Director of Growth & Acquisition

Chicago, IL (Hybrid)

$118K/yr – $147K/yrDirector/ExecutiveFull time

Posted 7 hrs ago

Job Summary

Own and lead the Growth & Acquisition function focused on pre-conversion audience growth, building scalable multi-channel acquisition systems, and partnering with Lifecycle & Retention to ensure high-quality, long-term member value.

Job Description

Responsibilities

  • Audience Journey Ownership The Membership department operates through two interconnected engines: Growth & Acquisition and Lifecycle & Retention. The Director of Growth & Acquisition owns the pre-conversion stages of the audience journey, including: - Audience Awareness - Audience Engagement - Registration & Identity Development - First membership transaction The role is responsible for building scalable acquisition systems that move audiences from discovery to first-time financial support across brands, platforms, and channels. The role oversees acquisition strategy, audience conversion pathways, registration growth, and first-gift performance while partnering closely with Lifecycle & Retention to ensure acquisition quality and long-term audience value. Core Area of Focus - Audience Growth & Acquisition Build and scale a sustainable audience growth and acquisition engine that: - Increase new member volume year-over-year - Expands the pool of high-potential future members - Improves conversion rates across engagement and donation pathways - Strengthens registration and known-user growth - Maintains disciplined CPA guardrails - Supports long-term lifetime value growth Success Metrics - New member acquisition growth - Registration and known-user growth - Conversion rate improvement across channels - CPA and acquisition efficiency - First-year retention performance - Growth of high-potential audience segments - Contribution toward long-term membership revenue goals Sustainable Growth Philosophy This role is responsible for balancing acquisition scale with long-term member value, ensuring growth strategies prioritize sustainable retention, audience alignment, and relationship quality - not simply transaction volume. Success in this role will be measured not only by acquisition volume, but by the organization’s ability to acquire engaged, high-quality supporters with strong long-term retention and participation potential. Strategic Responsibilities Growth Strategy & Modeling - Develop acquisition strategies aligned with long-term audience and revenue goals - Establish CPA and LTV frameworks to guide sustainable growth decisions - Forecast acquisition performance, conversion trends, and channel contribution - Identify scalable growth opportunities across paid media, audio, partnerships, and emerging platforms - Partner with Product and Lifecycle teams to strengthen audience registration, engagement, and conversion pathways Experimentation & Optimization - Lead acquisition testing and optimization across channels, products, and audience segments - Establish testing standards, reporting frameworks, and optimization processes - Analyze conversion performance, audience behavior, and messaging effectiveness to improve acquisition outcomes - Translate testing insights into actionable audience, offer, and conversion strategies - Build a culture of disciplined experimentation and continuous improvement Platform Growth & Expansion - Lead acquisition strategy for emerging products and platforms, including new product launching in FY27 - Define how new platforms support audience growth, engagement, registration, and membership conversion - Partner with Product and Lifecycle teams to develop audience experiences that strengthen participation, personalization, and membership value Channel & Performance Leadership - Oversee acquisition performance across digital, on-air, audio, and emerging channels - Lead conversion optimization across landing pages, donation flows, registration experiences, and onboarding pathways - Define channel strategy, KPI governance, and attribution standards - Maintain visibility into acquisition performance through reporting and dashboard oversight Narrative Integration & Audience Conversion Strategy - Partner with Membership leadership to align acquisition messaging with broader audience and membership strategies - Develop audience targeting, offer positioning, and conversion messaging frameworks - Translate organizational narratives into high-performing acquisition campaigns - Lead audience and messaging tests tied to conversion performance Cross-Functional Leadership - Partner with Product, Marketing, Insights, Editorial, and Development teams to align audience growth and conversion strategies - Support audience targeting, cohort analysis, attribution modeling, and performance forecasting - Align acquisition strategies across brands, platforms, and audience experiences - Lead recurring cross-functional growth and performance discussions Team & Operational Leadership - Manage and mentor Growth & Acquisition team members - Establish acquisition KPIs, reporting standards, and accountability frameworks - Oversee vendor and agency relationships - Support acquisition planning, budgeting, and resource prioritization

Requirements

  • Experience leading multi-channel audience or membership acquisition strategies
  • Strong understanding of CPA, LTV, conversion optimization, and revenue modeling
  • Experience managing paid digital growth channels and acquisition performance
  • Strong analytical, forecasting, and performance optimization capabilities
  • Ability to build scalable audience growth systems and testing frameworks
  • Experience leading cross-functional initiatives across Product, Marketing, Editorial, and Insights teams
  • Strong understanding of audience engagement, registration growth, and conversion strategy
  • Ability to translate audience insights and behavioral data into actionable growth strategies

Benefits

  • Our benefits include a competitive salary and benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, vacation, holidays, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement savings, and a commuter benefits plan.
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Chicago Public Media

3.5 Glassdoor

Chicago Public Media is one of the largest and most respected public media organizations in the country. We support and steward accessible, trusted news and information that helps all Chicago-area residents make informed decisions every day, participate in our diverse communities and make the most of our region. With an unparalleled reputation for creativity and innovation across all platforms, Chicago Public Media provides substantive news and insights, thoughtful conversation and meaningful connections to its diverse audiences throughout the Chicago area, as well as nationally and globally. Chicago Public Media engages with its listeners and users across multiple platforms, including broadcast radio, newspaper, news websites and mobile apps. Its flagship brands, the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ Chicago provide local and national news coverage to more than 4.5 million people on a weekly basis.

Founded in 1990
Chicago, Illinois, USA
223 employees (85 in marketing)
0% recommend to a friend
1% CEO approval

Salaries

Posted range

$118K/yr – $147K/yr

Taken straight from the job posting.

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Marketing Team

Marketing Team Size
61 (27% of company)
Median Tenure
3.4 years
Marketing Roles Posted (Last 30 Days)
1

Traffic Signals

Monthly Visitors
4.9K
Traffic Source Mix
Search
36.8%
Direct
33.7%
Referral
9.2%
Social
7.9%
Paid
4.5%

Headcount Trend

Current headcount: ~223

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Director of Growth & Acquisition

Chicago Public Media · Chicago, IL · Hybrid