Senior Paid Media Specialist

The Washington Post; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 74,000 - 111,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free Post digital subscription

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Pension and 401(k) match

Vacation and paid holidays

Parental leave (20 weeks)

Mental health resources

Caregiver concierge services

Pet insurance

Job summary

The Washington Post seeks a senior digital marketing specialist for the subscriptions marketing team. You will analyze data, shape paid media strategy across channels, and mentor teammates to drive subscriber growth and engagement.

Collaborate with analytics, editorial, and product teams to craft high‑impact campaigns, test creative, and deliver weekly performance updates. A strong background in social and search advertising, data visualization, and cross‑functional collaboration is essential.

Qualifications

• 4–5 years of experience in digital marketing, advertising, media, or publishing.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with acquisition, engagement & retention, analytics, finance, engineering, and brand marketing teams to identify synergies for paid media support and scale growth opportunities against key goals.

Skills

Paid media

Social ads

Search ads

Data analysis

Audience building

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Tableau

Google Sheets

Job description

About the Role

We are seeking a senior digital marketing specialist to join our subscriptions marketing team. The senior specialist will vigorously analyze data, brainstorm innovative strategic approaches to paid media, and mentor team members. This role requires a deep working knowledge of digital marketing and paid media, a strong presence on social media, and an understanding of politics and its key players. The specialist will strategize and foster the execution of paid media campaigns, ensuring innovative creative output, guiding, informing, and testing creative production.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate regularly with acquisition, engagement & retention, analytics, finance, engineering, and brand marketing teams to identify synergies for paid media support and scale growth opportunities against key goals.
• Develop and execute full‑funnel paid media strategies, driving reach and consideration for potential new subscribers and supporting subscriber retention and re‑engagement.
• Create and test paid media initiatives that increase habit‑building behaviors among subscribers, driving repeat engagement with content and features.
• Own the paid media subscriber acquisition strategy, leveraging data‑driven insights to optimize campaigns across channels, maximize efficiencies, reduce churn, and drive net subscriber growth.
• Stay current on industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies in the paid media space and integrate new strategies and tactics.
• Guide team members in executing paid media campaigns that nurture reader habits, encouraging sustained interactions with the brand.
• Provide weekly performance updates to internal teams and key stakeholders, identifying opportunities to scale efforts or refine strategy for better acquisition outcomes.
• Partner with editorial and newsroom audience strategy teams to implement content strategies that engage high‑quality audiences and build relationships throughout the customer journey.
• Leverage key data insights to inform paid media sale and non‑sale strategy through always‑on direct‑response campaigns.
• Exercise thorough knowledge of the brand and balance paid media goals with broader company objectives, ensuring a strong connection between marketing efforts and audience loyalty.

Qualifications

• 4–5 years of experience in digital marketing, advertising, media, or publishing, with strategy/planning and hands‑on keyboard campaign management experience.
• Experience across Social and Search advertising platforms (Meta, Reddit, Microsoft Bing, Apple Search, LinkedIn, Google Search, and YouTube).
• Experience in app campaigns is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, advertising, journalism, political science, English, communications, or a related discipline.
• Proficiency in using Tableau and Google Sheets to analyze data.
• Experience leveraging data to make informed decisions and partnering closely with Ad Ops teams for tracking is a plus.
• Demonstrated success building an audience through social networks.
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to manage urgent deliverables across multiple stakeholders.

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary range: $74,000 – $111,000 annually, dependent on experience and qualifications.
• Competitive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Company‑paid pension and 401(k) match.
• Three weeks of vacation, up to three weeks of paid sick leave, nine paid holidays, and two personal days.
• Twenty weeks of paid parental leave for any new parent.
• Robust mental health resources.
• Backup care and caregiver concierge services, gender‑affirming services, and pet insurance.
• Free Post digital subscription.
• Leadership and career development programs; benefits may vary by schedule, location, and status.