Director, Audience Development

Emerald is seeking a dynamic and results-oriented Director of Audience Development to lead the growth strategy for our diverse portfolio of event and content brands. This is a leadership role for a strategic thinker who is passionate about building, engaging, and retaining audiences. You will be the central force driving our audience acquisition and engagement engine, overseeing a multi-channel strategy designed for significant and measurable growth. The successful candidate will demonstrate deep expertise coupled with strong execution skills.

Working closely with Emerald’s brand marketing and editorial teams, you will own the full funnel audience journey, from initial awareness to brand loyalty. This position requires a transformative, data-driven leader who can scale a sophisticated growth machine by integrating SEO/AEO/GEO, organic social, performance marketing, content development, and advanced email/CRM strategies. If you are an expert at turning analytics into action and are experienced managing both on and offshore teams, we want to hear from you.

This position will be based in our Alpharetta, GA office.

As the Director of Audience Development, you will own a comprehensive strategy to expand our reach and deepen engagement across all platforms. The successful candidate will:

• Manage specialized teams – including offshore resources - responsible for the execution of Emerald’s brand marketing audience strategy.
• Oversee successful deployment of agentic audience and attendee solutions
• Oversee collection, integration, and activation of first-party audience data across events media, and digital channels to drive acquisition, retention, and monetization strategies.
• Lead SEO/AEO/GEO to capture intent and capitalize on organic traffic by creating unknown to known journeys. Keep up to date on the rapid developments in this space.
• Inform organic social media strategy, transforming our channels into key sources of audience engagement and acquisition.
• Lead attribution tracking and accountability, data & measurement.

Requirements:

• 6-8+ years of progressive experience in audience development, growth marketing, or a related field.
• A proven track record of significant audience growth with demonstrable wins in both SEO and Email.
• Direct experience managing performance media budgets across multiple channels.
• Deep expertise with marketing automation and CRM platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo).
• Mastery of the modern analytics stack, including GA4, BI tools (PowerBI) and Customer Data Platforms (CDPs).
• Extensive experience designing and executing marketing experiments, including A/B testing and incrementality studies.
• Strong understanding of data privacy regulations and best practices for compliant data collection and usage.
• Leadership skills with a history of building, mentoring, and inspiring high-performing teams.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in both B2B and B2C marketing environments.
• Background in events, agency, media, or publishing industries.
• Hands-on experience with BI report interpretation.

About Emerald

At Emerald, we strive to foster a diverse and inclusive community. We actively recruit and champion candidates who bring new perspectives from varied professional backgrounds and experiences, and we are intentional about ensuring a positive hiring experience for everyone. Our job postings don’t contain experience inflation, and most don’t require college degrees. Instead, they’re crafted to focus on outcomes and transferable experiences that are assessed in a structured interview process carried out by trained hiring teams.