Brand & Marketing Lead

Location: Pune (On-site)

Company: Aaalay Property Solutions LLP

About Aaalay:

Aaalay is a premium student co-living brand and the official housing partner of MIT-WPU. We provide thoughtfully designed accommodation that helps students feel at home while pursuing their education in Pune. Today, Aaalay operates approximately 3,000 beds across 18 premium properties, creating safe, comfortable and community-driven living experiences for students and young professionals. As we enter our next phase of growth, we are building our Brand & Marketing function from the ground up and are looking for an entrepreneurial leader to shape the future of the Aaalay brand.

About the Role:

The Brand & Marketing Lead will be the first senior hire dedicated to building Aaalay's brand function. This role combines strategic thinking with hands-on execution and will own brand positioning, communications, digital presence and demand generation. The immediate priority is to strengthen conversion communications, deliver a complete brand identity refresh and launch a new website ahead of the admissions season. Beyond this, the role will establish scalable marketing systems, build an in-house content capability and grow awareness across new customer segments. This is an opportunity for someone who enjoys building from scratch, thrives in a fast-paced environment and wants to create measurable business impact.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Brand Strategy & Positioning:

- Own and evolve Aaalay's overall brand strategy and positioning.

- Ensure consistent brand communication across all customer touchpoints.

- Develop messaging that resonates with both students and parents.

- Build a premium, trustworthy and aspirational brand.

2. Conversion Communications:

- Improve the customer journey from enquiry to booking.

- Develop communication strategies that increase enquiry-to-confirmation conversion.

- Work closely with admissions and operations teams to optimise customer experience.

- Build communication frameworks for parents, students and institutional partners.

3. Brand Identity & Website:

- Lead the complete brand identity refresh.

- Manage external agencies through the entire branding process.

- Drive the end-to-end redesign and launch of the company website.

- Ensure all deliverables are completed within defined timelines.

4. Content & Social Media:

- Build an in-house content engine.

- Develop and execute content strategies across Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

- Create engaging content that connects with Gen Z while maintaining credibility with parents.

- Build content calendars and oversee production from ideation to publishing.

5. Demand Generation:

- Expand brand awareness beyond MIT-WPU.

- Drive enquiries from students across colleges as well as working professionals.

- Collaborate with performance marketing teams to improve lead quality and optimise cost per enquiry.

- Track campaign effectiveness using measurable business metrics.

6. Team Leadership:

- Build and lead the Brand & Marketing function.

- Hire, mentor and develop a high-performing internal team.

- Manage creative, branding, digital and production agencies.

- Collaborate cross-functionally with leadership, admissions and operations teams.

Qualifications & Experience:

1. Preferred Experience:

- 3-6 years of experience in Brand Marketing, Digital Marketing or Communications.

- Experience in a Brand, Creative, Digital or Integrated Agency is preferred.

- Candidates from the following industries are also encouraged to apply: Premium Consumer Brands, Hospitality, D2C, Co-living, Real Estate, Education, EdTech, Lifestyle Brands.

2. Required Skills:

- Strong brand strategy and storytelling skills.

- Experience managing brand identity or website projects.

- Strong understanding of organic social media and content marketing.

- Familiarity with performance marketing, customer acquisition and marketing funnels.

- Excellent stakeholder and agency management skills.

- Strong project management and execution capabilities.

- Ability to work under deadlines during seasonal business cycles.

- Excellent communication and presentation skills.

What We're Looking For:

The ideal candidate is a builder who enjoys creating systems and functions from scratch, is equally comfortable developing strategy and executing campaigns, is data-driven and focused on measurable business outcomes, is highly organised with exceptional ownership and accountability, is passionate about creating meaningful customer experiences and is comfortable leading teams while remaining hands-on when required.