Director, Acquisition

Purpose

Own acquisition performance across paywall, onsite, email, paid, social, lead generation and other prospecting channels, with accountability for new starts, acquisition revenue, CAC, ROI and scalable AI-informed growth strategies.

About the role

You'll own how USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network win new subscribers. As Director, Acquisition, you're accountable for new starts, acquisition revenue, CAC and ROI across paywall, onsite, email, paid, social, lead generation and other prospecting channels. You'll set the strategy, run a disciplined test roadmap and use AI to spot what's working sooner and act on it faster.

What you'll do

• Set acquisition strategy across channels, audiences, offers, messaging and journeys, with every initiative tied to subscriber and revenue targets.
• Own paywall and acquisition marketing strategy, partnering with Optimization on a test roadmap for offers, messaging, layouts, journeys and audience targeting.
• Build dynamic, scalable acquisition frameworks and templates that personalize by segment, product, market and channel.
• Use AI to analyze results, detect performance anomalies, synthesize market and competitor research, draft strategic one-pagers and shape creative direction.
• Partner with Product, Pricing, FP&A, Audience, Production and Analytics to forecast performance, prioritize work and resolve revenue dependencies.
• Lead weekly, monthly and ad hoc acquisition readouts that turn performance insights into clear actions.
• Build, coach and grow a team of acquisition marketers.

How we'll measure success

• New subscriber starts and acquisition revenue
• CAC, ROI, payback, conversion rate, lead quality and funnel performance
• Experiment velocity, win rate and business impact of acquisition tests
• Speed and quality of AI-supported insights, competitive analysis, reporting and creative recommendations

What you'll bring

• 8+ years in acquisition, growth or performance marketing, including 3+ years owning results for a subscription or direct-to-consumer business.
• Direct accountability for acquisition targets such as new starts, revenue, CAC, ROI and payback.
• Deep experience with paywall, onsite conversion or checkout optimization, backed by a structured experimentation program (test design, A/B and multivariate testing, statistical rigor).
• Strong command of acquisition unit economics and forecasting, including partnering with FP&A on targets and variance.
• Fluency with web and marketing analytics tools such as Google Analytics and comfort working directly in the data.
• Regular, practical use of generative AI for analysis, research synthesis and content development, with examples you can walk us through.
• The ability to present performance to senior leaders clearly and turn it into decisions.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Nice to have

• News, media or digital subscription experience
• Hands-on experience with paywall, experimentation and personalization platforms
• Ownership of paid media, SEO or lead generation programs
• Offer and price testing experience
• People leadership experience

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The annualized base salary for this role will range between $130,000 and $140,000. Variable incentive compensation, including commissions, is not reflected in these figures and based on the role, may be applicable. Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, education level, location, and union representation, if applicable