About Us and Why We’re Hiring
We build “You Need a Budget,” the best budgeting software and educational content around. (YNAB, pronounced “why-nab” if you’re in the know). For more than a decade, people have been using YNAB and then telling their friends and family what a difference it’s made in their lives. Google us, or read some of our App Store reviews, and you’ll see what we mean. We love building something that has such a positive impact on so many people’s lives.
We’re looking for a natural storyteller, connector, and press whisperer with on-the-ground public relations experience, to help grow our media relations efforts.
The right person will have experience working with media and know how to craft a pitch and secure a killer placement. In fact, while reading that last sentence, you probably started making a mental list of people you’d want to connect with right out of the gate.
Our future Public Relations Specialist understands what makes a great story AND what makes something media-worthy.You love nothing more than packaging it all up and getting it in front of the right person, at the right time.
You’re right up our alley if, when you consider all the awesome thought leaders, content, and success stories that the YNAB marketing team produces, and you can’t help but think of 14 other ways you’d pitch and promote it all. (We can’t wait to hear your ideas!)
Requirements (these are real, actual requirements):
- We care more about a high proficiency level than years of experience, but we expect that at least 2 years of experience in the following areas of public and media relations will best set you up for success here. You should be totally (and humbly) confident in your ability to:
- Drive immediate media relations results through effective pitching.
- Regularly secure coverage in digital, print, broadcast, podcasts, etc.
- Coordinate with traditional and non-traditional media, including influencers and affiliates.
- You live within +/- 2 hours of Central Standard Time (UTC-6).
- You have a sense of humor and the ability to think on your feet (this sounds like improv, which isn’t a requirement, but how awesome is improv?!).
- Your excellent time management skills make juggling multiple projects, priorities, and pitches look easy.
That’s a super-brief intro to what you’ll be working on, but first you may be asking—will I even like working with this team? Let’s talk a bit about life at YNAB, and then we’ll go into more detail about what we’re looking for.
We’re profitable, bootstrapped, and growing. YNAB started in 2004 and we haven’t taken any outside funding—we’re in it for the long haul. We have one overarching requirement when it comes to joining our team: our original Core Values Manifesto has to really click with you. If you’re nodding emphatically while reading it, you’ll probably really like it here, and we can’t wait to hear from you!
At YNAB, we live our Core Values every day, and we mean it when we say we are an equal opportunity employer. We believe that a diversity of backgrounds, abilities, beliefs, and experiences are critical to our success, and we’re passionate about creating a welcoming, supportive, and collaborative environment for all employees. All are encouraged to apply as we continue to grow a smart, hard-working, and diverse team who loves working together to build something that matters.
We also work really hard to make working at YNAB an amazing experience, and we were (humbly) proud to be named Fortune’s #1 Best Small Company to Work For for the last two years. We have a team full of truly exceptional people—and we’d love to introduce you to a few of them!
Who you’d be working with:
Haley, PR Manager: Haley was our first PR hire and she has done ALL the things and worn all the hats for a whirlwind two years. True story: on Haley’s first day, we were in the middle of launching our YNAB 4 Good program and she jumped right in and made key improvements to the messaging like she’d already been on the team for 10+ years. She is full of strategic, big ideas without ever losing sight of the details. Not to mention punny, just so, so punny. You’ll love being managed by Haley.
Janelle, Chief Delight Officer: Janelle spends her days obsessing over how to delight our customers and rally our YNAB Ambassadors. She is creative and hilarious and thoughtful and it is not uncommon for the overarching sentiment after one of her updates to be along the lines of, “Oh man, I want that job!” Ask her about the time she sent a user roses and bananas… because that really happened.
Sarah, Social Media Manager: If you’ve scrolled through any of our social platforms, you instantly recognize Sarah’s easy going nature and comforting smile. We can’t tell you where Sarah lives because as you’re reading this, she’s exploring the country with her family in their brand new full-time camper life! Sarah is our resident expert on all things related to social media; she manages our entire social strategy and is the best sounding board for new ideas. Did we mention that her natural media presence and ability to hit a talking point is a publicist’s dream? Oh yeah, you’ll have fun pitching opportunities for Sarah!
Lindsey, Head of Marketing: Lindsey grew up in PR and loves nothing more than brainstorming all the things. She is excited to have another person to throw her wild, random ideas and hair-brained schemes. (Haley is also quite excited for this.) She is probably the most likely on the team to delete something important, but also the first to encourage your growth and help you find work that lights you up. You’ll love being managed by Lindsey (almost as much as Haley), while Haley goes on maternity leave in the Fall.
How You’ll Work at YNAB
Now that you’ve met some of your potential future teammates, let’s talk more about YNAB as a company. Here’s how we operate:
Live Where You Want
We’ve always been a fully remote team, and have people all over the world. For this particular position, however, we’re looking for someone within +/- two hours of Central Standard Time (UTC-6), due to the high amount of synchronous coordination needed with the rest of the team. Anywhere within those time zones is okay, though. Just make sure you have a reliable internet connection.
No Outrageous Hours
We want everyone to have a full life outside of YNAB, and we seldom work more than 40 hours per week. There have been a few occasions where things got busy and people had to put some extra time in. But then they took some extra time off, so it all balances out. We work hard and smart but we’re in this for the long haul.
Take Vacation (Seriously)
We want you to take vacation. In fact, we have a minimum vacation policy of three weeks per year. Five weeks feels about right (plus two extra weeks for our company-wide December break). It’s important to get plenty of downtime and get out and do something. We’ll look forward to seeing pictures of your adventures in our #office_wall Slack channel!
The YNAB Retreat
When the pandemic isn’t keeping us from traveling, we get the teams together once a year to catch up on spreadsheets and powerpoints in a Best Western conference room. Just kidding. So far, we’ve done Costa Rica, a gigantic cabin in the mountains, a beach house in the Outer Banks, a ranch in Montana, and most recently, Laguna Beach. We work together, play together, and reinforce the bonds we’ve made as a team and company. Every year, we leave refreshed, motivated, and excited for the year ahead together.
Up Your Game
We’re serious about helping you improve your craft. We budget for it (hey-o!). Think conferences, online courses and subscriptions, dedicated time away from work to learn something new… It’s really up to you and your manager. But we love to see our people growing.
U.S. or International? Great!
Our team is spread all over the world, including Switzerland, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and all over the United States. We currently set up team members who live in the U.S. or U.K. as employees, and those who live in other countries as independent contractors. You’re an equal part of the team no matter where you live!
As mentioned, we have some time zone restrictions for this role, but as long as you’re within +/- two hours of Central Standard Time (UTC-6), we’re good!
Benefits
For full-time W2 employees in the U.S., we offer fantastic health, dental, and vision insurance, where we cover 100% of the premium for you and your family. No need to check your vision, you read that right—100%. Although if you did need to check your vision, NBD, we’ve got you covered!
For full- and part-time W2 employees in the U.S., we also have a Traditional and Roth 401(k) option. YNAB matches your contributions up to six percent, and matches vest immediately. (Are you a personal finance junkie like our founder Jesse? He set up YNAB’s 401k to have the lowest fee structure possible, where all plan costs are paid by YNAB, not your retirement nest egg. The investment funds available are fantastic, passively-managed, ultra low-cost index funds. You’re not a PF junkie? Trust us, it’s awesome.) For U.K. employees, we also contribute six percent to your pension.
We also offer generous paid parental leave for all full-time team members. (Here’s to increasing the world’s budgeters, one child at a time!)
Competitive Compensation
The starting salary range for this position is $50,000 – $70,000 USD annually. We consider raises every year, and have a bi-annual profit-share bonus. YNAB wins, you win—that kind of thing.
Other Tidbits
- Once you start, we DEMAND (in a friendly, ALL CAPS IS YELLING way) that you fill out your “Bucket List” spreadsheet with 50 items. (That’s harder than it sounds!)
- The bucket list really helps in deciding what we should give you for your birthday and the holidays.
- We’re all adults. There’s no need to punch a clock, or ask for permission to take off early one afternoon to go see the doctor. We look at what you accomplish, not how long you’re in front of a computer.
- We’re currently trialing a four-day work week! For us, this means four regular days of work followed by a three-day weekend…every week. This is new to us, and we’re learning a lot, but we’re excited about what it could mean both for the company and our team members.
- We want you firing on all cylinders so we’ll set you up with a shiny new computer and replace it every three years.
- Did we mention that YNAB makes a huge, positive difference in people’s lives? You may not think that matters much, but then a few months down the road you’ll realize it’s made your job really, really enjoyable. Don’t underestimate this one!
If this sounds like your ideal environment, read on because now we want to talk about you, and how you’ll play a big part in changing people’s lives.
Now, back to you, our new PR Specialist….
Before “content marketing” and “word-of-mouth marketing” were buzzwords, YNAB’s marketing efforts were anchored in content and community. It’s what we do best. But we have a lot of people focused on creating the content, and very few with bandwidth to really focus on media relations.. This is where you come in.
You are full of ideas. There are stories to tell, press rearing to hear them, and media opportunities to land! Media stories to land!
You see our crazy, loyal fanbase and it gets your wheels spinning—oh, the things you could do with the two families who got YNAB license plates, or the couple that threw a YNAB-themed Valentines date!
If we told you that you have access to a Financial Wellness Report filled with mind-blowing data that shows the benefit of budgeting in the workplace, your head might explode with the media coverage potential. (Oh, the potential!!)
You’re probably a storyteller in your own right, and although we have content creators, you wouldn’t be shy about diving right in and writing pitches, bylined articles, and press-ready surveys and reports.
You are our ideal candidate if you:
- Have at least 2 years of professional experience in public relations
- Agency experience
- Excel at juggling multiple projects and timelines at any given moment and switching gears, keeps you fresh and stimulated
- Opportunistic and proactive about sourcing, developing, and executing potential media campaigns
- Comfortable initiating and maintaining relationships with press, influencers, and affiliates
- Understand how to pitch the right media, the right content, at the right time
- Persistent. Because media.
- Make us laugh
- Manage your time exceptionally well and comfortable working remotely.
- Incredibly organized, flexible, and collaborative
- Never met a deadline you didn’t love
- Self-motivated and driven by nature, maybe even a little competitive.
- Stay laser-focused on the big picture, without losing sight of every. last. detail.
- Wildly productive and independent, but a team-player at heart.
How to Apply
- Apply below by Monday, June 13th, at 11:59pm PST. Firm. It’s a real deadline. The kind you love.
- Attach a PDF of your cover letter. In your cover letter:
- Introduce yourself and explain why this position is of interest to you, and why you would be a great fit. Please limit this section of the cover letter to 1.5 pages at most.
- On a separate page of your cover letter, answer the following questions (with each response being about a paragraph in length):
- 1. What attracted you to this position? (This is not about what attracted you to the software.)
- 2. What criteria do you look for when searching for your next company or position?
- 3. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of your current job?
- 4. Tell us about a time when you had to learn something new to excel at your job.
- 5. Tell us about a media placement you are proud of. From concept to placement, how did you land the hit and what goals did it help accomplish?
- 7. With what you know about our brand and our product, share some journalists or media outlets that you think would be interested in YNAB, and why.
- Attach a PDF resume. If you don’t have a resume because you aren’t even sure you’re looking to change jobs, that’s fine! An informal overview of your work and education history are all we’re looking for.
- Our goal is to make the recruitment and hiring process as accessible as possible. If we can help you with an accessibility need, please email us at [email protected] and indicate the role you’re applying for in the subject line. (Please note that we can only respond to messages related to accommodations.)
- Though we know it is customary in some areas, we’d prefer it if you didn’t share a headshot in your application materials. Thank you!
We’re excited to hear from you!
P.S. We’ll send you a confirmation email once you apply. Please add that email to your safe sender list, to ensure that future emails come through. (If it’s not there, be sure to check your spam or junk email folder.)
P.P.S. If you’re not interested in or available for this position, but know someone who is, we would really appreciate it if you passed this along!
