Director, Marketing & Audience Growth (Digital-First Publishing)Help Shape the Future of Digital StorytellingSimon & Schuster is launching an ambitious new digital-first publishing division in its UK office designed to reach readers where they discover, consume, and share stories today. We're looking for a strategic, data-driven marketing leader to build audience growth from the ground up. This role will lead the marketing strategy for our new digital-first imprints,
Simon Stream and
Simon Maverick, helping establish them as destinations for readers, authors, and creators around the world.
Reporting to the Group Digital Innovation & Transformation Director and partnering closely with the Publishing Director, you'll develop innovative marketing strategies, accelerate audience growth, launch bestselling campaigns, and help shape the future of digital publishing.
This is an opportunity to build a new business within one of the world's most respected publishing companies.
Please note that though this role is based in our New York City corporate office, the role will exclusively focus on the Simon Stream business and working directly with our UK based team.What You'll DoGrowth Strategy & Commercial Leadership- Develop and execute the marketing, audience growth, and commercial strategy for Simon & Schuster's digital-first publishing business.
- Drive measurable growth in readership, engagement, revenue, and author acquisition through data-driven marketing initiatives.
- Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing marketing team focused on innovation, accountability, and measurable business outcomes.
- Establish KPIs and performance metrics while ensuring strong ROI across all marketing investments.
- Leverage audience insights, market research, and analytics to optimize campaigns, identify emerging publishing opportunities, and influence acquisition strategy.
- Partner across Simon & Schuster-including Corporate Marketing, Product Marketing, Business Development, Editorial, Sales, and Consumer Marketing-to share best practices and scale successful initiatives globally.
- Champion innovation by identifying emerging technologies, marketing tools, and digital platforms that create competitive advantage.
Marketing Campaigns & Audience Development- Lead integrated digital marketing campaigns across paid, owned, and earned channels including Amazon, Meta, Google, TikTok, Spotify, BookBub, Kindle Unlimited, Audible, and other emerging platforms.
- Oversee digital advertising strategy, campaign execution, creative optimization, and audience targeting to maximize performance.
- Develop CRM, lifecycle marketing, and email acquisition strategies that grow engaged reader communities.
- Build direct-to-consumer marketing initiatives that strengthen long-term reader relationships.
- Partner closely with Digital Sales to develop promotional strategies for ebooks and audiobooks while sharing best practices across the organization.
- Build scalable reporting dashboards that provide real-time visibility into campaign performance, customer acquisition, and revenue growth.
- Foster a culture of experimentation through A/B testing, audience segmentation, attribution modeling, and continuous optimization.
- Manage agency and freelance relationships to deliver high-quality creative assets on time and within budget.
Brand Building & Author Engagement- Partner with the Publishing Director and Corporate Communications to establish Simon Stream as a leading destination for digital storytelling.
- Ensure brand consistency across U.S. and international markets while supporting the continued growth of Simon Maverick.
- Build meaningful relationships with the independent author community and represent Simon & Schuster at key industry events.
- Present marketing strategies, audience insights, and growth opportunities to prospective and existing authors throughout the acquisition process.
- Translate reader behavior, platform trends, and performance analytics into recommendations that strengthen positioning, pricing, packaging, metadata, and discoverability.
- Help establish Simon & Schuster as the publisher of choice for today's most entrepreneurial digital authors.
What You'll BringLeadership- Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to build new brands and scale emerging businesses.
- Proven ability to inspire, develop, and lead high-performing teams.
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and executive presentation skills.
- Strong organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail.
- Comfortable making decisions in a fast-moving, evolving environment.
Strategic & Commercial Expertise- Deep understanding of audience development, digital consumer behavior, and performance marketing.
- Strong commercial acumen with a consistent track record of delivering measurable business results.
- Analytical mindset with experience using data to drive strategic decisions.
- Passion for innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
Preferred Experience- 8+ years of progressive marketing leadership experience within publishing, media, entertainment, technology, or other digital consumer businesses.
- Demonstrated success launching and scaling digital brands or consumer products.
- Experience growing online communities and building engaged consumer audiences.
- Strong understanding of independent publishing, creator ecosystems, or digital author communities.
- Experience managing multimillion-dollar marketing budgets with a focus on ROI and business performance.
- Passion for commercial fiction, digital storytelling, audiobooks, ebooks, and evolving reader behaviors.
- Experience and willingness to work across multiple time zones
- UK line management experience is required.
Technical SkillsExperience with many of the following:
- Amazon Marketing Services (AMS)
- Meta Ads Manager
- Google Ads
- TikTok Ads
- Spotify Advertising
- BookBub
- CRM and email marketing platforms
- Marketing automation platforms
- Google Analytics and marketing dashboards
- Metadata optimization and discoverability strategies
- Marketing attribution and reporting tools
