Founding City Director, San Diego
The Cut List
Location: San Diego (in-person)
Compensation: ~$50,000/year to start (hourly + overtime); rapid upside for high performers
Level: Early-career, high-ownership role
About The Role
We’re hiring a Founding City Director to build and run our San Diego market from the ground up.
This is not a narrow job. It’s a rare early-career role blending media, taste, startup execution, and leadership into one position. You will help decide what makes the cut in San Diego, tell those stories publicly, and contribute to building a new kind of local discovery company grounded in human-validated judgment - a deliberate contrast to a world increasingly misshaped by economically distorted information and monopolistically controlled algorithms.
You do not need prior experience. We are intentionally hiring high-potential, high-drive candidates straight out of college and training them. What matters is intelligence, work ethic, judgment, and the ability to take ownership.
This is a role for someone who wants to learn quickly, build something meaningful, and accelerate their career - not a safe job designed for coasting.
As Founding City Director, San Diego, you will:
- Lead local editorial judgment to build out “3 Great Picks” across hundreds of San Diego categories
- Work with the founder, AI tools, and our VA to scale and automate execution
- Maintain category quality through systematic reviews and expert input
- Build, host & grow our video podcast to tap experts and local practitioners
- Drive awareness of The Cut List through social channels and grassroots promotion
- Drive local revenue through category sponsorships, promoted placements, and upgrades
- This role blends editorial taste, media presence, relationship-building, and commercial ownership. It is intentionally broad and requires comfort making judgment calls, being visible, and building from scratch.
Who This Is For
This role is ideal if you:
- Are a top performer academically or professionally
- Are ambitious, type-A, and self-directed
- Want real responsibility early in your career
- Are excited by startups, media, and building new things
- Are comfortable being the face of something
- Would rather learn fast than optimize short-term earnings
- Experience is not required. Drive, judgment, and follow-through are.
Compensation & Growth
Starting compensation targets ~$50,000/year. This role is intentionally designed as a career-accelerator. High performers will grow quickly in responsibility, influence, and pay.
Many people qualified for this role could earn more elsewhere today. This role is for someone optimizing for long-term trajectory, not immediate cash.
About Us
The Cut List helps people quickly find three great picks for everything they’re looking for, from products to local food and experiences. We do the research and work with people who know the space to determine what makes the cut. We are backed and 30% owned by Mark Cuban.
Our parent company attracted investment on Shark Tank, became an Inc. 500 company, was once the fastest-growing company in San Diego, and has done over $50 million in sales. This is a startup, but not an unproven one. You’ll be building something new inside a system with real operating history and credibility.
How to Apply
New and recent grads encouraged to apply. To be considered, submit both a traditional resume and a 2-3 minute VIDEO COVER LETTER. In the video cover letter, cover a few reasons why you are exceptional, and why you want to join The Cut List. We're more interested in you than your videographer skills, so a quick iPhone video will do. Converse to a friend behind the camera or something so it's a natural process. Creativity is a plus, of course, but not a requirement. If you're great, we'll want to hire you either way. Google "Mindvalley video cover letter" for an example of what we're looking for. Upload your video cover letter to Youtube and email a link to us this job ad. No phone calls or walk ins please.