CRM Retention Manager

The Observer’s promise is in the name. The Observer bears witness; the best of journalism being curious minds at work. It loves the arts and ideas, both for their own sense and because they can change lives. It’s proudly progressive, but has no party allegiance. It’s open to different arguments and its editorial independence is non‑negotiable. We are building a new Observer across print, audio and digital. We’re here to build journalism that lasts.

As CRM Manager, you'll be responsible for maximising subscriber lifetime value and reducing churn across The Observer’s new suite of digital and print subscriptions. Using lifecycle marketing, engagement campaigns, personalisation, and data-driven insights, you'll build a retention engine that keeps subscribers engaged with our award‑winning journalism and drives long‑term revenue growth.

Key responsibilities

• This is a cross‑functional, high‑impact role for a strategic marketer who can go deep into the data and work across teams.
• You’ll turn insights into campaigns and product features, experiments into scaled initiatives, and ideas into results.
• Work with our newsroom to develop subscriber‑focused content that engages and retains subscribers across text, video, audio, events, social media, and other platforms.
• Drive the execution of editorial‑focused initiatives, collaborate with affiliates and other teams, and launch bespoke brand activations.
• Lead onboarding lifecycle strategies from idea through execution to rollout.
• Use Dotdigital (ESP) and internal tools to design, build, and deploy multi‑channel lifecycle campaigns.
• Analyse engagement data to surface insights, shape campaign decisions, and report clear, actionable outcomes.
• Create and manage A/B testing strategies that inform performance improvements across the funnel.
• Collaborate with Product, Creative, and Finance teams to evolve and own the onboarding roadmap.
• Build reporting dashboards, share experiment insights.
• Ensure the activity is optimised towards key KPIs, improving the Trial‑to‑Sub conversion rate, reducing churn, and growing customer lifetime value.

Requirements

• 5+ years in lifecycle, retention or growth marketing role.
• Hands‑on experience managing lifecycle campaigns across email, in‑app, and push channels.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to extract insights, build your own dashboards.
• Proven success in testing strategies and applying A/B results to drive growth.
• Familiarity with Dotdigital or a similar lifecycle marketing platform.
• Experience with editorial marketing tools: Chartbeat, Piano, DotDigital or relevant ESPs.
• Clear communicator who thrives in collaborative, cross‑functional environments, able to work with our newsroom on initiatives.
• Highly organised with a proactive mindset and strong sense of ownership.
• Creative mindset + test‑and‑learn ethos: you brief the creative, drive A/B and multivariate tests, iterate quickly and scale what works.
• Comfortable operating in a fast‑moving environment, prioritising experiments, optimising rapidly and managing ambiguity.

We are committed to equal opportunities and creating an inclusive environment for all our employees, and we welcome applicants regardless of ethnic origin, national origin, gender, race, colour, religious beliefs, disability, sexual orientation or age.

We aim to run our interview process at pace and with clarity at every stage, recognising how challenging it can be to balance alongside other commitments or interviews. The number of stages will vary depending on the nature and level of the role, but we see this as a two‑way process and hope you’ll enjoy the opportunity to meet a range of potential future colleagues.