Marketing & Business Development Lead

Ascend Partner Firms•Boston, MA

About The Position

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.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field
5–8+ years of experience in marketing, growth, or sales operations (professional services 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

Nice To Haves

Experience in accounting, consulting, legal, financial services, or other B2B professional services strongly preferred

Responsibilities

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
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
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
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
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