Associate Director, Audience Development

Consumer Reports • Yonkers, NY

9h • Hybrid

About The Position

Our Audience Development team operationalizes Consumer Reports’ mission to create a safe, fairer, and more transparent marketplace by ensuring our trusted, independent guidance is visible wherever people make decisions—across search, AI-generated answers, and emerging platforms. In a time of information overload, this is more important than ever. We’re looking for an Associate Director, Audience Development to drive audience strategy
in order to activate and nurture discoverability, engagement, and conversion across onsite and offsite channels. In this position you’ll own organic channels, as well as, build bridges cross-functionally to collaborate across all, paid and otherwise. Reporting to CR’s Executive Managing Editor, you will act as the primary liaison for audience priorities across CR divisions, from digital to editorial.
This hybrid position with in-office collaboration (Yonkers and/or NYC) just once per month provides excellent flexibility. This position is not eligible for sponsorship or relocation assistance.
As Associate Director, Audience Development you will create organizational standards to optimize that will help CR’s digital presence evolve in parallel with consumer’s changing needs, helping them find and rely on our insights at critical moments. Areas of focus will include:

Requirements

• You have the experience. We’re looking for someone with at least 10- years in audience development, content marketing, or growth strategy for a digital publisher or mission-driven brand.
• You’ve managed teams in a highly matrixed environment. You have 6+ years managing teams and cross-functional initiatives.
• You have deep experience in SEO and emerging GEO practices. You are proficient with multiple search analytics tools and platforms. You have proven success leading or partnering on newsletter programs and platform packaging strategies.
• Your communication skills build bridges--bringing editorial, digital, marketing and analytical teams together around shared audience goals.
• You have proven experience leading nascent AI optimization across digital and editorial teams in publishing environments.
• You have proven change management experience with cross-functional teams around audience development KPIs.

Nice To Haves

• You have experience in a non-profit environment.
• You are proficient with multiple search analytics tools and platforms
• You have proven success leading or partnering on newsletter programs and platform packaging strategies
• You have excellent communication skills, bridging editorial with digital, marketing and analytical teams around shared audience goals
• You've led nascent AI optimization across digital and editorial teams in publishing environments
• You have proven change management experience with cross-functional teams around audience development KPIs

Responsibilities

• Driving CR’s audience strategy, evolving the integration of SEO, GEO, onsite and offsite platforms, newsletters, social, and emerging channels.
• Overseeing the SEO team; establishing technical, digital, and editorial best practices for excellence in both search results and AI-generated summaries.
• Developing and advising growth and optimization strategies across owned and distributed surfaces (web, app, Apple News, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, Newsletters, etc.) in close collaboration with cross-functional teams, namely Marketing and Content.
• Collaborating with the Executive Managing Editor to define and evolve audience KPI frameworks and dashboards to measure short-term and long-term success.
• Translating data into action: Help inform product roadmaps and editorial planning and with specific and directional insights.
• Establishing cross-functional partnerships with Content, Product, Marketing, Analytics, Testing, Leadership, and other relevant teams to align on and elevate distribution, engagement, and optimization.
• Advocating for brand visibility in AI ecosystems, ensuring attribution and authority signaling across generative engines.
• Building and managing an evolving audience team, comprising both full-time staff and project-based freelancers.

Benefits

• We offer medical benefits that start on your first day as a CR employee that include behavioral health coverage, family planning and a generous 401K match.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees