ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, CONTENT MARKETINGThe Assistant Director, Content Marketing leads content strategy and execution across Hachette Book Group's five reader communities: Novel Suspects, Open Book, Little Chapters, and two new verticals currently in development (romance and wellness; brands in development), plus HBG's corporate email program. This role owns the editorial voice, content calendar, and campaign concepts for each community, translating HBG title and author priorities into content built for that community's audience. Performance data informs and sharpens the work: the ideal candidate should be able to look at a large data set, find opportunities, and fold that into the content plan. They are accountable for a continuous test-and-learn program to grow audience reach, engagement, and lifetime value across the full portfolio. The role manages one direct report and works cross-functionally with imprint marketing.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIESCross-Vertical Content & Campaign Execution- Own end-to-end content strategy and execution for the portfolio: the content calendar, campaign concepts, editorial voice for each community, tailored to its distinct audience, and prioritized using audience data (traffic patterns, engagement, retention, revenue), business needs, and SEO insights.
- Follow a structured intake and prioritization process with imprint teams so priority titles and campaigns are evaluated for audience fit and content opportunity, then translated into a concrete content plan for each vertical.
- Collaborate with internal imprint teams to surface priority titles and campaigns, and track the incremental impact of each vertical's content support for key titles (traffic to retailer pages, click-through lift, engagement relative to baseline) to inform future content decisions.
Data Fluency & Testing- Maintain a rigorous, working command of performance data across the portfolio, with the ability to analyze raw data within Google Analytics, Klaviyo, and social platform analytics tools to determine underlying performance drivers, rather than relying solely on summary-level dashboards.
- Interpret performance data for each vertical on an ongoing basis: distinguish meaningful trends from statistical noise, determine the underlying causes of over- or under-performance in content, campaigns, or sends, and translate findings into clear implications for the content strategy.
- Respond promptly to performance signals by initiating tests (e.g., headlines, layout, calls to action, send time, format, or display order) in response to identified underperformance or emerging opportunity, and evaluate outcomes against established benchmarks on an ongoing basis.
- Prepare and deliver a monthly cross-vertical performance report to leadership summarizing key results, areas of decline, and the corresponding content or testing response; monitor list health metrics (growth, churn, engagement, and inactivity) on a continual basis to identify issues promptly.
Audience Segmentation & Lifecycle- Define funnel-stage audience strategy - top (reach, impressions), mid (engagement, site visits), and bottom (email capture, click-throughs, purchase-related behaviors) - for each of the five verticals, and shape content accordingly at each stage.
- Partner with the Email, Retention, and Automation lead on segmentation strategy (subgenre or content interest, engagement level, recency/frequency, life stage) and brief tailored content for each journey - welcome flows, re-engagement, win-back, acquisition - across every vertical and the corporate email program.
Social Media, Influencer, and Partnerships- Develop a content and posting strategy for each vertical's presence on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube, grounded in performance data (best-performing formats, topics, posting times, frequency), and iterate based on ongoing analysis.
- Build and document response and engagement guidelines; monitor community sentiment and themes, and feed insights back into content and campaign planning.
- Design a content-driven influencer partner strategy: objectives, selection criteria, and creative briefs with standardized reporting used to refine investment and partnership models.
Team Leadership- Manage and develop one direct report: set clear content and campaign goals, review work product for quality and audience fit, and hold a consistent editorial and reporting cadence across all five verticals.
- Delegate day-to-day content execution appropriately while retaining direct ownership of strategy, editorial quality, and senior-level reporting.
Innovation & New Vertical Incubation- Own the content and go-to-market plan for the newest verticals, defining the editorial approach and a clear evaluation checkpoint before scaling further investment.
- Source, assess, and execute brand partnerships that increase audience reach, improve content discoverability, and contribute measurable lifts in email acquisition across the portfolio.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES REQUIRED- Excellent, concise writing and editing skills across newsletters, landing pages, and social media, with a strong sense of fit and voice, and the ability to adapt tone across distinct audiences.
- Significant experience managing multiple content brands concurrently, with demonstrable, quantified impact on website traffic, email performance, and social performance.
- Deep familiarity with and enthusiasm for genre marketing and audience behavior (subgenres, key authors, communities, seasonal trends).
- Experience building and managing editorial calendars and content operations, aligning output with data-driven priorities.
- Deep fluency with data: able to read and parse large data sets, segment audiences, and understand what the numbers mean about performance.
- Proven ability to set KPIs, define success metrics, and revise a content plan based on evidence rather than intuition alone.
- Experience managing or mentoring at least one direct report, with the judgment to delegate execution while retaining ownership of quality and results.
- Knowledge of social influencer communities and relevant ecosystems, with experience briefing content and measuring partnership performance.
- Highly organized, able to manage concurrent workstreams and comfortable using project management tools and cadenced reporting to drive accountability.
- Meticulous attention to detail in content accuracy, attribution, formatting, and tracking implementation.
- Proficiency with WordPress, Google Analytics, social media tools, and Klaviyo, with the ability to use these tools for ongoing optimization. Working knowledge of Notion.
- Basic Photoshop and HTML skills a plus.
