Our mission is to reinvent the way people learn, starting with language.
Learning a language can change a life by opening doors to new cultures, careers, and communities. Two billion people around the world are actively trying to learn a language, but the best way to learn (one-on-one tutoring) is hard to access at scale and hasn’t been meaningfully improved in decades. Speak is building a human-level, AI-powered tutor in your pocket: a conversation-first experience that lets learners actually speak, get instant feedback, and progress through carefully designed lessons. The result is a complete path from beginner to confident speaker across multiple languages.
Speak first launched in South Korea in 2019, where Speak has now become the number one language learning app, and we now serve learners across many markets and 15+ languages. Speak is one of the world’s leading AI companies, with over $150m raised in venture investment from OpenAI, Accel, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and more, with a distributed team across San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Ljubljana.
About this role
As the Head of Marketing at Speak Korea (supporting our B2C business), you will be responsible for continuing to grow our largest market, with full ownership over the marketing execution and strategy. Your team will consist of Brand, Partnership, and Growth Marketing, as well as an in-house team of Marketing Designers.
At Speak, we believe strongly in the idea of having a strong local marketing leader who can autonomously execute our strategy in a way that is super localized to the market. As a result of this, it’s crucial this person has a strong relationship with our San Francisco HQ and is able to build strong trust across different functional teams.
This role is extremely entrepreneurial and therefore it’s likely the successful candidate will have previously started a company or held C-level titles in the past. Speak is the #1 language learning app in Korea - and you get to continue its legacy. Come join and lead this small-yet-mighty team of marketers and marketing leaders, alongside a slightly larger team of 50+ professionals based in Speak Korea who are all passionate, well-skilled, and low-ego.
What you’ll be doing
Identify the biggest growth opportunities and lead strategic initiatives for the Korean market, from Marketing and Business perspectives
Own the performance of the Korean B2C market across all key metrics (LTV, ARR, key accounts, # of subscribers, brand awareness, etc.)
Formulate a cohesive market strategy alongside B2B and spearhead the effort to push the Korean market to the next growth stage
Manage and oversee our Speak Korea marketing teams (Brand, Growth, Partnership, and Design)
Communicate local product needs, working closely with CX, Engineering, Product, and Design
Build strong relationships with other major markets like Japan and Taiwan
Coach, mentor, and develop team members to achieve business objectives and ensure team motivation
What we’re looking for
At least 10 years of marketing experience with leadership, ideally in tech startups
Must be fluent in verbal and written communication skills in both English and Korean, including the ability to cultivate internal and external relationships
Strong track record of achieving business goals and exceeding expectations
Experience being involved in high-growth, high-impact projects
Comfort with navigating through ambiguity, with appreciation for creative discoveries along the way
Strong leadership and coaching ability to build high-performance teams
Passion and alignment in Speak’s mission - in changing the way people learn, starting with language
Ability to travel as needed, most often to San Francisco HQ
Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time: we're growing very quickly, we've most recently raised our Series C from some of the top investors in the valley, and we've achieved product-market fit in our initial markets. You'd join at a magical time when a single person could significantly change the course of the company.
Do your life's work with people you’ll love working with: we care strongly about our craft and want every person at Speak to feel like they're growing every day. We believe in the idea that working with people you both enjoy and have respect for makes everything better. We hire thoughtfully and only work with people we admire deeply.
Global in nature: We're live in over 40 countries and launching in a number of new markets soon. We have dedicated offices in San Francisco, Ljubljana, Seoul, Tokyo, and Taipei, and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to users in each of these regions on a regular basis as well as travel.
Impact people's lives in a major way: Learning a language is one of the single most life-changing skills one can learn, and right now 99% of people never achieve their goal because the process is broken. We’re helping millions of people achieve their goals and improve their lives.
Speak does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.