We’re Hiring: Head of Marketing

We’re Hiring: Head of Marketing

Head of Marketing – Where Mission Meets Metrics

Location: Cape Town or Remote (South Africa-based)
Sector: Crowdfunding | Social Impact | Performance Marketing
Reports into: COO
Direct reports: 4
Exco level position
Type: Full-time | Salary: R50 000 – R70 000 depn.
Start date: ASAP but flexible for the right person

BackaBuddy is South Africa’s leading crowdfunding platform for personal and charitable causes. We’re a two sided marketplace where trust and peer-to-peer engagement drive exponential impact. 

We believe in the power of stories backed by results. That impact isn’t just something you support — it’s something you can see, measure, and grow. This is where you come in.

We’re looking for a Head of Marketing who’s driven by purpose but obsessed with performance. Someone who understands how evidence of impact drives future funding — and is able to build the systems that prove that impact at scale.

Your Mission: Build a Growth Engine Fueled by Proof of Impact

As Head of Marketing, your core responsibility is maximising the value and impact of what people achieve through BackaBuddy. That’s gathering, curating and sharing the 1000’s of incredible stories of how ‘People are powerful’ when we act together. Our aim, to massively broaden BackaBuddy’s brand as the first call for people to raise the funds they need and see the impact. How? By solidifying our image as the most trusted, successful, and transparent crowdfunding platform in South Africa.

You’ll lead a multidisciplinary team that transforms campaign milestones into powerful content, ensuring that every donor receives clear, timely, and emotive proof of the change they helped create. And by doing that, you’ll convert once-off donors into recurring contributors to social good.

The metal of our new Head of Marketing:

  • You’ll have experience in growing two-sided marketplaces or digital platforms, ideally where trust and peer-to-peer engagement drive exponential growth.
  • You’ll have worked hand-in-hand with product and engineering teams to translate user insights into features, and features into growth. You’ll be comfortable owning messaging, onboarding, and feature adoption KPIs.
  • You’ll demonstrate understanding of behavioral economics, habit-forming design, and community-led growth strategies that build intrinsic motivation among donors and campaigners.
  • You’ll be comfortable designing and testing  trust systems, including campaign validation mechanisms,  donor recognition and social proof features — not just messaging.
  • You will have studied or contributed to international crowdfunding/giving platforms and can intelligently localize those insights for African markets.
  • You’ll be able to lead B2B2C marketing — helping integrate giving into banking, retail, and healthcare ecosystems via APIs, widgets, or white-label tech.
  • You’ll be comfortable being a public-facing evangelist — speaking at events, engaging the media, and building BackaBuddy’s profile as Africa’s leading giving infrastructure.

The basic experience required:

  • Have 10+ years in marketing or related experience with 
  • 5 years in team leadership.

Quantitative KPI’s will include:

  • % of donors receiving meaningful campaign updates
  • Growth in recurring donors and donor lifetime value
  • Increases in platform traffic and successful fundraising campaigns
  • Growth in brand recognition in SA and globally

What We Offer:

  • A fast-moving, fast growing (100%pa) purpose-driven company with a team of 32 people, 5 of us dedicated to marketing.
  • The opportunity to deploy your knowledge to achieve massive directly measurable impact.
  • Having creative freedom backed by excellent technology and team.
  • A culture of transparency, collaboration, and continuous growth

To apply:

Send us:
– your CV
– a brief cover letter including what inspires you to work with us
– portfolio with your best work and,
– your best GPT convo (prompt + output:  the one that made you pause) to [email protected]

NB: Thank you for taking the time to submit your application. Please note ONLY candidates that are selected for an interview will be contacted further.

Job listing at BackaBuddy: Verification Officer

Job listing at BackaBuddy: Verification Officer

BackaBuddy is South Africa’s leading online donations-based platform. They are looking for an enthusiastic, flexible and compassionate Verification Officer to join them in their friendly team.

Position Objective:

Position: Verification Officer
Reports to: COO
Location: Cape Town CBD (flexible remote working)
Work hours: Monday – Friday, 8 am to 5 pm
Salary: Market-related
Employment type: 4 months contract with the option to go permanent
Start date: ASAP

Primary Responsibilities and Duties:

  • Provide high-quality email and phone support to customers and other stakeholders to ensure fundraiser authenticity and safe delivery of funds for beneficiaries. 
  • Proactively vet fundraisers and interpret fundraiser content in accordance with the BackaBuddy Terms of Service, in addition to staying up-to-date on the latest trends and assisting with evaluating policy. 
  • Manage banking details collection from the beneficiaries and ensure that the Finance team have the correct information to payout funds owed according to strict timelines.
  • Manage ad-hoc payment requests/donor refund requests received from beneficiaries.
  • Respond to and investigate reports a fundraiser queries.
  • Work with the customer service, marketing and finance teams, and others to ensure fundraisers on BackaBuddy are legitimate and donations are delivered to the correct parties.
  • Field questions and vet fundraisers for the Communities team, collaboratively work with all teams on a regular basis and in emergencies and become an expert in quickly resolving complicated issues through email, phone, and messaging software (Zoho Desk ticketing programme). 
  • Identify trends, handle escalations, and ensure safe delivery of funds for beneficiaries.
  • Develop a deep understanding of trust-related issues and a willingness to experiment with bold, novel solutions.
  • Consistently improve and enhance our internal processes and systems.
  • Interpret data, analyze results, and create risk models, and bring that perspective to the team.  
  • Provide invaluable feedback to our Dev Team to build Trust & Safety into the BackaBuddy platform.

 

Requirements:

  • Exemplify BackaBuddy’s core values (performance, accountability, effectiveness) and embody company and team culture
  • Are a consistent high-performer in metrics
  • Are an effective problem solver: spots issues or efficiency gains and brings solutions forward
  • Exude strong leadership skills
  • Able to think critically and be a fast learner
  • Display natural ability to “think big” and take initiative
  • Understand and help guide the vision of the company and team 
  • See every interaction as a chance to build rapport and strengthen the public perception of BackaBuddy
  • Are comfortable engaging with industry leaders
  • Adaptable in a fast-paced work environment
  • Must have own laptop and stable internet connection

To apply:

Please submit a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to: [email protected]. Only those whose applications are being considered will be contacted. No phone calls, please.

Create a crowdfunding campaign

South Africa’s leading crowdfunding platform, BackaBuddy has supported more than 10 000+ individuals and charities in setting up fundraising campaigns for medical fees, tuition and various causes in South Africa. The platform has thus far risen over R380 Million.