaging.
- Performance & Growth Marketing: Lead campaigns to drive installs, engagement, and subscriptions on web and mobile using paid, organic, and partnership channels.
- Affiliate & Influencer Programs: Launch and scale a creator-driven affiliate program that engages journalists, podcasters, and news influencers.
- Public Relations & Thought Leadership: Shape Haystack’s industry voice through earned media, events, and thought leadership around FAST, local news innovation, and AI personalization.
- Data & Insights: Partner with analytics and product teams to define marketing KPIs, optimize creative performance, and measure LTV across campaigns.
- Team Development: Build and mentor a small, nimble marketing team capable of executing across creative, performance, and comms.

## Qualifications

- 8+ years of marketing experience, including leadership in consumer growth, performance, or brand marketing (preferably in streaming, media, or DTC).
- Proven experience building campaigns from 0→1 reaching millions of users with limited resources and high creativity.
- Strong analytical skills with a proven track record of meeting or exceeding CAC and RoAS targets.
- Strong understanding of both brand storytelling and data-driven marketing.
- Experience with mobile attribution tools (MMPs) and analytics platforms.
- Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with experience pitching and managing press or agencies.
- Startup or small-team background highly preferred; thrives in hands-on environments.

## Why Join Haystack

- Lead marketing at a top-ranked streaming app transforming how people consume news and information.
- Build and scale the team and playbook from the ground up.
- Work with an experienced leadership team that values experimentation, autonomy, and creativity.
- Be part of a mission-driven company championing trusted journalism and smarter news consumption.

Who Should NOT Apply

- Big-Company Marketers: If you need large teams, big budgets, agencies on speed dial, or six-month approval cycles to get anything done.
- Brand-Only Storytellers: If you focus solely on storytelling without grounding your strategy in metrics, payback periods, and performance insights.
- Hands-Off: If your default mode is delegation over doing, and you’re not excited to roll up your sleeves.

## About Haystack News

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Haystack News provides a free, personalized video news streaming service that aggregates content from over 400 local, national, and global channels, using AI and editorial curation to deliver a custom newscast.
- **Entity Type**: Private (venture-backed)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2014 (some sources indicate 2013) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/haystack-tv), [pitchbook.com](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/98433-10)
- **Founders**: Daniel Barreto (Co-Founder & CEO) and Ish Harshawat (Co-Founder) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/haystack-tv)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Consumer Services / Broadcasting / Personalized News Aggregation
- **Target customers**: B2C (consumers seeking free, ad-supported news) and B2B (local news stations seeking wider distribution and monetization)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “To get you the info you want and need—the news equivalent of the proverbial needle in a haystack—without wasting your time on things that don't matter to you.” [haystack.tv](https://www.haystack.tv/about-us)

## Products & Services
- **[My Headlines]**: A personalized newscast that pulls from topics, sources, and locations selected by the user, combining AI-driven recommendations with editorial curation.
- **[Newsline]**: An interactive news ticker that displays local headlines, weather, stock data, and top stories across business, entertainment, science, and technology.
- **[Live News]**: Live streaming of breaking news from local, national, and global channels.
- **[Channel Guide]**: Curated channels for deep dives into topics like weather, international news, entertainment, and business.
- **[Haystack News Premium]**: An ad-free subscription tier for $4.99/month (with a 30-day free trial) that removes commercials from the experience.

**Type**: All offerings are delivered as a free (ad-supported) or subscription-based streaming service available on mobile devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, and the web. [haystack.tv](https://www.haystack.tv/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue of approximately **$2.3 million** (linkedin.com) | Total Funding of **$4.5 million** across three rounds:
  - Seed Round (2015-04-07): $1.7M, 10 investors
  - Seed Round (2017-02-14): $800K
  - Venture Round (2018-09-04): $2.0M, 4 investors
  (Note: PitchBook lists 20 total investors) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/haystack-tv), [pitchbook.com](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/98433-10)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Investors not named in available data; partners include 400+ news channels such as ABC News, CBSN, Cheddar, CBC, Bloomberg, CNET, and Euronews. [haystack.tv](https://www.haystack.tv/), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/haystack-tv)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - **Employees**: 27 (LinkedIn) vs. 32 (PitchBook) – headcount declined ~5.6% YoY, but active job postings have increased 60% YoY, suggesting renewed hiring. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/haystack-tv), [pitchbook.com](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/98433-10)
  - **Newsline launch**: A notable recent feature that introduces an interactive ticker with stock data, weather, and headlines.
  - **Global presence**: Operations across the US, Peru, Dominican Republic, Canada, and Chile.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Personalization at scale**: Combines AI/big data with human editorial curation to create a tailored news experience from 400+ channels – a differentiator from single-channel apps or purely algorithmic feeds.
- **Free, high-quality access**: No subscription required for core service, supported by ads; premium tier removes ads without restricting content.
- **Broad platform availability**: Works on mobile, smart TVs, streaming devices, and the web, giving users flexibility.
- **Local-to-global blend**: Aggregates local news stations alongside major networks, filling a gap for cord-cutters who want both hyperlocal and national/international coverage.

## Strategic Focus
- **Monetization growth**: Balancing ad-supported free tier with a growing premium subscription model.
- **Content partnerships**: Expanding the pool of 400+ channels, especially local stations, to differentiate from larger competitors (e.g., Pluto TV, LiveNews).
- **Feature innovation**: Continuing to enhance interactive elements like Newsline to increase engagement and time spent.
- **Audience expansion**: Targeting cord-cutters and younger demographics who prefer streaming news over traditional TV news.

## Why Work Here
- **High employee satisfaction**: Rated 5.0/5.0 on employer review sites (4 reviews) with top marks for work-life balance (5.0), culture (5.0), compensation (4.6), and career growth (5.0). [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/haystack-tv)
- **Remote/hybrid flexibility**: Some roles are remote (e.g., Weekend News Editor – Eastern Time), and the team is distributed across the US, Peru, Latin America, and Canada.
- **Small, impactful team**: With ~27-32 employees, new hires can directly shape product decisions and company direction.
- **Open roles** (as of mid-2025): Data Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, UX Designer, Product/UX Designer, Growth Analytics & Operations Lead, Head of Marketing, Programmatic Ad Partnerships Manager, Weekend News Curator & Engagement Editor, Weekend News Editor, and more. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/haystacknews)
- **Culture**: Fast-moving, mission-driven – focused on making trusted news accessible and personalized. Known as “Haystack TV, Inc.” with a global, cross-functional team.

## Sources
1. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/haystacknews) – Careers page
2. [haystack.tv/about-us](https://www.haystack.tv/about-us) – About Haystack News
3. [haystack.tv](https://www.haystack.tv/) – Main site & FAQ
4. [linkedin.com/company/haystack-tv](https://www.linkedin.com/company/haystack-tv) – LinkedIn company page
5. [pitchbook.com/profiles/company/98433-10](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/98433-10) – PitchBook profile (2026)

## Other roles at Haystack News

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