Director of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Ground News

5d • Remote

About The Position

Ground News is a news comparison platform that makes it easy to compare sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. We give people the tools to understand the world across perspectives; to see how a story is being framed, and recognize what they're not being shown. We believe a healthy civil society depends on citizens who can navigate the information ecosystem with clarity and independence, rather than retreat into echo chambers or outsource their judgment. Unlike most tech platforms, we don't rely on algorithms to keep users hooked so we can sell ads. We're supported by readers who pay for a subscription to build a more nuanced understanding of the news, the world, and themselves.

This role is joining Ground News at a pivotal stage of scale. As our reader base expands globally, optimizing how we introduce users to our premium ecosystem is one of our most critical growth levers. Sitting within the Revenue function but operating at the vital intersection of Marketing and Product, you will hold end-to-end accountability for improving, scaling, and monitoring all user conversion flows across our web and mobile app platforms. This is a high-impact, hands-on role requiring a blend of strategic user-experience psychology and data-informed execution. You will directly own the key subscription entry points: from content metering rules and web funnel redesigns to the critical initial minutes of mobile app onboarding. You will turn anonymous readers into highly engaged, lifelong active subscribers, ensuring our acquisition loops are frictionless, data-transparent, and fully aligned with our mission to enhance trust and media literacy.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience specializing in conversion rate optimization (CRO), growth marketing, or product-led growth (PLG) within a D2C subscription or consumer-centric product, where you have personally owned conversion outcomes.
• You are highly analytical and deeply comfortable navigating behavioral data. You possess a strong baseline familiarity with SQL to write your own queries, segment data, and independently validate funnel performance.
• Deep, systemic understanding of digital subscription mechanics, user psychology during checkout, and native mobile payment behaviors (Apple IAP / Google Play Billing).
• A proven ability to drive outcomes through partners you don't directly manage; aligning Product, Engineering, and Marketing around a shared conversion roadmap and earning the capacity to ship it.
• An ability to sit comfortably between marketing, product, and engineering, translating conversion data into clear, actionable technical requirements and visual briefs.
• A self-directed operator who loves building frameworks from scratch, setting clean testing hypotheses, and moving fast without sacrificing analytical rigor.

Nice To Haves

• Direct, hands-on experience utilizing modern paywall and optimization tooling such as Superwall or Piano.
• Familiarity with our growth and data ecosystem: Posthog, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and Customer.io (CIO).
• A healthy relationship with failed experiments: you treat a losing test as a signal rather than a setback, and you thrive on quick build-measure-learn loops that turn rapid iteration into compounding wins.
• Passion for media literacy, news analysis, or experience working with content-rich digital products.

Responsibilities

• Take complete accountability for the conversion rates, user journeys, and revenue outcomes across all digital touchpoints (Web, iOS, and Android).
• Architect, test, and refine the mobile app onboarding sequence and in-app purchase (IAP) funnels to maximize user activation and initial paywall conversion.
• Lead the continuous optimization and strategic structural redesign of our web acquisition funnels, landing pages, and checkout experiences.
• Own the performance, rules, and deployment of our content paymeters, balancing open access to information with clear value propositions for our premium tiers.
• Design, launch, and analyze a continuous roadmap of A/B and multivariate tests spanning copy, pricing presentation, visual layouts, and user flows.
• Partner seamlessly with our Product, Analytics, and Engineering teams to ensure tracking instrumentation is flawless and that monetization strategies respect our user experience. You'll drive your roadmap through influence and prioritization; securing the engineering and design capacity your experiments require, rather than direct authority.
• Establish definitive dashboards to track core subscription health metrics (e.g., stop rates, hit-to-lead ratios, checkout abandonment, and trial-to-paid conversion).

Benefits

• A market-benchmarked base salary, calibrated to your location.
• Work from anywhere in Canada, on your own time zone plus enjoy in-person meetups and team gatherings.
• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance coverage for you and your family.
• Access to professional development opportunities to keep expanding your skills and career.
• Join a group of smart, dedicated people who are building meaningful products with real-world impact. Our culture is one of collaboration, creativity, and diverse perspectives.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed