Fractional CMO (Brand, Content & Storytelling) Contract

We’re hiring a Fractional CMO focused on Brand, Content & Storytelling!

Summary

• Flexible Title: Can tailor to reflect your skills & experience.
• Flexible Time: Part-time or project-based preferred. Not a full-time role.
• Flexible Commitment: Can do project sprints, ongoing retainer, or milestone-based.

Why fractional? We launch end of Q1 2026. We need a strategic communicator to help us tell our story.

About Us

We’re a credible, funded, remote-first startup led by a serial [technical] founder, and backed by a 20-person team. The product is live in private alpha.

Learn more about our founder, team, and comp structures at list-lab.org.

About The Role

This is not a performance marketing or demand gen role. This is about narrative architecture.

We’re creating a new category — which means we can’t win by comparing features to competitors. There are no direct competitors. We need to help people understand what this is, why it matters, and how it fits into workflows they already have.

Our audience is extremely diverse — multiple personas with different pain points, backgrounds, and use cases. Your job is to craft messaging that resonates across all of them without becoming generic mush.

You’ll own the story we tell and how we tell it — through our website, landing pages, blog content, and foundational messaging. This includes both copy and UI design — we need someone who can craft the words and the visual experience that brings them to life.

Compensation

Up to $350,000 annualized max total compensation (prorated for part-time); cash and equity components to be negotiated (amount reflects combined cash and equity components).

For project-based engagements, we’re open to milestone-based payments or monthly retainers.

What Success Looks Like in 60 Days

• You’ve developed a messaging framework that speaks to multiple audience segments without fragmenting the brand
• You’ve designed the primary website pages — homepage, product pages, about page — with both the UI/visual design and copy that educates rather than sells
• You’ve created landing page designs for key personas, with at least 1 live pages (copy + UI) for each of dozens of target personas
• You’ve established a blog/content strategy that positions us as the thought leader in this emerging category
• You’ve built a brand style guide covering voice, tone, visual identity, typography, color palette, and UI patterns that can scale with future hires
• You’ve defined the visual language — how we use imagery, iconography, whitespace, and motion to reinforce our narrative

What You’ll Do

• Tell our story — develop the core narrative that explains what we’re building, why it matters, and who it’s for
• Design the website — create the UI/visual design and copy for primary pages, landing pages, and blog (Figma, Webflow, or similar)
• Own the full page experience — information architecture, layout, typography, imagery, copy, and interaction patterns
• Create messaging for diverse audiences — craft copy that resonates with multiple avatars without feeling diluted or generic
• Educate, don’t compare — help people understand how to apply this new thing to their existing workflows (we’re not competing on features; we’re creating a new category)
• Build design and content systems — establish UI components, templates, and guidelines that the team can execute on after you’ve set the direction
• Define visual identity — color, typography, iconography, imagery style, and how these reinforce the brand narrative
• Set the editorial and visual tone — define the voice and look that will carry through all touchpoints, from blog posts to onboarding emails

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience in brand storytelling, category creation, and foundational messaging at a startup or early-stage company
• Strong portfolio showing website design (UI) AND copy — you’ve done both, not just one
• Experience speaking to audiences of varying sophistication simultaneously — from seasoned VCs to first-time investors, from power users to complete beginners — without talking down or over anyone’s head
• Experience messaging to diverse, multi-segment audiences without defaulting to lowest-common-denominator copy
• Comfortable with “explain the new” — you’ve helped audiences understand unfamiliar products or services before
• Strategic thinker who can also execute — you can set direction, design the page, and write the first draft
• Strong visual design sensibility — typography, layout, color, imagery, whitespace
• Comfortable working fractionally — you’ve juggled multiple clients and know how to deliver value in limited hours
• Experience with category creation or “blue ocean” positioning is a major plus
• Startup experience preferred — you know how to move fast with imperfect information

What You’re NOT

• Not a social media manager (though you may inform social strategy)
• Not a performance marketer or demand gen specialist
• Not someone who needs a big team to be effective
• Not a feature-comparison copywriter — if your instinct is “vs. Competitor X,” this isn’t the right fit