Director of Memberships

The big picture: Axios is a media company dedicated to providing trustworthy, award-winning news content in an audience-first format. We are hiring a senior marketing leader to define and drive the future of our membership programs, a fast-growing line of business that fuels Axios’ mission and builds meaningful relationships with our readers.

Why it matters: This is a high-visibility role at the center of our brand, product, and revenue growth where your marketing vision and performance instincts will directly shape how we grow, engage, and retain our most loyal readers. You’ll lead a cross-channel, full-funnel strategy to grow memberships for Axios Local and our Subject Matter Expert verticals while laying the groundwork for what’s next.

Zoom in: As Director of Memberships, you’ll lead the strategy and execution of marketing efforts across the entire membership lifecycle: from awareness and acquisition to onboarding, engagement, and retention. You’ll own the roadmap for campaign strategy, creative messaging, channel performance, offer testing, and member communications. You’ll partner deeply across Product, Editorial, Design, and Revenue to create seamless, high-converting user journeys and deliver messaging that moves people from passive readers to passionate supporters. You’ll manage a growing team, define success metrics, and drive outcomes that grow both business and brand.

This role is ideal for a marketer who’s both strategic and hands-on, someone who thinks in funnels and brand narratives, obsesses over audience signals, and thrives in fast-paced, mission-driven environments. In this role you'll:

Lead membership strategy and growth

• Own the end-to-end strategy for acquisition, conversion, and retention across all current and future membership programs

  • Develop short- and long-term plans that drive revenue, deepen engagement, and advance Axios' mission

Accelerate performance and monetization

• Drive paywall optimization, pricing, and packaging strategy, and offer testing to maximize conversion and lifetime value

  • Shape and evolve the membership value propositions based on audience insights, qualitative and quantitative research and competitive benchmarking

  • Own the landing page strategy, from A/B testing to messaging and UX, to improve user journeys and drive higher acquisition performance

Expand and elevate member benefits

• Lead development of new benefits, from premium content and exclusive webinars to swag and surprise-and-delight moments, that increase engagement and perceived value

  • Ensure seamless delivery of member experiences across platforms and channels

Own full-funnel membership marketing

• Oversee paid media, email, lifecycle, and onsite strategies with a performance mindset

  • Lead launch and promotion of reports, webinars, and other high-value content that drives acquisition and retention

  • Optimize lifecycle marketing from onboarding through renewal, including win-back and churn-reduction programs

  • Oversee vendor partnerships and marketing platforms, ensuring our tools evolve to meet changing needs and growth goals

Champion the member experience

• Oversee membership customer service support to ensure fast, thoughtful, and on-brand member support

  • Implement scalable systems for member feedback, database integrity, and experience quality

Lead a high-performing, mission-driven team

• Mentor and develop a small team of marketers and membership operators

  • Build a culture of ownership, experimentation, and continuous improvement

Collaborate cross-functionally to deliver results

• Act as the strategic partner to Product, Tech, Editorial, and Revenue teams to align on roadmap, testing, and member-facing features

  • Lead internal communications and stakeholder updates, ensuring cross-functional teams are aligned on membership performance, priorities, and roadmap

Drive business performance and accountability

• Own revenue and membership pacing forecasts, goal-setting, and reporting

  • Translate performance insights into strategic direction and optimization plans

  • Maintain strong operational rigor while staying agile to test and learn

Details: Ideal candidates will embody an entrepreneurial spirit and passion for Axios’ mission and have the following qualifications and skills:

• 8+ years of hands-on experience in growth, digital, or performance marketing

• Experience promoting products within a recurring revenue, subscription, or membership business model, with a track record of success in this area.

• At least 5 years of experience managing high-performing teams, with a strong focus on mentorship, talent development, and collaboration

• Strong analytical skills and quantitative capabilities, utilizing data-driven decision-making to optimize marketing efforts, achieve subscription targets, and challenge assumptions through research and performance metrics.

• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and align marketing strategy with product, editorial, and business objectives

• Strong analytical and quantitative skills, with comfort in experimentation, segmentation, reporting, and translating insights into action

• Strategic mindset with the flexibility to pivot quickly in a fast-paced environment, balancing near-term performance with long-term brand value

• A mission-driven approach, entrepreneurial energy, and a passion for building marketing systems that scale

Starting salary for this role is in the range of $105,000 - $150,000 and is dependent on numerous factors, including but not limited to location, work experience, and skills. This range does not include other compensation and benefits. Axios' compensation philosophy takes into account cost of labor differentials across the country. Because this is a remote-optional job posting, this salary range takes into account all possible locations within the United States, but candidates will only be eligible for the salary range for their location.

What Axios brings to the table besides salary:

• 401(k) with employer match

• Robust PPO and High Deductible health insurance options on the Blue Cross Blue Shield network

• Employer Health Savings Account (HSA) contribution for the high deductible health plan option

• Dental and vision coverage

• Primary caregiver 12-week paid leave

• Generous vacation policy, plus holidays

• One mental health day per quarter

• Annual learning and development stipend

• $100 monthly work-from-home stipend

• Tele-mental health services through Headspace

• OneMedical membership, including tele-health services

• Personal health advocacy resources through HealthAdvocate

• Inclusive fertility, hormonal health and family forming benefits through Carrot Fertility

• Access to the Axios “Family Fund”, which was created to allow employees to request financial support when facing financial hardship or emergencies

• Increased work flexibility for parents and caretakers

• Virtual company-sponsored social events

• A strong and positive work environment

• A commitment to an open, inclusive, and diverse work culture

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement 

Axios is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, age, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Axios makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.