Senior Manager, Experimentation Optimization

NU National University; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 78,000 - 106,000; Full time

Job summary

National University is seeking a Senior Manager, Experimentation & Optimization to lead CRO strategy across the NU website and digital experiences. The role focuses on data-driven testing to increase inquiries, applications, and enrollment, while coordinating with Marketing, Enrollment, and Digital Analytics teams.

The candidate will own the end-to-end experimentation lifecycle, drive personalization efforts, and establish governance for testing practices. Remote-based with travel as needed.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in conversion rate optimization and experimentation
• 2+ years in a strategy, program ownership, or related manager responsibilities
• Experience with governance of A/B testing and personalization platforms
• Experience personalizing digital experiences using audience segmentation, targeting, and journey-based optimization
• Portfolio or case studies demonstrating measurable conversion improvements in complex digital ecosystems

Responsibilities

• Own the CRO roadmap and testing calendar for NU’s website and digital experiences
• Lead complete experimentation lifecycle from hypothesis to rollout
• Analyze the prospective student journey to identify friction and improve conversion
• Develop and optimize personalization strategies for website experiences
• Measure KPIs, report to senior leadership, and drive optimization initiatives

Skills

CRO strategy

Experimentation

Data analysis

SQL

A/B testing

Stakeholder management

Personalization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Analytics, or related field

MBA or Master’s preferred

Tools

Adobe Target

Optimizely

VWO

Adobe Analytics

GA4

FullStory

Job description

Compensation Range: Annual Salary: $78,496.00 - $105,974.00

Position Summary

The Senior Manager, Experimentation & Optimization leads conversion rate optimization (CRO) and experimentation for National University’s website and Digital experiences. This is a strategic, data-driven role responsible for defining and executing the CRO roadmap, proactively identifying optimization opportunities, and improving website experiences based on prospective student behavior, user insights, performance data, and lifecycle stage. The primary goal is to increase inquiry, application, and enrollment conversion through data-informed testing, continuous optimization, and an improved user experience.

Essential Functions:

CRO Strategy & Roadmap

Own the CRO and experimentation roadmap for NU’s website and Digital experiences including opportunity identification, intake, prioritization, sequencing and the testing calendar. Define, execute, and continuously optimize data-driven testing and optimization strategies that improve user experience, engagement, conversion, and content relevance across prospect-facing web experiences. Own website experimentation roadmap, related platform strategy, and associated vendor/partner relationships. Establish testing SLAs, QA standards, governance, and deployment practices that prevent conflicts across concurrent tests, campaigns, and releases. Maintain a repository of hypotheses, test results, learnings, optimization opportunities, and best practices that accelerate knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.

Experimentation & Proactive A/B Testing

Own the complete experimentation lifecycle: opportunity identification, hypothesis development, prioritization, test design, implementation, QA, launch, measurement, readout, and production rollout of winners. Proactively source the testing pipeline from behavioral analytics, session data, UX research, and website funnel diagnostics rather than operating as a request-driven queue. Design and run A/B, multivariate, and multi-page experiments, ensuring appropriate sample sizing, run length, and statistical significance before a result is acted on. Optimize information architecture, content presentation, navigation, page experience, and calls-to-action using customer insight and behavioral data. Translate experimentation outcomes into optimization recommendations that inform future website roadmaps, experience strategy, and investment priorities.

Journey Discovery and Experience Optimization

Analyze the end-to-end prospective student journey to identify friction, abandonment, and conversion opportunities using behavioral analytics, session replay, UX research, and customer feedback. Champion continuous optimization of program discovery across web properties, including on-site search, filters, navigation, program finders, and recommendation surfaces. Develop targeted website experience strategies using established audience segments, intent signals, engagement patterns, lifecycle stage, and experimentation insights to improve relevance, engagement, and conversion. Develop and optimize personalized website experiences that deliver relevant messaging, content, navigation, and recommendations based on audience needs, behavioral insights, and lifecycle stage. Partner with Marketing, Enrollment, and Digital Analytics to leverage audience segments, first-party customer data, and behavioral insights to support website personalization and optimization initiatives. Identify opportunities to apply AI-assisted optimization, predictive insights, and behavioral decisioning to improve relevance, engagement, and conversion outcomes. Participate and input into Journey Operations that impact Prospect Student experience in partnership with IT, Accounts, Brand and Product teams.

Measurement, KPIs & Reporting Cadence

Own measurement best practices, quarterly meta-analysis, CRO Playbook, dashboards, and the KPI framework supporting CRO, experimentation, and website personalization efforts. Define, monitor, and communicate KPIs including experimentation velocity, win rate, conversion improvement, inquiry conversion, application progression, website conversion, journey completion, personalization effectiveness, and incremental business impact. Establish and maintain a regular reporting cadence, including weekly program status, monthly CRO performance readouts, and quarterly roadmap and business-impact reviews for senior leadership. Build executive dashboards and communicate test results, KPI trends, roadmap progress, and strategic recommendations to the Chief Marketing Officer and senior stakeholders. Partner with the Digital Analytics team to establish analytical requirements, measurement plans, and dashboard reporting for UX. Measure the maturity of National University’s experimentation program and continuously evolve optimization capabilities through data-driven insight.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

Evaluate emerging trends in AI, personalization, experimentation, behavioral science, and digital experience optimization. Identify opportunities to incorporate intelligent personalization, predictive experiences, and innovative optimization capabilities into National University’s prospective student website experiences. Evaluate new technologies, platforms, and optimization capabilities that strengthen website audience engagement, experience effectiveness, and conversion performance. Continuously benchmark industry trends, competitor experiences, customer expectations, and evolving digital behaviors to identify future opportunities for innovation and growth. Other duties as assigned. Supervisory Responsibilities: Individual contributor role that provides leadership through influence and expertise; scope may evolve over time based on organizational needs.

Requirements

Education & Experience: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business, Analytics, Statistics, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field. Master’s degree or M.B.A. preferred. 7 + years of experience in conversion rate optimization and experimentation, website experience management, personalization, digital merchandising, or e-commerce. 2+ years of experience in a strategy, program ownership, or related manager responsibilities. Demonstrated ownership and administration of A/B testing and personalization platforms (Adobe Target, VWO, Optimizely, or equivalent), including governance, implementation oversight, and optimization best practices. Experience designing, implementing, and optimizing personalized digital experiences using audience segmentation, behavioral targeting, geo-targeting, and journey-based experience targeting. Proven experience developing and executing a CRO and experimentation roadmap, including KPI development, prioritization frameworks, and executive reporting. Experience managing vendors, agency partners, and external development resources to deliver experimentation, personalization, and digital optimization initiatives. Demonstrated track record of leveraging experimentation and personalization strategies to drive measurable improvements in conversion, lead generation, engagement, and business outcomes. Experience in higher education, edtech, or another complex, high-consideration, multi-audience environment preferred. Portfolio, case studies, or documented examples demonstrating measurable conversion improvements and successful optimization initiatives across complex digital ecosystems.

Competencies/Technical/Functional Skills

Deep expertise in experimentation methodologies, including hypothesis development, test design, statistical analysis, and interpretation of results to support business decisions. Strong experience leading conversion rate optimization (CRO), personalization, and digital experience optimization programs at scale. Expertise with experimentation, personalization, and analytics platforms such as Adobe Target, Optimizely, VWO, Adobe Analytics, GA4, and FullStory. Strong understanding of customer data platforms, audience segmentation, behavioral targeting, and customer journey optimization. Ability to independently analyze, validate, and interpret complex datasets using SQL, dashboards, and analytics tools to identify opportunities and inform strategy. Experience developing experimentation roadmaps, success metrics, governance processes, and executive reporting frameworks. Strong understanding of UX principles, customer journey mapping, and the integration of qualitative and quantitative insights into optimization strategies. Knowledge of accessibility (WCAG), responsive design principles, content strategy, and technical considerations impacting experimentation and personalization. Experience evaluating and applying emerging technologies, including AI-driven personalization, predictive modeling, and automated decisioning. Exceptional communication, storytelling, stakeholder management, and executive presentation skills, with the ability to translate data into actionable business recommendations. Demonstrated ability to influence and build alignment across Marketing, Product, UX, Technology, Analytics, Enrollment, and other cross-functional teams without direct authority. Strategic mindset with the ability to balance long-term vision, customer needs, operational realities, and measurable business outcomes while driving complex initiatives to completion.

Location: Remote, USA Travel: up to 10% travel

Candidate receiving offers will be offered a salary/pay rate commensurate with experience that vary based on a candidate’s qualifications, skills, and competencies. Absent exceptional circumstances, candidates will be offered a salary within this range for this position. The minimum salary will be offered based on the minimum exemption threshold based on state of residency. Base pay is one component of National University’s total rewards package, as we are dedicated to supporting the needs of the “whole you” with our holistic approach to employee benefits by offering comprehensive well-being benefits for you and your family. For full details about our benefit plan offerings, please visit benefits.nu.edu. For Part-time benefits, please click here.

National University is committed to maintaining a high-quality workforce representative of the populations we serve. National University employs more than 4,500 faculty and staff and serves over 45,000 students. We are united in our mission to meet the global education demands of the 21st Century and are dedicated to creating a supportive academic and work environment that allows students, faculty and staff to develop their interests and talents while experiencing a sense of community.

With programs available both online and at our many campus locations, National University is a leader in creating innovative solutions to education and meeting the needs of our student population, including adult learners and working professionals. National University (NU) is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant per applicable federal, state and local laws. At NU, a mix of highly talented, innovative and creative people come together to make the impact of a lifetime for each of our student learners. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment, education, and admission at National University. National University is breaking barriers in education – and in the workplace. We’re united in our mission to build a better future for our more than 4,500 employees and our 45,000+ students. National University prioritizes our employee’s well-being and growth by offering competitive pay and benefits packages, development and advancement opportunities, remote-first work perks, and more. We value and reward the hard work of our faculty and staff.