Product Marketing Director, Acquisition (Growth Marketing for CNN)

Your New Role 

We are CNN. The world’s most essential and engaging source of digital news. We are in the midst of rapid transformation and need our next generation of innovators, makers, and dreamers who will lead and drive our growth. We aim to make the world a better, more connected place. 

CNN is looking for a Product Marketing Director, Acquisition that will lead strategy and execution of customer acquisition initiatives for our Digital Products & Services division within the Growth Product Marketing team. This role will report to the VP of Growth Product Marketing and work alongside a Director of Lifecycle Marketing, focusing on driving new subscriber growth through paid and organic channels, across product, editorial, and marketing surfaces on web and in the app. This role will be responsible for overseeing go-to-market campaigns that drive subscriptions, translating brand fundamentals and principles into product contexts, optimizing campaign performance, maximizing return on spend, and ensuring that acquisition efforts align with broader company goals. The Director will work with the VP to align on strategic goals, develop new internal processes, and define and refine our product positioning and understanding of our target audience.  

The ideal candidate will have: 

• Deep, hands-on digital product marketing knowledge (on web and app) 

• Deep, hands-on performance marketing experience  

• A consumer-focused, data-driven growth mindset  

• A strong passion for and understanding of brand strategy 

• A communication style that is proactive and positive  

Your Responsibilities  

• Go-to-Market Acquisition Strategy and Execution: Lead and execute a comprehensive customer acquisition strategy across paid and owned channels (i.e., paid search, paid social, audio, email, newsletters, etc). Partner deeply with centralized media buying to deploy paid strategies and maximize returns.  

• Channel Management: Ensure that paid and owned channels are delivering against subscription goals. 

• Channel Expansion: Identify and explore growth opportunities for testing into new channels, including emerging platforms and technologies to drive incremental subscriber growth. 

• Campaign Management: Lead the day-to-day management and optimization of acquisition campaigns, ensuring budget allocation and continuous improvement in cost per acquisition (CPA) metrics. 

• Collaboration with Creative & Brand: Closely collaborate with creative and brand teams on campaign development to ensure that campaign assets are in line with Growth goals and are delivered on time and on budget. 

• Media Strategy: Develop the media strategy, test aggressively and scale initiatives to drive awareness, consideration and conversion. 

• Affiliate management: Manage any affiliate or in-kind inventory to leverage partnerships where possible. 

• Data & Analytics: Continuously analyze and report on campaign performance data, identifying trends to provide actionable insights that inform ongoing optimization. Utilize A/B testing, segmentation, and attribution models to refine strategies.  

• Collaboration with Product: Closely collaborate with product management team to ensure that marketing strategy and roadmap aligns with product priorities and to develop and own a robust testing roadmap aimed at optimizing acquisition growth. Own and influence in-product messaging strategies so that style and tone is cohesive with brand guidelines.  

• Conversion Rate Optimization: Collaborate with product, creative, and design teams to optimize landing pages, funnels, and user experience to increase conversion rates. 

• Strategic Planning: Work with cross-functional leaders to establish KPIs and set conversion goals that ladder into the product strategy and remain grounded in a marketing vision. Track team progress and report updates, elevating challenges and risks to VP when necessary. 

• Forecasting: Spearhead monthly subscription forecasting in conjunction with Finance, Data Analytics, Product and the wider team. 

• Budget Management: Manage assigned budget ensuring efficient use of funds, achieving desired customer acquisition costs (CAC), and maximizing overall marketing ROI. 

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner closely across the Growth Marketing, DP&S, and broader Warner Bros. Discovery teams as necessary to ensure alignment, buy-in, and execution excellence. Partner closely with Director of Lifecycle Management, Creative Marketing and Brand Marketing, Product, and others to align acquisition initiatives with product roadmaps, customer feedback, engagement metrics, and creative collateral. Serve as a thought leader for acquisition and growth marketing. 

• Build & Manage Team: Build and manage a small team of performance marketers that are passionate about marketing from a customer-centric approach. 

Qualifications & Experience 

• Experience: 8+ years of experience in digital marketing, growth marketing, or product marketing ideally within a B2C subscription-based business or model, with a track record of success. Experience within a news environment a plus. 

• Performance Marketing: Strong track record in paid media (Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager), analytics tools, and A/B testing. Experience with direct oversite of web, paid search, programmatic, display, retargeting, paid social, email and funnel optimization. 

• Results-oriented: Track record of growing marketing investment on a measurable basis (CPA, ROI, etc.) at scale 

• Data-driven: Ability to use data to inform decisions with experience analyzing customer journeys, using attribution models, and optimizing acquisition funnels. 

• Cross-functional Skills: Comfortable working in a matrixed environment and partner collaboratively across functional skillsets in order to execute plans and manage resources. 

• Project Management: Strong project management skills with the ability to prioritize multiple tasks, maintain a detail-oriented approach and consistently meet deadlines in a cross-functional work environment  

• Team Management: 3+ years of leading a team. Ability to hire, train and lead a team of marketers, providing growth and mentorship 

• Strategic Thinker: Ability to think long-term while executing on short-term acquisition goals and optimizations. Ability to anticipate media consumption trends and growth opportunities. 

• Communication: Strong verbal and written communication skills, with previous experience being responsible for reporting out to leadership on results or initiatives. 

• Collaboration: Excellent interpersonal skills with a high level of emotional intelligence, including the ability to collaborate between diverse teams and individuals  

• Problem Solving: Excellent planning and problem solving, with the ability to evaluate and resolve challenges. 

• Customer-Focus: Deep understanding of customer acquisition funnels, user behavior, and subscription models with a passion for consumers.