Marketing & Business Development Lead

We are seeking a strategic and hands-on Marketing & Growth Manager to build and lead our in-house marketing function. This role will partner closely with firm leadership to elevate our brand, strengthen business development efforts, and drive measurable growth.

This individual will own brand strategy, digital presence, event marketing, and marketing operations, including CRM and HubSpot administration. The ideal candidate is comfortable operating at both a strategic and tactical level — defining growth initiatives while also executing campaigns and building systems.

This is a high-impact role for someone who thrives in a collaborative professional services environment and enjoys building processes from the ground up.

About Walter Shuffain: 

Established in 1994, WS Advisors is a Boston-based advisory and accounting firm dedicated to delivering thoughtful tax, financial, and business guidance that helps clients make confident, forward-looking decisions. We pride ourselves on a collaborative culture rooted in accountability, respect, responsiveness, and continuous learning, where diverse perspectives are welcomed and individual growth is encouraged.

Recognized for excellence, innovation, and a supportive work environment, WS Advisors has been named an IPA Top 200 Firm, an IPA Fastest Growing Firm, an IPA Best of the Best Firm, and one of Accounting Today’s Best Firms to Work For. We invest in our people and foster meaningful careers built on teamwork, integrity, and shared success.

About Ascend:

Backed by private equity from people-focused Alpine Investors, Ascend is building a dynamic platform for regional accounting firms that enables them to stay independent while accessing the resources of a Top 25 firm to help them grow. Ascend provides access to growth capital, robust talent acquisition and training, leading quality management resources, best-of-breed technology, AI tools, an offshore captive, shared back-office services, a catalytic leadership system, and modernized equity incentives so that firms can surmount today’s industry challenges to reach their full potential. For more information, visit www.ascendtogether.com.

Key Responsibilities:

Brand Strategy & Market Positioning

• Refine and elevate firm positioning, messaging, and value proposition
• Ensure consistent brand execution across website, social media, events, and marketing collateral
• Develop marketing materials to support business development and recruiting efforts
• Partner with firm leadership to develop white papers, thought leadership content, and market-facing insights that reinforce the firm’s expertise and industry authority
• Draft and distribute press releases and firm announcements
• Promote awards, thought leadership, and industry recognition initiatives

Sales & Business Development Enablement

• Partner with firm leadership to define and support sales and growth strategy
• Improve and formalize the sales process, identifying areas for increased efficiency and conversion
• Collaborate with client service teams to strengthen cross-selling opportunities
• Develop pitch materials, capability decks, and proposal templates
• Facilitate internal sales training sessions to improve pipeline conversion
• Support firm-sponsored events, conferences, and networking initiatives

Digital Marketing & Thought Leadership

• Oversee and optimize firm website content and performance
• Manage firm LinkedIn presence and partner visibility strategies
• Coordinate content development including blogs, industry alerts, and campaign-driven communications
• Support webinar and event marketing campaigns

Marketing Operations & CRM (HubSpot Administration)

• Administer and optimize HubSpot, including:
• Email campaigns
• Workflows and automation
• Contact segmentation
• Data hygiene
• Maintain accurate records of leads, opportunities, and engagement activity
• Develop dashboards and reports to provide visibility into marketing and sales performance
• Track campaign ROI and revenue attribution
• Train internal stakeholders on CRM usage and best practices

Data & Analytics

• Monitor and analyze marketing and sales performance metrics
• Provide actionable insights to leadership to improve strategy and budget allocation
• Track pipeline progression and marketing-sourced revenue

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field
• 5–8+ years of experience in marketing, growth, or sales operations (professional services preferred)
• Experience in accounting, consulting, legal, financial services, or other B2B professional services strongly preferred
• Hands-on experience with HubSpot (certification preferred) -
• Strong understanding of CRM management, reporting, and marketing automation
• Experience developing sales enablement materials and supporting business development initiatives
• Experience managing and optimizing company websites, including content updates, SEO best practices, performance monitoring, and coordination with developers or external vendors
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively with senior leadership and cross-functional teams
• Strong analytical mindset with comfort using data to drive decisions