Marketing & Sales Manager

Zenblen is looking for a passionate, visionary, and entrepreneurial individual to join as the company’s Marketing & Sales Manager. 

Zenblen has created the world’s first robotic smoothie bar to revolutionize access to healthy, convenient food. We recently launched our first pilot location and you will help expand our kiosk to additional locations in the coming months.

Zenblen has created the world’s first robotic smoothie bar to revolutionize access to healthy, convenient food.  With our first handful of automated robotic kiosks launched in Chicago and plans for many more this year, we are at a very exciting stage. Our world-class engineering team has designed an immensely successful product, and we are poised for exponential growth in 2024 and 2025, aiming to reach hundreds of potential locations in the city.

As the Marketing & Sales Manager, you play a crucial role in ensuring the successful launch and performance of our kiosks. You will represent Zenblen in the field, acting as the company’s gateway to customers, and spearhead marketing efforts to boost brand awareness. This will be an interdisciplinary opportunity that puts you at the front lines of how our end users experience and interact with our product. You also will spearhead customer success with our initial location partners and play a pivotal role in executing the company’s go-to-market strategy.

This is a unique role where you will be a startup’s first hire within this department, providing unparalleled growth opportunities and impact. As such, you should be comfortable being at times the sole person within work streams and rolling up your sleeves.

For more info on what you can expect, see what it’s like to be the first marketer at a startup & advice for the first sales rep at a startup.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Developing and executing B2C marketing strategies to build brand awareness and drive customer engagement across multiple channels, including social media, digital marketing, in-store promotions, and events
• Overseeing sales statistics, monitoring performance, and meeting benchmark expectations and requirements
• Creating and implementing go-to-market strategies for new kiosk launches, ensuring a successful introduction to various locations and target audiences
• Leading creative marketing campaigns that capture the essence of our brand, including content creation, digital advertising, video production, and influencer partnerships
• Enhancing customer experience and satisfaction by spearheading loyalty programs, running product sampling events, and gathering feedback to continually improve our offerings
• Understanding and analyzing customer personas, conducting interviews, and observing behavior to tailor marketing messages and strategies effectively
• Collaborating with the product and engineering teams to align marketing strategies with product development and customer feedback, ensuring that our offerings meet market demands

This is an opportunity to join an early-stage, venture backed startup and have a major impact on the venture. You will work extensively with the Founding Team as well as our world class advisors. We will provide valuable mentorship in entrepreneurship, venture capital, and open a vast professional network in the Chicago area.

Plus, you will enjoy all the fresh delicious smoothies you can drink!

Interested candidates should apply in the linked application and send any questions to Founder & CEO Tom Zhang at [email protected]

What we are looking for:

• Someone uniquely hungry for the opportunity to supercharge their career, learn from the best in the field, and isn’t afraid to work hard to challenge the status quo

• Those who deeply value ownership of work and thrive in environments with high degree of flexibility

• Great people & communication skills to with genuine desire to build relationship with customers & clients to preach about health, wellness, and smoothies

• Desire to roll up one’s sleeves and get in the weeds, hungry to run with on impactful work streams with limited guidance & resources

• Flexibility to work in dynamic work environments and traveling from office to various client sites

• Visionary thinker with the ability to thrive in dynamic & ambiguous environments - you’ll be building the plane while flying it

• An eye for creative execution and artistic design

• A desire to work in a fast-paced startup environment, alongside passionate colleagues who are experts in their fields

• Be a “player coach”, mentoring others on the team and setting company’s expectations for excellence in their field

• A love for nutrition, wellness, and healthy living – extra points for being a smoothie lover!

Key Qualifications

• 3 - 5 years of experience in marketing (marketing agency, CPG marketer, etc.), sales (sales coordinator, retail field rep, etc.), client facing role (consulting or tech), or other relevant positions

• Mentored by or worked directly with VP level marketer or sales leader

• Experience in early stage startup environment as the “first marketer/salesperson” or as member of the Founding team

• Knowledge of the ideation stage where the product & customer experience continue to iterate based off market feedback

About Zenblen:

Zenblen offers freshly blended smoothies via a robotic smoothie bar. Our smoothie kiosk dispenses and blends ingredients right in front of the consumer, fresh to order.

We are a fast-paced, high-momentum startup that graduated from Chicago Booth’s New Venture Challenge, one of the top-ranked accelerators in the nation. Our company has also been featured in the Chicago Venture Summit as a leading innovator in the food tech space. We are proud to have brought on expert investors and world-class advisors to join us on this journey.

Our mission is to make healthy eating more accessible for everyone. We believe how someone fuels their body has a tremendous impact on all aspects of their life and therefore democratizing nutritionist curated smoothies will positively impact countless people across the globe. Just like how Starbucks forever changed coffee culture, we look to revolutionize how the world experiences smoothies!

About our culture:

The beauty of an early stage startup is that every member of the team has an imprint on the culture. We take pride in empowering each member on our team with a high level of ownership and the ability to run with their ideas. The speed at which our team executes and the organization grows makes it a haven for those looking for opportunities to accelerate their own career trajectory.

We invest in the growth of our team and encourage each member to explore personally meaningful pursuits. Do you want to spearhead campus engagement and recruiting at your alma mater? How about engaging in meetups supporting diversity in the Chicago tech ecosystem? Or championing health & wellness at local events to share the benefits of smoothies? If we have the resources, Zenblen will throw its support behind you each step of the way!

Most importantly, we promise an environment of highly motivated individuals who are aligned on our team's mission and who will run through walls on each other's behalf. We are all motivated to do the best we can and produce the highest achieving results possible, while also taking the time to truly get to know each other and laugh with one another. We hold ourselves to high expectations, but know the importance of slowing down to enjoy the happy moments of being a close-knit team who love to drink smoothies together!

Learn more about our journey:

• Zenblen Founder Story sponsored by Chicago Venture Summit: Future of Food

• Featured article on Zenblen’s partnership with the Illinois Institute of Technology

• Instagram video from our kiosk experience