---
title: 'Portland startups Urban Airship, ShopIgniter, and AppFog are hiring marketing talent—and that’s a good sign'
date: '2011-11-09T09:06:29-08:00'
type: post
word_count: 315
char_count: 1958
tokens: 410
categories:
  - '#featured'
  - Jobs
  - Oregon
  - Portland
  - Startups
tags:
  - appfog
  - Hiring
  - Jobs
  - Portland
  - ShopIgniter
  - 'urban airship'
---

# Portland startups Urban Airship, ShopIgniter, and AppFog are hiring marketing talent—and that’s a good sign

When it comes to tech startups, there are certain things that are must haves: awesome engineering, an exec who can lead and sell, and some way of getting the word out about the product.

The third one—getting the word out—remains something for which most startups contract or hire lower level generalists. So when they start hiring higher level talent to bring those skills in house? That’s a really good sign. And that’s exactly what’s starting to happen here in Portland.

Let’s take a quick look at what’s happening with marketing gigs around the startup scene:

- [ShopIgniter just hired Kevin Tate as their Chief Marketing Officer](http://www.shopigniter.com/press/kevin-tate-joins-shopigniter-as-chief-marketing-officer "Kevin Tate joins ShopIgniter")
- [Urban Airship is currently hiring a Vice President of Marketing](http://urbanairship.jobscore.com/job_seeker/jobs/job_posting?job_id=c-LjsOa00r4A0QeJe4bk1X&ref=rss "Vice President of Marketing at Urban Airship")
- [AppFog is hiring a Director of Marketing](http://appfog.jobscore.com/jobs/appfog/director-of-marketing/bxmn9ibPqr4BDheJe4bk1X "Director of Marketing at AppFog")
- [ShopIgniter is hiring a Director of Marketing Communications](http://www.shopigniter.com/about/careers/9 "Director of Marketing Communications at ShopIgniter")

Sure sure. It’s not a huge laundry list. But it’s definitely the early blips of a trend. And a positive trend at that.

And I’m sure there are more interesting marketing openings that I’ve missed. (Feel free to link them up, below.)

What’s more, with these positions opening a really good time to get some more seasoned marketing talent involved in the burgeoning Portland startup scene. And that’s never a bad thing.

*([Image courtesy Phil Whitehouse](http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/2700612549/). Used under Creative Commons.)*