Responsibilities

• The Director of Lifecycle & Retention owns the strategic framework governing the post-acquisition relationship. This includes defining how supporter cohorts move through lifecycle stages, where retention risks and opportunities exist, and how programs and channels work together to strengthen long-term audience value.
• The lifecycle framework includes: Onboarding & Early Member Experience; Sustainer Conversion; Renewal & Retention; Upgrade & Philanthropic Development; Reactivation; Advocacy & Community Participation.
• Growth & Acquisition owns performance through the first financial transaction. Lifecycle & Retention assumes primary strategic accountability following that transaction, with both functions jointly defining and evaluating acquisition quality.
• Design and continually improve a scalable lifecycle system that strengthens long-term supporter loyalty and retention, identifies and reduces preventable churn, increases sustainer conversion and long-term giving stability, expands lifetime value across supporter segments, uses behavioral, transactional, and engagement signals to improve lifecycle decision-making, creates pathways for deeper participation and philanthropic progression, and connects membership programs, communications, and experiences within a unified relationship strategy.
• Lifecycle Strategy & Modeling: Design and optimize lifecycle frameworks across brands, platforms, and audience segments; establish lifecycle stages, audience strategies, and performance expectations; develop retention, churn, and lifetime value models aligned with long-term growth goals; identify retention risks, lifecycle drop-off points, and opportunities for deeper engagement; establish lifecycle KPIs, dashboards, and performance reporting frameworks; lead lifecycle performance analysis and strategic recalibration.
• Audience Intelligence & Optimization: Develop lifecycle segmentation frameworks using transactional, behavioral, and engagement data; identify behavioral signals associated with retention, churn, conversion, upgrade potential, and long-term loyalty; define priority lifecycle cohorts and differentiated relationship strategies; establish testing standards and a lifecycle experimentation roadmap; translate performance insights into strategic recommendations for programs, communications, and audience experiences.
• Engagement & Loyalty Strategy: Define engagement strategies that strengthen retention, participation, and long-term supporter value; identify the experiences and behaviors most strongly associated with loyalty and retention; establish audience priorities that inform member programs, benefits, communications, and experiences; partner with Product and audience teams to connect personalization, digital behavior, participation, and membership strategy; develop frameworks for measuring relationship health beyond financial transactions.
• Retention & Revenue Strategy: Establish retention strategy and performance goals across supporter segments; define strategic frameworks for sustainer conversion, renewal, upgrade, philanthropic progression, and reactivation; identify cohorts requiring differentiated retention strategies; evaluate retention economics and lifetime value across supporter segments; partner with membership program owners to translate lifecycle strategy into effective renewal, stewardship, upgrade, benefit, and engagement programs; lead recurring lifecycle and cohort performance reviews.
• Lifecycle Messaging Strategy: Establish messaging frameworks for onboarding, stewardship, retention, upgrade, and reactivation; define audience objectives, segmentation priorities, behavioral triggers, and measurement expectations for lifecycle communications; ensure continuity between acquisition messaging and the long-term supporter experience; partner with channel and program owners to translate lifecycle strategy into effective email, direct mail, digital, event, and other audience experiences.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead lifecycle strategy across Product, Marketing, Insights, Editorial, Development, Revenue Operations, and technology teams; translate Membership priorities into cross-functional requirements for audience data, personalization, product experiences, measurement, and engagement; establish shared lifecycle goals and decision frameworks across teams whose work influences retention and supporter value; represent lifecycle and retention priorities in organizational planning and product development.

Requirements

• Experience leading lifecycle, retention, subscription, membership, CRM, loyalty, or audience relationship strategy
• Demonstrated ability to design lifecycle frameworks across multiple audience segments, products, channels, or brands
• Strong understanding of retention strategy, cohort analysis, churn reduction, segmentation, and lifetime value optimization
• Experience translating behavioral, transactional, and engagement data into audience strategies and organizational decisions
• Experience establishing KPIs, performance frameworks, experimentation programs, and optimization roadmaps
• Experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives across Product, Marketing, Insights, Development, Editorial, technology, or comparable functions
• Ability to move between enterprise strategy, analytical insight, and implementation through specialized teams
• Experience building personalization, loyalty, engagement, or member experience strategies
• Strong people leadership, strategic communication, and organizational planning skills
• Demonstrated ability to build new capabilities, systems, or operating models rather than solely manage established programs

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.