Associate Director, Audience Development

OVERVIEW

Our Audience Development team operationalizes Consumer Reports’ mission to create a safe, fairer, and more transparent marketplace by ensuring our trusted, independent guidance is visible wherever people make decisions—across search, AI-generated answers, and emerging platforms. In a time of information overload, this is more important than ever. 

We’re looking for an Associate Director, Audience Development to drive audience strategy

in order to activate and nurture discoverability, engagement, and conversion across onsite and offsite channels. In this position you’ll  own organic channels, as well as, build bridges cross-functionally to collaborate across all, paid and otherwise. Reporting to CR’s Executive Managing Editor, you will act as the primary liaison for audience priorities across CR divisions, from digital to editorial.

This hybrid position  with in-office collaboration (Yonkers and/or NYC) just once per month provides excellent flexibility.  This position is not eligible for sponsorship or relocation assistance.

How You'll Make An Impact

As Associate Director, Audience Development you will create organizational standards to optimize that will help CR’s digital presence evolve in parallel with consumer’s changing needs, helping them find and rely on our insights at critical moments. Areas of focus will include:

• Driving  CR’s audience strategy, evolving the integration of SEO, GEO, onsite and offsite platforms, newsletters, social, and emerging channels.
• Overseeing  the SEO team;  establishing  technical, digital, and editorial best practices for excellence in both search results and AI-generated summaries.
• Developing and advising growth and optimization strategies across owned and distributed surfaces (web, app, Apple News, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, Newsletters, etc.) in close collaboration with cross-functional teams, namely Marketing and Content.
• Collaborating with the  Executive Managing Editor to define and evolve audience KPI frameworks and dashboards to measure short-term and long-term success.
• Translating  data into action: Help inform product roadmaps and editorial planning and with specific and directional insights.
• Establishing cross-functional partnerships  with Content, Product, Marketing, Analytics, Testing, Leadership, and other relevant teams to align on and elevate distribution, engagement, and optimization.
• Advocating  for brand visibility in AI ecosystems, ensuring attribution and authority signaling across generative engines.
• Building  and managing an evolving audience team, comprising both full-time staff and project-based freelancers.

ABOUT YOU

You’ll Be Highly Rated If:

• You have the experience.  We’re looking for someone with at least 10- years in audience development, content marketing, or growth strategy for a digital publisher or mission-driven brand.
• You’ve managed teams in a highly matrixed environment.  You have 6+ years managing teams and cross-functional initiatives.
• You have deep experience in SEO and emerging GEO  practices. You are proficient with multiple search analytics tools and platforms. You have proven success leading or partnering on newsletter programs and platform packaging strategies.Your communication skills build bridges--bringing editorial, digital, marketing and analytical teams together around shared audience goals. 
• You have proven experience leading nascent AI optimization across digital and editorial teams in publishing environments.
• You have proven change management experience with cross-functional teams around audience development KPIs.

You'll Be One of Our Top Picks If:

• You have experience in a non-profit environment. 
• You are proficient with multiple search analytics tools and platforms 
• You have proven success leading or partnering on newsletter programs and platform packaging strategies
• You have excellent communication skills, bridging editorial with digital, marketing and analytical teams around shared audience goals
• You've led nascent AI optimization across digital and editorial teams in publishing environments
• You have proven change management experience with cross-functional teams around audience development KPIs

FAIR PAY AND A JUST WORKPLACE

At Consumer Reports, we are committed to fair, transparent pay and we strive to provide competitive, market-informed compensation.The target salary range for this position is $160K-$180K. It is anticipated that most qualified candidates will fall near the middle of this range. Compensation for the successful candidate will be informed by the candidate’s particular combination of knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience.  We have three locations: Yonkers, NY, Washington, DC and Colchester, CT. We are registered to do business in and can only hire from the following states and federal district: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, DC.