PR & Marketing Lead

About this role

The Opportunity
EQL Tech is partnering with a stealth, early-stage physical AI health startup (Palo Alto, team of roughly four) to bring on a Contract PR & Marketing Lead for a 1-3 month engagement. The company turns real-world sensor data, including wearables, ECG, and video, into clinical-grade health insight. Its founders have shipped FDA-cleared AI together before, paying enterprise customers are already live across two verticals, a major commercial partnership is in advanced discussions, and a seed round is set to close in Q3/Q4 2026.
The technology is well ahead of the story. The website undersells it, the founders aren't yet visible online, and there is nothing press-ready for the announcements about to land. Closing that gap is the job.
The Role
You'll be this company's entire marketing and communications function for the length of the engagement: direct access to all three founders, near-total creative latitude, and no infrastructure or committee to navigate.
Narrative: Reposition the website messaging so it says what the company does and why it matters.
Founder visibility: Build the founders' LinkedIn presence into a credible, consistent channel.
Presence: Establish the social cadence and voice for the company.
Launch readiness: Prepare press and partner-facing materials so they're ready to go the moment the seed round and partnership news land.
Legacy: Leave behind a playbook the team can run once the engagement ends.
Requirements
Seniority isn't measured in years here. What matters is a track record of taking a technical company from invisible to credible, and being able to show the work.
Independent operator: Fractional CMO, ex-agency strategist, or startup marketing lead comfortable working without a brief.
Proven transformation: A track record of taking a technical company from invisible to credible, with before/after work to point to.
Exceptional writing: Able to translate clinical AI substance into language that buyers, journalists, and investors trust, without dumbing it down.
Domain fluency: AI or health-tech fluency strongly preferred; genuine interest in the space essential.
Self-directed execution: Comfortable shipping without a brief, given direct founder access and full creative latitude.
Nice to have: prior fractional CMO or agency leadership experience; portfolio work in regulated or clinical spaces; existing relationships with health-tech or AI press. Bay Area preferred.
Benefits
Direct access: Work directly with all three founders, no committee or layers to navigate.
Creative latitude: Near-total ownership of narrative and channel strategy.
Portfolio-grade timing: Join at the exact inflection point, pre-seed-announcement and pre-partnership-news, where positioning work is visibly causal.
Extension potential: Realistic scope to continue the engagement as the company scales past its raise.

Remote - Marketing & Communications - Contract