Sr Director, Creative Operations and Activation

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USA TODAY Co., Inc. is a diversified media company with expansive reach at the national and local level dedicated to empowering and enriching communities. We seek to inspire, inform, and connect audiences as a sustainable, growth focused media and digital marketing solutions company. Through our trusted brands, including the USA TODAY NETWORK, comprised of the national publication, USA TODAY, and local media organizations, including our network of local properties, in the United States, and Newsquest, a wholly-owned subsidiary operating in the United Kingdom, we provide essential journalism, local content, and digital experiences to audiences and businesses. We deliver high-quality, trusted content with a commitment to balanced, unbiased journalism, where and when consumers want to engage. Our digital marketing solutions brand, LocaliQ, supports small and medium-sized businesses with innovative digital marketing products and solutions. USA TODAY Co. open roles are featured on various external job boards. When applying to a position at USA TODAY Co., you should be completing an application on USA TODAY Co. Careers via Dayforce. Job postings directing you to complete an application on other external sites may not be valid. If you are a California resident, you acknowledge that by applying for a job with us, this California Job Applicant Privacy Notice will apply to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information. To connect with us, visit www.usatodayco.com 

Purpose

Lead the execution engine behind Consumer growth, overseeing creative production, channel activation, lifecycle deployment, workflow optimization and automation across all consumer marketing channels.

About the role

Our Consumer team grows digital subscriptions and reader engagement across USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network. This role runs the engine that makes it happen. You'll lead creative production, copy, design, channel activation and lifecycle deployment across every consumer marketing channel. You'll also own how that work gets done: simpler workflows, smarter automation, practical AI and faster speed-to-market without sacrificing quality.

What you'll do

• Lead creative production, copywriting, design and campaign execution for Acquisition, Engagement, Retention, Pricing and Optimization initiatives.
• Run campaign deployment across email, onsite, app, push, SMS, social, paid media, direct mail and emerging channels, on time and error-free.
• Serve as Consumer's primary partner to the MarTech team on Salesforce Marketing Cloud, including journey orchestration, personalization, automation, integrations and roadmap planning.
• Simplify workflows, retire legacy processes that no longer earn their place and shorten the path from brief to launch.
• Put AI and automation to work across production through dynamic content, reusable templates, modular creative and scalable activation frameworks.
• Set production standards, QA processes, service levels and performance metrics, and report against them.
• Partner with Performance Marketing and Optimization & Pricing to turn business priorities into campaigns and customer experiences.
• Lead change management as teams adopt new tools, workflows and ways of working.
• Build, coach and grow a high-performing team accountable for measurable business outcomes.

How we'll measure success

• Speed-to-market, throughput and SLA adherence
• Accuracy: QA quality, low rework and reliable builds and deployments
• Reduction in manual effort through AI, automation, templates and dynamic content
• Adoption of personalization and new platform capabilities
• Stakeholder satisfaction and production's contribution to performance marketing results

What you'll bring

• 12+ years in creative operations, marketing operations or campaign production, including 5+ years leading multidisciplinary teams across creative, copy, design and campaign operations.
• A track record running high-volume, multichannel campaign execution for a subscription, media, ecommerce or other direct-to-consumer business.
• Working knowledge of enterprise marketing automation platforms and how journeys, audience data and personalization fit together.
• Hands-on experience bringing AI and automation into creative and production workflows, with results you can quantify.
• Experience building intake, workflow, QA and SLA processes in project management tools such as Jira or Asana.
• Proven change leadership: you've moved teams off legacy processes and onto new tools and made it stick.
• Sound judgment under deadline pressure and comfort being measured on output and business results.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Nice to have

• Digital subscription or news media experience
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud certification
• Experience with digital asset management, modular content or dynamic creative optimization
• Budget, agency and vendor management experience

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The annualized base salary for this role will range between $150,000 and $170,000. Variable incentive compensation, including commissions, is not reflected in these figures and based on the role, may be applicable. Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, education level, location, and union representation, if applicable