Head of Growth

National Observer • Vancouver, BC

1d • Remote

About The Position

Observer Media Group launched Vancouver Observer first, then Canada's National Observer in 2015, betting that excellent reporting and accountability journalism could thrive outside legacy media. In 2017, CNO became the first digital-only publication in Canadian history to win a National Newspaper Award and receive a Michener citation for public service journalism. CNO investigations have forced government resignations, exposed dysfunction in the regulatory system overseeing a $15-billion pipeline, and revealed disinformation campaigns targeting local democracies. CNO covers Canada's changing climate from newsrooms in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa, with more than 35,000 articles published. Last year we launched Civic Searchlight — our popular "superpower for democracy" — and earned ten new journalism award nominations this spring alone, including the inaugural Hinton Award for AI Safety Reporting from the Canadian Journalism Foundation. This is an entrepreneurial role on the revenue and growth team for someone who wants to wake up daily to a meaningful job with a fantastic team that is making a difference for Canada. You'll be a highly valued member of the leadership team focused on generating revenue through subscriptions. You'll oversee the user journey from first touch on the site, to engaged newsletter reader, to subscriber, constantly improving the experience for our audience. As you can, you’ll work with institutions on group subscriptions. You will immerse yourself in the opportunities our Civic Searchlight platform opens for further development and connection across Canada. You'll work closely with the Publisher, Head of Operations, Head of Product, and the Editor-in-Chief to help CNO grow through all of its channels.

Requirements

• A minimum of eight years experience in building revenue for an organization or organizations.
• Working knowledge of subscription management and paywall technology.
• Ability to create user journeys to drive new subscriptions, retention while minimizing churn.
• Experience with systems like Mailchimp, Piano, Google Analytics and other analytics platforms.
• A track record of revenue generation.
• Strong writing and speaking skills.
• Experience working with budgets and spreadsheets.
• Experience managing teams.
• Understanding and respect for the editorial firewall.
• Use AI as a tool — for data and analytics, business strategy, and growth advice, but not as a replacement for your own thinking and voice.
• Must be able to make a compelling presentation.
• Ability to inspire and engage with subscribers at their level of critical thinking.

Nice To Haves

• You don't need to have managed a big team, but you will manage a growing team.

Responsibilities

• Work on paywall optimization, pricing strategy, conversion testing, and retention. Reduce friction, improve messaging.
• Read, watch, and listen to CNO content every day, and regularly audit the user journey — identifying friction, spotting opportunities.
• Grow our pipeline of government agencies, NGOs, universities, Indigenous organizations, labour unions, and corporate prospects.
• Run outreach, take discovery calls, write proposals, close deals, manage renewals.
• Build sales for Civic Searchlight, focusing on institutional agreements.
• Oversee marketing across acquisition, conversion, and retention.
• Direct the marketing email programs, the subscription campaigns, the audience growth work.
• Build in Year 1 by hiring someone to run the newsletters, manage the email programs, and own the funnel data. You manage them. Build out from there as the work grows.
• Opportunities for public speaking and networking that take CNO further into the world. Promoting our Civic Searchlight "democracy superpower" will be a great highlight of the job.
• Build and own the revenue dashboard. Report on subscription growth, institutional pipeline, and marketing performance to the leadership team.

Benefits

• Sun Life extended health package
• One month of vacation
• Personal and sick days
• Equipment budget
• Career development
• Mentorship
• Opportunity over time to take on a larger leadership role in the organisation as you hit important benchmarks
• Conference and training support
• Subscriptions to other news sources and industry magazines

What This Job Offers

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