Director of Digital Initiatives

Lyric Opera of Chicago•Chicago, IL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Through artistic excellence coupled with innovative, relevant programming; initiatives to connect with and grow new audiences; engagement with communities to ignite creativity across Chicago; and a modernized Opera House that is the setting for truly great experiences, Lyric is leading the advancement of opera. This collaborative vision will deliver ever more exciting, thought-provoking and inclusive audience and community experiences – while increasing the gravitational pull of our art form, our company, and our city. The goal of Lyric’s digital activity is to deepen engagement and customer experience for current audiences and to create a broad range of entry points and opportunities to interact with and develop new and diverse audiences. For the Director of Digital Initiatives role, we are looking for someone who has both the strategic vision to evaluate and recommend platforms and the hands-on experience to actually shepherd those projects through vendor selection, integration, and adoption. This person will lead digital innovation across Lyric in the areas of marketing, fundraising, and all public-facing user touchpoints. This role is responsible for creating a strategy between all of Lyric’s digital channels, working to maximize opportunity between digital and traditional marketing, and leading collaboration between Marketing and IT. In the first 2–3 years, this role will oversee execution of the marketing technology roadmap, the selection and integration of new platforms including CRM, DAM, and others tbd, a redesign of the website front-end, a migration to a new CMS, and potentially other marketing technology projects. This role is hybrid, with three days/week in-office, and more when needed, and reports to and closely collaborates with the Vice President of Marketing & Communications.

Requirements

The right candidate will have 5–7 years experience in marketing technology, strategy and implementation.
Proven experience with website development projects, including working with development teams, content management systems, and user experience design.
Some experience conducting user-testing to inform UX design.
Experience selecting and implementing marketing technology platforms such as CRM, marketing automation, analytics tools, or similar systems.
Knowledge of Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and digital analytics best practices.
Basic understanding of SEO, website optimization, and digital accessibility standards.
Some knowledge of marketing automation, email platforms, SMS platforms, and other digital marketing technologies.
Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple complex technology initiatives simultaneously.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders.
Experience working collaboratively with IT departments and external vendors.
A strategic mindset that can see the big picture while managing detailed implementation work.
Prioritizes team dynamics and cross-functional collaboration, shows leadership, acknowledges challenges, but takes action to solve them rather than dwell on them.
Ability to work evening or weekend functions, events, or performances at the Civic Opera House and at off-site venues.
Work will occasionally take place at multiple locations.
Sitting for extended periods of time.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Tessitura or similar ticketing/CRM systems preferred but not required; knowledge of Tessitura Analytics a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead the development and execution of Lyric's marketing technology roadmap in partnership with the Vice President of Marketing & Communications and IT department.
Oversee the selection, implementation, and integration of new marketing platforms including CRM, DAM (Digital Asset Management), SMS, chatbot technology, and other tools to be determined.
Serve as the primary liaison between Marketing and IT on all marketing technology projects, ensuring alignment on requirements, timelines, and deliverables.
Collaborate with IT on all vendor relationships for marketing technology platforms, including contract negotiations, implementation oversight, and ongoing optimization.
Establish and maintain documentation for all marketing technology systems, including workflows, processes, and best practices.
Evaluate emerging marketing technologies and make recommendations on adoption based on ROI potential and strategic fit.
Lead the strategy, planning, and execution of Lyric's website redesign and content migration, working closely with marketing leadership, IT, and external development partners.
Work closely with IT to develop feature requirements for all Tessitura and non-Tess aspects of the site, including purchase path optimization, search and AI optimization, and accessibility.
Develop and implement a culture of continuous improvement for the website through data-driven decision making and user experience testing.
Partner with IT and content teams to ensure the website meets institutional needs across departments.
Ensure the website effectively supports both sales and engagement objectives while providing an optimal user experience.
Set up and maintain Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and other analytics platforms to enable comprehensive tracking across all digital channels.
Collaborate with marketing leadership to establish digital KPIs aligned with organizational objectives.
Design and implement tracking infrastructure to measure performance across email, website, paid social, organic social, search, SMS, and other digital channels.
Work with Marketing Manager, Data and Analysis to identify and maintain dashboards and reporting mechanisms that provide actionable insights for marketing team members and leadership.
Analyze cross-channel data to identify optimization opportunities and recommend strategic improvements.
Provide regular website performance reviews and insights to marketing leadership.
Coordinate with internal team members and external agency partner to optimize user experience across all digital touchpoints, including owned and paid digital media, as well as in-building experiences including concessions point-of-sale and drink pre-ordering, ensuring consistency and effectiveness throughout the customer journey.
Map and analyze the digital customer journey, identifying friction points and opportunities for improvement.
Develop strategies to align digital touchpoints with traditional marketing channels to create a seamless experience.
Collaborate with marketing team members who execute campaigns (paid social, organic social, email, search) to ensure they have the tools, data, and insights needed for success.
Assist team members in their efforts at A/B testing ad content and formats, and other types of user testing across the environment.
Ensure digital channels are optimized to support audience development, ticket sales, fundraising, and engagement objectives.
Partner with Audience Services, Box Office, Front-of-House, Development, Learning and Engagement, and other departments to identify opportunities for digital platforms to support organizational goals.
Demonstrate leadership in process improvement and efficiency for cross-department digital initiatives.
Support the development of digital literacy and capabilities across the organization.
Manage relationships with external vendors, consultants, and development partners on marketing technology projects.
Provide strategic guidance and support to marketing team members executing digital campaigns, ensuring they can leverage technology and data effectively.
Collaborate with each digital channel lead to establish metrics, tracking, and reporting that supports their work. Work with IT to help support data governance best-practices.
Maintain continuing knowledge of best practices in marketing technology, analytics, and user experience.