Director, Member Growth – Retention
Christianity Today
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Remote
Location: Remote • Illinois • 🇺🇸 United States
Visit company websiteSalary
💰 $90,000 - $100,000 per year
Job Level
Lead
About the role
- Drive Member Growth & Retention
- Own the subscription growth and retention roadmap, including goal setting, prioritization, and execution across acquisition, engagement, and churn reduction for CT Magazine, CT Online, CT Pastors, and related digital offerings.
- Design and optimize key subscription lifecycle stages, including registration, onboarding, paywalls, checkout, renewal flows, and win-back journeys for both digital and print products.
- Develop and refine subscription strategies across key channels (web, app, email, internal promotion, partnerships, and paid media) to increase subscriber volume, ARPU, and lifetime value.
- Ensure the Membership Growth function is collectively accountable for acquisition, conversion, and renewal metrics across the subscription portfolio, with clear ownership and visibility into performance.
- Partner with Product and Technology teams to improve conversion funnels and subscriber experiences across CT’s digital properties and apps, including paywall experiences, landing pages, and account management tools.
- Work closely with senior leadership to shape pricing, packaging, offers, and discounts (e.g., annual vs. monthly, bundles, CT Pastors+, print/digital combinations, student and international pricing) grounded in data and mission priorities.
- Lead a structured testing program (A/B tests on pricing, offers, messaging, paywalls, user flows, and renewal experiences) with clear hypotheses, success metrics, and learning loops.
- Implement performance metrics and KPIs to forecast and report on subscription revenue, retention, and customer health, and to inform ongoing strategy and prioritization.
- Serve on relevant project teams as needed, representing subscription and retention interests in product, editorial, and technology initiatives.
- Partner with leadership to support subscription revenue forecasting and scenario planning.
- Membership Growth Team Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Serve as a hands-on people leader for CT’s Membership Growth team, providing day-to-day leadership, coaching, and support to team members focused on legacy subscribers, pastors, and paid media.
- Manage and mentor a small but mighty team working on audience-specific memberships as well as paid media & ecommerce.
- Assist team in prioritization, production and development as leaders in their own areas.
- Create clarity on responsibilities and handoffs across the team, ensuring that each person understands their role in the funnel and how their work contributes to overall membership growth goals.
- Ensure each key audience segment (legacy subscribers, pastors and ministry leaders, and other strategic segments) has a clear strategy, funnel plan, and lifecycle approach,and that your team is equipped and supported to execute those plans well.
- Direct paid media in planning, executing, and optimizing performance marketing campaigns across search, social, display, and other channels in support of subscription acquisition, re-engagement, and ecommerce performance.
- Oversee the integration of ecommerce efforts so that store promotions, merchandising campaigns, and ecommerce initiatives support both direct revenue and subscription journeys.
- Identify skills gaps and development needs within the team and create opportunities for training, stretch projects, and ongoing learning.
- Work cross-functionally, particularly with Analytics, to define and refine channel-level targets (e.g., CAC, ROAS, LTV:CAC, engagement and retention metrics) and ensure each channel’s goals are tied to overall subscription and membership objectives.
- Collaborate with Customer Service to identify and address common subscriber pain points, improve cancellation and save experiences, and inform product and communication improvements.
- Christian Marketplace Engagement & Ministry Stewardship
- Develop deep understanding of the unique Christian audience segments and their needs, demonstrating sensitivity to diverse theological perspectives.
- Ensure membership strategies, offers, and communications are aligned with CT’s theological commitments, editorial voice, and ministry posture.
- Champion ethical practices in subscription growth and retention, including clear value propositions, honest messaging, transparent pricing, and respectful renewal and cancellation experiences.
- Steward subscription relationships as ministry relationships, recognizing members and subscribers as partners in CT’s mission rather than just customers.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Economics, Data/Analytics, Communications, or related field required.
- 7–10+ years of experience in subscription growth, lifecycle marketing, product growth, or digital revenue strategy in a media, SaaS, or content-driven organization.
- Demonstrated expertise in digital subscription or recurring revenue models, including acquisition, onboarding, engagement, churn reduction, and win-back.
- Hands-on familiarity with performance marketing (e.g., search, social, display, programmatic, and/or affiliate), including planning, optimization, and measurement.
- Proven experience owning and managing budgets, including forecasting, channel allocation, and ROI analysis.
- Significant people management experience, including leading and developing a small team with manager- and specialist-level contributors (ideally including paid media and lifecycle roles).
- Experience working in a mission-driven, editorially focused, or faith-based organization preferred.
- Demonstrated understanding of (or strong interest in learning) the Christian marketplace, church dynamics, and ministry needs.
Benefits
- CT offers a comprehensive benefits package - check out our careers page to learn more
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard skills
subscription growthlifecycle marketingdigital revenue strategyperformance marketingA/B testingbudget managementforecastingchannel allocationROI analysiscustomer health metrics
Soft skills
leadershipcoachingcross-functional collaborationstrategic planningcommunicationmentoringteam managementproblem-solvingsensitivity to diverse perspectivesethical practices