Brand Manager

The Brand Manager at Inc42 will be responsible for building, managing, and growing the master brand and its ecosystem of sub-brands.

This role is a strategic and operational hybrid — you’ll shape brand positioning, lead creative campaigns, optimise brand experiences through analytics and user feedback, and manage cross-functional execution through tools like Asana, Notion, or other project management systems.

About Inc42

Inc42 is India’s #1 startup media & intelligence platform that informs, educates and empowers startup & business leaders through its incisive reporting, insightful reports, curated events & communities, and industry-leading executive courses & programs.

Since launching in January 2015, and having risen to become the authoritative voice on India’s startup economy, we've moved markets, gotten the early scoop on billions of dollars of transactions, and told you what's happening deep inside some of the fastest-growing startups & industries alike. Our stories have been followed by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, TechCrunch, and other major outlets hundreds of times.

We also track over 50,000+ startups and provide market research and intelligence through our in-depth research reports, and we organise some of the most sought-after conferences and events for startup & business leaders across India.

In 2020, we introduced Inc42 Plus, our exclusive membership program tailored for startup & business leaders, amassing over 10,000 members in record time. Apart from our sharp reporting & insightful research, through Inc42 BrandLabs, we partner with enterprises & brands to help them create branded content & experiences and reach our audience of decision makers.

Key Focus Areas & Responsibilities

1. Positioning & Brand Marketing

• Lead the brand architecture and positioning strategy for Inc42 and sub-brands (IPs).
• Define and maintain visual + verbal brand guidelines.
• Conceptualise and execute integrated campaigns to grow brand equity and recall.
• Collaborate with design, growth, and PR teams to maintain message consistency across all channels.
• Measure campaign impact via awareness, reach, sentiment, and performance data.

2. Editorial Feedback Loop & Content Strategy Feedback

Work closely with the Editorial and Analytics teams to create a data-informed creative loop that improves brand resonance and storytelling performance.

• Story Packaging & Positioning: Advise on headlines, visuals, and tone for alignment with brand voice.
• Trending Topics: Identify and pitch story themes aligned with startup ecosystem momentum and search/social trends.
• Activations: Conceptualise small-scale content activations (series, drops, collabs).
• Newsletter Performance: Monitor subscriber engagement, CTR, and open rates; suggest improvements.
• Video Performance: Work with video and social teams to track content reach, retention, and narrative consistency.
• Analytics Integration: Partner with BI/analytics to derive insights from top- and low-performing stories, newsletters, and videos.
• SEO & AEO: Collaborate with the SEO team to ensure content and landing pages align with brand search visibility and authority goals.
• Work closely with client strategy teams to ensure external campaigns reflect Inc42’s premium storytelling ethos and ensure delivery of Brandlabs campaigns.

3. IP Positioning, Brand & Marketing

• Lead positioning, branding, and marketing strategy for Inc42’s flagship IPs — The D2C Summit, GenAI Summit, Griffin Retreat, etc.
• Develop event narratives, design directions, and campaign identities.
• Partner with growth and partnerships teams for amplification, sponsorships, and media coverage.
• Measure IP-specific brand recall, lead gen efficiency, and campaign ROI.

4. Website Experience

• Own the brand and content experience across Inc42 and related product websites (Inc42.com & IPs).
• Collaborate with product, design, and editorial teams to ensure a consistent and premium user experience.
• Regularly audit site journeys, storytelling formats, CTAs, and design consistency.
• Work with analytics/BI to review heatmaps, scroll-depth, engagement data, and suggest improvements.

Key Success Metrics

Brand Health

• Brand recall and perception among startup ecosystem audiences (measured via quarterly survey or brand tracker)
• Achieve a 15–20% improvement in unaided brand recall and positive sentiment (>80%) within 2 quarters

Content Performance

• Newsletter & video engagement (CTR, open rates, view retention)
• Increase newsletter open rate to >40%, CTR by 20%
• Improve Average session time by +25%

Campaign Performance

• Brand & IP campaign ROI, reach consistency, and conversion impact
• Deliver 3-4 integrated campaigns/quarter with ≥3x ROI (earned media + engagement + lead conversions)
• Achieve 100% revenue or qualified applications targets for all IPs

Website Experience

• Engagement & experience metrics (NPS, avg. session time, bounce rate, returning visitors)
• Increase website engaged sessions to 800K/month
• Bounce rate reduction by 15% in 6 months

Operational Efficiency

• Project management, campaign turnaround time, and team velocity
• Improve cross-functional task completion rate to >90% on Asana, and reduce campaign turnaround time by 20%

BrandLabs Growth

• BrandLabs awareness, client success rate, and repeat business
• Ensure 100% timely delivery within budgets for BrandLabs Campaigns

Cross-Functional & Leadership Responsibilities

• Collaborate with a team of designers, writers, and project executives.
• Use project management tools (Asana or Notion) to ensure smooth cross-department collaboration.
• Serve as the bridge between creative, editorial, analytics, and leadership, ensuring data-backed decisions and clear accountability.
• Continuously refine brand processes to make feedback loops faster and execution sharper.

What We’re Looking For

• 6–9 years of experience in brand/marketing roles (preferably across media, SaaS, or consumer-tech).
• Proven ability to blend creativity with data — storytelling instincts + analytics-driven feedback.
• Comfortable working in fast-paced, multi-brand environments.
• Hands-on with PM tools (Asana/Notion) and marketing analytics dashboards.
• Experience leading creative teams or managing agencies.
• Strong presentation, articulation, and collaboration skills.

Why Join Us?

• Be part of the frontline of India’s startup ecosystem.
• Own and shape one of the most influential startup brands in India.
• Collaborate with some of the sharpest minds across media, SaaS, and community.
• Opportunity to lead brand thinking across multiple verticals (media, subscription, SaaS, education, events).