Sr Manager, Conversion Experimentation; CRO

Overview

At 2U, we are all in on purpose. We are motivated by our mission – to make learning limitless– and connected by our shared passion to deliver world-class higher education  the parent company of edX, a leading online learning platform, 2U powers thousands of higher education offerings – from free courses to full degrees. Together with our college, university, and corporate partners, we are helping accelerate careers and transform lives.

What We’re Looking For:

2U is seeking a results-oriented Senior Manager, Conversion Experimentation to drive the acquisition optimization strategy for our Degree and Executive Education (Short Course) business lines. In this role, you will own the performance of the high-velocity "first touch" digital experience, focusing primarily on our Paid Landing Page (PLP) portfolio and organic program pages.

Sitting at the intersection of Paid Media and User Experience, you will be responsible for ensuring that traffic generated from high-value channels (Paid Search, Social, Organic) lands on experiences designed to convert. You will lead a dedicated testing squad—partnering with Designers and Web Developers—to execute a rigorous roadmap of A/B tests aimed at maximizing Session-to-Lead and Lead-to-Enroll rates for our partners.

Responsibilities Include, But Are Not Limited To:

• Acquisition & Landing Page Strategy
• Own the "Always-On" experimentation roadmap for the Degree and Executive Education portfolio, prioritizing tests that address high-volume traffic sources and revenue opportunities.
• Serve as the primary CRO partner to the Paid Media team. Develop innovative strategies to improve "Ad Scent" (consistency between ad copy and landing page), ensuring that landing page experiences are tailored to specific audience segments and intent levels.
• Analyze traffic performance by channel to identify underperforming segments and deploy targeted landing page variations to improve Quality Scores and conversion efficiency.

• Testing Strategy & Execution
• Translate quantitative data (GA4, funnel drop-off) and qualitative insights (user research, heatmaps) into robust, testable hypotheses.
• Articulate specific testing strategies for hypotheses and test scenarios (pre/post, A/B, multi-arm, etc)
• Establish clear success criteria as well as performance guardrails for high-value tests
• Write clear, data-driven creative briefs for the UI/UX Design and Web Production teams. You define what needs to be built and why; they execute the vision.
• Oversee the end-to-end testing lifecycle, from hypothesis generation to QA and launch, ensuring a high velocity of experiments without sacrificing quality.

• Performance Analysis & Optimization
• Analyze test results to determine statistical significance and business impact. Move beyond simple click-through rates to understand how top-of-funnel changes impact downstream enrollment quality.
• Maintain a "Winning Mechanics" library, documenting successful psychological triggers and layout patterns to scale across other university programs.
• Present weekly & monthly performance updates to Marketing and Product leadership, clearly articulating the ROI of the experimentation program.

• Stakeholder Collaboration
• Partner with the Product Management team to ensure that top-of-funnel acquisition tests align with the broader site architecture and checkout experience.
• Collaborate with the Analytics team to ensure proper measurement frameworks are in place for all experiments prior to launch.

Things That Should Be In Your Background:

• Experience:
  
  3+ years of experience in Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Digital Marketing, or Growth Marketing.
• Acquisition Focus:
  Proven experience optimizing landing pages for paid traffic (SEM, Paid Social). You understand the mechanics of media buying and how on-page experience affects media costs (CPC/CPM).
• Testing Proficiency:
  Deep familiarity with enterprise experimentation platforms (Optimizely, VWO, Adobe Target) and the ability to manage complex test setups.
• Data Fluency:
  Strong ability to analyze data in tools like GA4 and Tableau to identify opportunities and validate results.
• Communication:
  Excellent written briefing…