Director, Acquisition

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USA TODAY Co., Inc. is a diversified media company with expansive reach at the national and local level dedicated to empowering and enriching communities. We seek to inspire, inform, and connect audiences as a sustainable, growth focused media and digital marketing solutions company. Through our trusted brands, including the USA TODAY NETWORK, comprised of the national publication, USA TODAY, and local media organizations, including our network of local properties, in the United States, and Newsquest, a wholly-owned subsidiary operating in the United Kingdom, we provide essential journalism, local content, and digital experiences to audiences and businesses. We deliver high-quality, trusted content with a commitment to balanced, unbiased journalism, where and when consumers want to engage. Our digital marketing solutions brand, LocaliQ, supports small and medium-sized businesses with innovative digital marketing products and solutions. USA TODAY Co. open roles are featured on various external job boards. When applying to a position at USA TODAY Co., you should be completing an application on USA TODAY Co. Careers via Dayforce. Job postings directing you to complete an application on other external sites may not be valid. If you are a California resident, you acknowledge that by applying for a job with us, this California Job Applicant Privacy Notice will apply to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information. To connect with us, visit www.usatodayco.com

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

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