Director, Paid Marketing

The Atlantic is seeking an experienced and entrepreneurial Director, Paid Marketing on our Consumer Strategy and Growth team to lead our paid media strategy and execution. Reporting to the VP of Consumer Strategy and Growth, this individual will manage a significant media budget to drive subscription growth, expand audience reach, and elevate brand visibility.

This role will oversee all paid acquisition channels—including Meta, Google, Reddit, and emerging platforms or platforms that are new to The Atlantic—with full ownership of campaign planning, optimization, testing, and performance. The ideal candidate combines performance marketing rigor with a curiosity for experimentation and innovation. This role includes managing one direct report and collaborating cross-functionally across analytics, creative, editorial, and product.

• Own and allocate the full paid media budget across performance campaigns.
• Develop and execute multi-channel paid acquisition strategies to drive consumer growth, with focus on Meta and Google.
• Identify and test new and emerging platforms that align with audience and subscription goals.
• Set goals and KPIs aligned with broader consumer strategy; oversee budget pacing and work to meet forecast requirements.
• Maintain lift study infrastructure in collaboration with Analytics team.

• Lead development, launch, and optimization of paid campaigns from end to end, including creative briefing, targeting strategy, bidding, and performance tracking.
• Run structured A/B and multivariate tests across creatives, messaging, and platforms to improve efficiency and engagement.
• Translate insights into actionable recommendations to improve CAC, ROAS, and LTV.

• Partner with creative teams to produce high-performing assets tailored for each channel.
• Collaborate with the rest of the Consumer Strategy team to ensure cohesive consumer journeys.
• Work with analytics teams to monitor performance, and support attribution analysis.
• Lead conversations with peers in Product and Technology to ensure appropriate pixel and tracking implementations.

• Build strong relationships with platform partners (Meta, Google, etc.) to pilot new features and gain insights.

• Directly manage and mentor one report, fostering growth and accountability.
• Contribute to a high-performance culture of experimentation, transparency, and collaboration.

• 4–6+ years of experience in paid/performance marketing, preferably within subscription, publishing, or ecommerce environments.
• Strong technical understanding of pixel implementation, tracking infrastructure, and tools such as Meta's Conversions API and Google Tag Manager; able to partner effectively with engineering or analytics teams on measurement setup and troubleshooting.
• Proven track record of managing large paid budgets and achieving consumer acquisition or revenue goals.
• Deep platform expertise across Meta, Google Ads, Reddit, and experience evaluating/test-driving new channels.
• Strong analytical acumen with familiarity in tools like Looker, GA4, or similar.
• Experience managing or working closely with media agencies and creative teams.
• Excellent communication, organizational, and leadership skills.
• Comfort working in a fast-paced, collaborative, and intellectually driven environment.

• A performance-driven mindset paired with curiosity and creative experimentation.
• A passion for media, journalism, and the evolving digital landscape.
• The ability to distill data into strategy and action.
• A collaborative spirit, with the ability to lead, mentor, and influence cross-functional stakeholders.

Salary Minimum: $100,000;
Salary Maximum: $130,000

This role is based in New York City.

About The Atlantic:

The Atlantic has, for more than 160 years, advanced ideas that matter and sparked global conversation on the most important issues of our time. We aim to bring clarity and original thinking to questions of consequence, on topics ranging from politics, the economy, and global affairs to technology, science, and culture. As the third-longest-running…