Director, Global Audience Strategy - GQ

Location: 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY

Since 1957, GQ has inspired its readers with unparalleled coverage of style, fashion, culture, news, politics, and more. From award-winning journalism and feature writing to unforgettable photography, videos and live events, GQ creates cultural conversations around the world.

Location

New York, NY

Director of Global Audience Strategy, GQ

GQ is looking for an experienced, high-level strategist to serve as a key advisory resource for GQ’s global executive and editorial leadership, and teams around the world. Reporting directly to the Global Director of Content Strategy, the role will be directly responsible for keeping senior leadership and global editorial directors at the brand informed at the highest level on global audience trends, high-level performance, and monetization opportunities. Their expertise and guidance will directly inform editorial strategy and how that strategy maps onto revenue — from subscription products to off-platform brand extensions and new editorial offerings.

The Director will maintain a global stable of evolving platform best practices for growing GQ’s readership across global platforms but also, crucially establish macro audience growth frameworks that span global markets, driving alignment between content strategy and core business drivers—with a primary focus on scaling GQ’s direct, paying subscriber base and expanding the brand’s global presence across video and audio formats. Using the US market as an innovation testbed, the Director will pilot, validate, and scale high-impact growth models across GQ’s worldwide network.

They’ll keep a steady hand on—and actively improve—the insights that fuel GQ’s leadership and editorial teams. They’ll keep leadership informed on daily performance and build one-off reports for tentpole moments and new brand initiatives. They’ll be plugged into act as a project manager on new growth strategies across platforms like email newsletters, messaging platforms, audio and video podcasts, etc. They’ll dig in with local GQ teams around the world to identify potential growth strategies.

The ideal candidate will look past traditional, legacy SEO and social playbooks to pioneer modern audience development strategies for a post-search, post-social media landscape. They will possess exceptional business acumen, executive presence, and a track record of building trust across global editorial, video, product, and revenue teams. They’ll be excellent at building trust with key leaders across video, editorial, creative, and globally.

Primary Responsibilities

Serve as the primary audience strategist to GQ’s global editor-in-chief, global editorial directors, and executive leadership. Deliver executive-level performance briefings, revenue-impact models, and strategic recommendations to directly inform content investment and global brand extensions.

Architect and oversee an experimental framework in the US to test emerging audience acquisition and monetization strategies, establishing data-backed playbooks designed to be adapted and scaled across GQ’s international editions.

Implement unified and consistent analytics reporting, including modeling revenue and traffic to help us hit our goals, and delivering actionable insights to editorial and video leadership on a regular basis.

Collaborate directly with international GQ market leads to address market-specific audience shifts, unlock new growth channels, and deploy best practices across regions. Proactively respond to challenges that emerge in global reporting, locking in with local leadership at GQs around the world to address traffic shortages and provide smart recommendations for growth opportunities.

Identify and present high-level audience development strategies and guidance for growth on O+O, newsletters, social media, video and audio platforms, messaging apps, through referral sources, etc.

Provide ongoing and assertive guidance to GQ’s editorial, social, video, and creative leadership, including trainings; constantly evaluate the online landscape to future-proof GQ against impacts to audience reach. Identify emerging opportunities for audience engagement that align with editorial vision; propose creative strategies to extend GQ’s reach.

Drive macro audience growth strategies across owned and third-party video and audio channels (YouTube, original series, podcasts, and emerging audio formats).

Maintain a library of GQ’s global best practices for audience growth on SEO, social, social video, email newsletters, audio and video, packaging and headlining, etc. and present updates to the teams regularly

Future-proof the brand against changing algorithm and distribution environments. Shift organizational focus from tactical web search/social traffic to long-term audience retention, direct-to-consumer touchpoints (email, messaging platforms, high-value referral channels), and high-intent engagement.

Lead the global audience strategy for growing GQ’s direct, paying subscriber and member ecosystem. Collaborate with Consumer Marketing and Product to optimize paywall dynamics, conversion funnels, subscriber retention strategies, and premium digital product offerings.

Desired Skills and Qualifications

Strategic Media Experience: 8+ years of progressive leadership experience in digital media, publishing, or entertainment, with a background combining editorial strategy, business intelligence, and high-level audience strategy.

Global Perspective: Proven track record of operating within a multi-market, global media enterprise, with the cross-cultural nuance required to adapt US-tested strategies for international territories.

Executive Presence & Communication: Superior communication and presentation skills, with the ability to synthesize complex data into concise, high-level insights for senior executives, editorial directors, and commercial stakeholders. Will need the ability to clearly deliver feedback and insights to writers, editors, and producers, with diplomacy and finesse, in addition to the professional maturity to delivery only key information and not over-explain.

Direct Business Model Expertise: Deep understanding of consumer revenue, paid subscription funnels, and membership mechanics, alongside modern digital advertising models.

Video & Audio Platform Mastery: Strong strategic familiarity with video and audio ecosystems, audience retention metrics, and algorithmic distribution mechanics across major global multimedia platforms.

Advanced Analytics Capability: Experience overseeing media metrics ecosystem (e.g., Google Analytics, Parse.ly, Adobe Analytics, Snowplow) and translating high-level data models into actionable business strategies. Proficiency with Excel, Snowplow, and SQL queries required.

The expected base salary range for this position is from $145k-165k. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including but not limited to relevant skills, training, experience, and education.

In addition to salary and a generous employee benefits package, successful candidates may also be eligible to receive discretionary bonus compensation.

What happens next?

If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply below, and we will review your application as soon as possible. You can update your resume or upload a cover letter at any time by accessing your candidate profile.

Condé Nast is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, familial status and other legally protected characteristics.