Marketing Associate
Marketing Associate — Tropical Juice Bar
Location: HQ, North New Jersey (onsite) + regular travel to our 10 store locations
Type: Full-time
Compensation: $47,000 – $58,000/year + performance bonus tied to campaign results
Reports to: Carlos D Lopez, Chief Operating Officer
Start: ASAP
The short version
I am the Chief Operating Officer at Tropical Juice Bar, and I need someone to come in and completely own our marketing department. Right now, marketing falls under my umbrella, and we've hit the ceiling on what we can execute without a dedicated owner. I'm hiring one person to step in, take the reins, and run the show under my supervision.
This is not a "post on Instagram" job. You will own marketing from top to bottom, oversee a remote worker to help you execute, run ads with real money behind them, launch products across 10 stores, and see the sales numbers move—or not—the same week. That feedback loop is the whole education.
We are a highly AI-driven team. I want someone who uses AI to produce more, learn faster, and figure out what they don't know yet. If you need to be taught step-by-step, this isn't your role. If you teach yourself, can manage a remote report, and just need direction, a budget, and a green light, keep reading.
What you'll own
Full Department Leadership
Serve as the absolute owner of marketing strategy and execution for Tropical Juice Bar.
Manage and direct our dedicated remote marketing worker.
Ensure everything your remote worker produces actually serves a campaign and drives ROI instead of just filling a feed.
Paid Advertising
Manage, optimize, and scale our Meta and Google ad campaigns across all 10 locations.
Write the copy, brief the creative, set the targeting, and watch the numbers daily.
Kill what doesn't work fast; scale what does.
Expand us into new channels (like TikTok) once you've earned it.
Promotions & Offers
Design the offer itself—the discount structure, the bundle, the LTO mechanic—not just the flyer.
Model what an offer costs us and what it should return before we launch it.
Run it, measure it, report on it.
New Product & Seasonal Launches
Own the launch calendar for LTOs and seasonal items end to end.
Build the promo plan, the in-store signage, the digital push, and the loyalty-app tie-in.
Grand Openings
Run the pre-opening and opening-week playbook for new locations.
Lead local outreach, launch offers, and community/influencer activity in the trade area.
Loyalty & Retention
Push our Juicy Rewards app to drive installs, active users, and repeat visits.
Build the offer calendar that brings people back a second and third time.
What we're actually looking for
Non-negotiable:
You are ready to own the department. You move without being chased and would rather ship something imperfect Tuesday than something perfect next month.
You already work with AI daily. You use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjourney, or similar tools to write, analyze, research, design, and automate.
You understand offers. You know why BOGO, a $5 combo, and 20% off behave completely differently—and which one you'd run to grow weekday lunch traffic.
You want to be in the stores. Marketing a food business from behind a laptop doesn't work. You'll be in our locations, tasting the product, watching customers, and talking to managers.
Strongly preferred:
Restaurant, QSR, café, or food-brand experience.
Hands-on experience running paid social and search ads with a real budget.
Comfort with numbers, including cost per acquisition, redemption rate, average check, and ROI.
Experience delegating to or managing remote contractors/freelancers.
What we do not require:
A marketing degree.
5+ years of experience.
A traditional agency background.
A highly driven candidate who has genuinely built things with AI and knows how to take ownership will beat a padded résumé here. We hire for drive, output, and leadership, not credentials.
How to apply — read this part carefully
Do not send a generic résumé and cover letter. It will not be read. Send us the following:
Your résumé: One page is fine.
A short answer: (150 words max) What AI tools do you use, and what's one thing you built or figured out with them that you couldn't have done otherwise?
The challenge: Pick ONE and present your plan in a video under 30 seconds:
A) Our Tuesday and Wednesday lunch sales are our weakest of the week. Design a promotion to fix it. Tell us the offer, who you'd target, what you'd spend, and how you'd know if it worked.
B) We're opening a new location in South Orange, NJ. Give us your opening-week plan to fill the store on day one and get those customers back a second time.
Note: Use AI to help you build your plan. We expect that. We want to see how you think with the tools, not whether you can work without them.
Send to: carlosd@tropicaljuicebar.com
Subject line: Marketing Associate — [Your Name]
Why take this job
You'll work directly with the Chief Operating Officer every day, on real budget and real P&L, across a 10-location chain that's still expanding.
Decisions happen in hours, not through three layers of approval.
Everything you launch is measurable—you'll build a portfolio of campaigns with actual numbers attached.
You will act as the head of a department. As we grow, the scope of this role grows fast for the person who earns it.
Tropical Juice Bar is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law.