Role Overview
The VP, Consumer Marketing is responsible for growing Fortune's audience across all digital channels and converting that audience into subscribers, registered users, and engaged readers. This leader owns organic search, email and push notification strategy, paid marketing, social media, and consumer subscriptions marketing — and is accountable for the metrics that tie those channels to revenue.
This is a player-coach role. The VP manages a team of specialists and directly contributes to strategy, channel architecture, and cross-functional alignment with editorial, product, and revenue teams.
Reporting structure: Fortune Media is actively conducting a search for its next Chief Marketing Officer. In the interim, the VP, Consumer Marketing will report directly to Fortune's Executive Committee. Upon the arrival of the incoming CMO, the reporting line will transition accordingly.
Core Responsibilities
Audience Growth & Channel Strategy
- Own Fortune's end-to-end audience development strategy across SEO/AIO, email, push, paid, and social channels
- Set channel-level targets (traffic, reach, engagement, acquisition) and hold the team accountable to them
- Partner with editorial and product to ensure content strategy and site experience support audience growth objectives
- Lead Fortune's first-party data strategy — growing the registered user base and improving data quality to support targeting, personalization, and monetization
- Define and maintain audience personas and segmentation frameworks used across marketing and editorial
Subscriptions Marketing
- Partner with the Consumer Revenue paywall organization to support subscriber acquisition, conversion, and retention through tactical and strategic digital marketing execution
- Serve as the marketing execution arm for paywall and subscription initiatives — translating product and revenue strategy set by Consumer Revenue into channel-level campaigns across email, paid, social, and owned media
- Collaborate with the Sr. Director of Consumer Revenue on subscriber communications strategy, lifecycle messaging, and win-back programs — with Consumer Revenue owning the product and business decisions
- Support A/B testing and conversion optimization efforts on the paywall by providing marketing creative, audience segmentation, and channel distribution; Consumer Revenue retains ownership of paywall architecture and pricing strategy
- Ensure subscriber-facing marketing messaging is consistent, on-brand, and aligned to the value proposition defined by the Consumer Revenue team
SEO / AIO & Organic Search
- Own Fortune's organic search program — directing SEO/AIO strategy to maximize qualified traffic from Google and emerging AI-powered search surfaces
- Lead the transition from traditional SEO to AI-optimized content strategy as search behavior shifts
- Partner with editorial to align content production with high-value search opportunity
- Manage the SEO/AIO specialist (currently open) and hold the function accountable to traffic and conversion metrics
Paid Marketing
- Oversee paid media strategy across search, social, and programmatic — focused on subscriber acquisition and audience growth
- Own the paid marketing P&L — managing budget allocation, CAC targets, and ROAS across channels
- Manage the Paid Marketing Manager (currently open) and downstream paid channel specialists
Email, Push & CRM
- Own the email and push channel architecture — including list health, deliverability, segmentation, and automation
- Direct the Email/Push Director (currently open) and the broader CRM and lifecycle team
- Partner with product and technology on CRM platform strategy (Piano CX, ESPs, and lifecycle tooling)
PR & Earned Media
- Partner closely with the PR team to develop integrated marketing campaigns that amplify Fortune's brand visibility, audience growth, and business priorities.
- Collaborate on earned media strategies, thought leadership initiatives, and major brand moments to maximize reach, engagement, and market impact.
- Leverage audience insights and campaign performance data to inform PR efforts and identify high-impact storytelling opportunities.
Social Media
- Oversee Fortune's social media presence as an audience development and brand channel
- Set strategy for organic social across LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Instagram, and emerging platforms
- Manage the Social Media Manager and hold the channel accountable to reach, referral traffic, and engagement KPIs
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Serve as the primary marketing voice for the audience — advocating for the reader and subscriber within editorial, product, and executive discussions
- Partner with the CMO and Creative Director on integrated campaigns that serve both consumer and commercial objectives
- Represent audience development in editorial planning, product roadmap discussions, and revenue strategy sessions
Qualifications
Required
- 10+ years of progressive experience in audience development, growth marketing, or digital media — including 5+ years in a senior leadership role
- Demonstrated track record of growing digital subscriptions or paid audiences, with measurable results
- Deep expertise in SEO/organic search strategy, including familiarity with AI-powered search trends (SGE, AIO, answer engine optimization)
- Strong command of email marketing and lifecycle automation — including list segmentation, deliverability, and CRM platform management
- Experience managing paid media programs (search, social, programmatic) with direct P&L accountability
- Analytically driven: comfortable in GA4, Looker, Chartbeat, Piano, or equivalent platforms; able to build and interpret attribution models
- Experience managing cross-functional teams and influencing without authority across editorial, product, and technology
- Strong written and verbal communicator — able to present audience and channel strategy to C-suite and board-level stakeholders
Preferred
- Experience at a premium or business media brand (WSJ, Bloomberg, Axios, The Atlantic, Condé Nast, Hearst, or similar)
- Familiarity with Piano (VX, Composer, Analytics) or comparable subscription management platforms
- Prior experience building or scaling a newsletter product as a subscription or audience development vehicle
- Working knowledge of first-party data strategy, consent management, and identity resolution in a post-cookie environment
- Bilingual or experience with international audience development a plus
Location: This role will be based in NYC in our headquarters, with hybrid flexibility.
Salary Range: $200,000-$220,000 base + eligibility for an annual bonus of 20%. This range is a good faith estimate and may ultimately vary based on a number of relevant factors.
A Few Of Fortune's Perks And Benefits
- 20 vacation days and 2 personal days on top of 11 company holidays and an honor-based sick leave policy
- Health, dental, and vision coverage (90% paid for individuals and families), along with flexible spending accounts where Fortune contributes to your HSA
- 401(k) plan
- Generous parental leave
- Dependent care, commuter, and cell phone benefits
- Tuition reimbursement program
- A commitment to an open, inclusive, and diverse work culture
About Fortune
At Fortune Media, our mission is to change the world by making business better. We achieve that by providing trusted information, great storytelling, rigorous benchmarking and world-class community building. And our key values are humility, ownership, and transparency.
The policy of Fortune Media is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, caste, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, citizenship status, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Fortune Media affirmatively seeks to advance the principles of equal employment opportunity and values diversity and inclusion.
