Description

The Senior Director, Publications Marketing leads the development and oversees day-to-day execution of the global marketing strategy for Optica’s publications portfolio, including journals, conference proceedings, and digital products. This role drives growth, engagement, brand reputation, and impact by aligning marketing strategy with the society’s mission, the needs of the research community, and evolving trends in scholarly communication.  The Senior Director will collaborate closely with editorial, publishing, sales, analytics, and membership teams to advance the visibility, impact, and revenue of the Society’s scholarly publications and to disseminate high-quality scholarly content worldwide.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy

• Develop and lead a comprehensive publications marketing strategy that supports the Society’s mission, publishing goals, and long-term growth.
• Translate strategic priorities to concrete marketing approaches for the portfolio of open-access and hybrid journals, conference proceedings, and digital products, including author services and researcher engagement across the publication lifecycle.
• Use market research, analytics, and performance metrics to evaluate strategy effectiveness and inform refinement.  Identify publication marketing trends and challenges, particularly in the field of optics and photonics.
• Ensure brand positioning and messaging that is consistently within guidelines and reinforces the Society’s reputation for scientific excellence and integrity.

Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing marketing team, fostering innovation, collaboration, and data-informed decision-making.
• Own and drive core strategic marketing processes, ensuring priority initiatives are executed consistently and to a high standard and helping the team focus on the highest-value work.
• Oversee marketing budgets, vendor relationships, and resource allocation to ensure efficiency and return on investment.
• Represent publications marketing in cross-functional initiatives and at industry meetings, conferences, and partner discussions.

Systems and Processes

• Lead campaign planning, execution, and optimization, and ensure performance across core channels, including web, email, social media, and paid media.
• Partner with editorial and volunteer leadership to drive ongoing promotion and the creation of promotional plans for existing products.
• Collaborate with sales colleagues to support global market expansion and help to meet or exceed annual revenue targets, through effective library and author-marketing campaigns that drive subscription growth and renewals as well as an increase in open-access revenue.
• Improve marketing processes and systems both by driving better use of existing tools and by shaping a pragmatic roadmap for future capabilities (e.g., personalization, automation, and AI).
• Identify and exploit new business opportunities for the development and implementation of new products and/or the acquisition of new products.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree in marketing, communications, publishing, or a scientific discipline preferred.
• 7-10+ years of progressive marketing experience, with significant leadership responsibility.   Experience in senior-level association or commercial publishing marketing a plus.
• Proven success developing and executing strategic marketing plans for complex product portfolios.
• Experience managing teams, budgets, and cross-functional relationships in a mission-driven organization.
• Comfortable embracing new technologies and learning new tools, with experience managing change and helping teams adopt new ways of working. 
• Data-driven mindset and experience using analytics to measure impact and guide decisions.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Deep understanding of scholarly publishing ecosystems, including journals, open access models, and research workflows.
• In-depth understanding of volunteer management and/or scientific publishing society organizations preferred.
• Strong strategic thinking and ability to translate organizational goals into actionable marketing plans.
• Excellent leadership, people management, and team development skills.  Ability to work successfully in a team environment and to lead small teams while remaining hands-on.
• Equally comfortable with creative thinking and with data and analytics; able to move fluidly between concept development and performance evaluation. 
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the capacity to develop high quality communication and presentation materials and communicate effectively with scientific, editorial, and business audiences.  

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