Experience Optimization Manager

1 big thing: Axios is a media company dedicated to delivering trustworthy, award-winning news in an audience-first format. We are hiring a Senior Manager of Experience Optimization to own the conversion layer of the Axios funnel: the subscription, registration, and paywall experiences where readers become subscribers and subscribers become members.

Why it matters: By continuously improving conversion rates, you'll increase the impact of every growth initiative while helping Axios maximize the value of its investment in subscriptions, paywalls, and audience growth.

Go deeper: In this role, you'll own the registration, subscription, and paywall ecosystem, lead landing page and first-party data capture testing, drive SEO/GEO conversion strategies, and orchestrate personalized onsite experiences to create a seamless journey across web and email. Reporting to the SVP of Audience & Growth, you'll partner across subscriptions, membership, and event marketing to optimize every step of the conversion experience. 

Responsibilities:

Subscription, Registration & Paywall Optimization

• Own the performance and optimization of Axios's subscription, registration, and paywall experiences across national and local products.
• Lead ongoing experimentation across offers, messaging, templates, and access rules to improve conversion.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for the Piano platform, driving platform capabilities and performance.
• Establish conversion benchmarks, reporting, and scalable optimization processes across the business.

Conversion Optimization & First-Party Data

• Design and execute experiments across landing pages, lead generation, and first-party data capture to improve acquisition and conversion.
• Partner with Audience Insights and Lifecycle Marketing to strengthen first-party data collection and personalization.
• Build and maintain a prioritized experimentation roadmap, using data and testing to drive continuous improvement.

Search, AI & Onsite Experiences

• Optimize conversion experiences for SEO, GEO, and AI-driven traffic, partnering with Analytics to measure performance and identify new opportunities.
• Own onsite audience segmentation and personalization in Segment, ensuring a seamless customer journey across web and email.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with Product, Editorial, Revenue, Analytics, Design, and Marketing to deliver high-impact growth initiatives.
• Manage relationships with external vendors and internal stakeholders while driving a shared roadmap for onsite experience optimization.
• Champion a culture of experimentation by documenting learnings, sharing insights, and scaling best practices across the Growth organization.

Skills

• 6+ years of experience in conversion rate optimization (CRO), growth marketing, growth product, or digital experience optimization.
• Proven success improving conversion through A/B testing and experimentation.
• Experience with subscription, membership, or digital media businesses.
• Hands-on experience with paywall or subscription platforms (Piano preferred).
• Strong analytical skills, including funnel analysis, experimentation, and performance measurement.
• Experience with marketing technology platforms such as Segment, Braze, Sailthru, or similar tools.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management skills.

What success looks like

In your first year, you will:

• Increase subscription and registration conversion rates through continuous experimentation.
• Establish a scalable testing program with measurable improvements across the conversion funnel.
• Improve first-party data capture to support personalization and audience growth.
• Create seamless onsite experiences that work in concert with lifecycle marketing.
• Build strong partnerships across Product, Editorial, Analytics, Revenue, and Growth to drive measurable business impact.

Starting salary for this role is in the range of $130,000 - $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 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.

Axios is committed to embracing artificial intelligence as a core part of how we work. All team members are expected to actively develop AI literacy and use AI tools to enhance their productivity, creativity, and efficiency. We invest in ongoing learning to ensure every employee is equipped to responsibly and effectively integrate AI into their daily workflows.

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 telehealth 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.