Head of Growth and Marketing

The Bulwark•Washington, DC

7h•$200,000 - $240,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Bulwark isn’t just a business, it’s a mission. We're a fast-growing media company founded to provide analysis and reporting in defense of liberal democracy. Our podcasts, newsletters, and videos cut through the noise to deliver sharp, independent analysis. Inside The Bulwark, we live by a few simple rules: candor over spin, collaboration over ego, and a commitment to making each other better. We’re a nimble, fast-moving team that takes our work seriously—but not ourselves. We’re looking for a Head of Growth and Marketing to join our team. About the Role The Head of Growth and Marketing will shape how people discover The Bulwark, how we present ourselves to the world, and how audiences engage with and support our journalism. In practice, you are responsible for the full subscriber, marketing, and community ecosystem—from the people who should be finding us but haven’t yet, to the free subscribers who engage with our work, to the members who sustain it. This includes the full audience journey across newsletters, podcasts, YouTube, social, partnerships, paid media, and retention programs—how people encounter The Bulwark, deepen their engagement, and build an ongoing relationship with our work. You will steer and unify our brand across all audience touchpoints, ensuring that how we position, market, and grow our work is cohesive, intentional, and aligned with our mission. You sit at the center of our audience, marketing, and business strategy and will build and lead a team, driving revenue growth through increased acquisition, conversion, engagement, and retention across free and paid audiences. You bring strategic vision, data-driven judgment, and a willingness to test, learn, and adapt. You have a deep understanding of audiences—who they are, what they care about, how they engage—and know how to turn that understanding into sustainable, mission-aligned growth.

Requirements

10+ years leading audience development, growth, marketing, or digital strategy in media, news, or consumer products.
A track record of scaling audiences and building successful subscription or membership businesses.
Experience overseeing multi-functional teams across growth, audience, and community.
Deep fluency in digital media ecosystems—newsletters, social, podcasts, video, paid media.
Experience managing six-figure monthly paid media budgets and campaigns.
Strong strategic instincts paired with the ability to execute, test, and iterate quickly.
Comfort navigating platform constraints (e.g., Substack) and finding creative paths forward.
Excellent communicator who collaborates well across editorial, audio/video, business, and leadership teams.
A mission-driven mindset and alignment with The Bulwark’s values.

Responsibilities

Drive audience growth and retention outcomes by developing a deep understanding of audience behavior, lifetime value, conversion patterns, and retention risks, and translate those insights into clear priorities around pricing, offers, targeting, and long-term growth strategy.
Own and lead all marketing efforts at The Bulwark, setting the strategy for brand, positioning, messaging, and campaigns across every channel, shaped in partnership with our reporters, editors, and show hosts.
Identify, test, and scale new sources of audience growth, including partnerships, collaborations, evergreen content, and cross-platform distribution.
Build and continuously improve a company-wide acquisition and retention engine across funnel optimization, lifecycle programs, channel experimentation, and paid media.
Lead and manage a Growth Director, holding the team accountable for strategy, execution, and performance across acquisition and retention efforts spanning paid, owned, and partner channels.
Set The Bulwark’s community strategy, including member programs, live and virtual events, audience communications, and structured feedback loops that drive engagement and retention.
Lead and support a Community Director and team, guiding execution of community programs that deepen loyalty, increase participation, and translate audience feedback into product and editorial improvements.
Work closely with editorial, audio, and video teams to align content strategy with audience insights and growth opportunities.
Build, mentor, and manage a multi-disciplinary team across growth, audience development, community, and analytics.
Foster a culture of creativity, collaboration, experimentation, and measurable impact.