Executive Commerce Director, WIRED

Location: New York, NY

About the role

Executive Commerce Director, WIRED is a key managerial role in the Consumer Marketing organization, reporting to the VP of Commerce. The Executive Director will develop the overarching commerce strategy for WIRED in tech, home, and lifestyle to meet ambitious growth targets and identify and launch new consumer-facing ecommerce experiences. This leader will have extensive ecommerce experience and will disrupt the current affiliate ecommerce model to build incremental revenue.

Responsibilities

• Identify and execute on business opportunities and net new consumer experiences that disrupt the current affiliate model: checkout on site via a partner to provide an improved ecommerce experience to the WIRED reader, including direct-to-consumer experiences.
• Ensure all commerce content is of exceptional quality and adheres to brand voice across channels, driving exceptional consumer engagement.
• Build a direct audience for WIRED including newsletter and social, and grow revenue from these mediums.
• Develop and execute a direct revenue strategy to drive audience directly to shop on Wired.com by building a compelling value proposition for shopping and repeat audience monetization.
• Create a commerce proposition that is differentiated within the market and adds value for the reader, partners, and the WIRED brand.
• Improve repeat engagement on commerce content and work on new product features including integrating Commerce on the WIRED App.
• Drive macro-level commerce innovation by identifying, incubating, and launching entirely net-new revenue streams.
• Partner with product/audience teams for comprehensive content and site audits to identify friction points and execute end-to-end optimizations of the on-site ecommerce experience.
• Represent the Commerce division as the lead negotiator in high-stakes, enterprise-level discussions.
• Structure and secure deep strategic alliances, white-label partnerships, and exclusive, multiyear contracts with tier-one retailers (e.g., Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart).
• Identify the long-term strategic direction for WIRED brands, communicate this vision, and develop business plans to deliver growth targets.
• Evaluate current strategies against evolving market conditions, benchmarking against competitors and proxy brands.
• Collaborate with editorial teams on content strategy planning and execution to provide a unified WIRED experience.
• Work closely with advertising teams to identify broader strategic partnership opportunities to improve revenue per page and support commercial sales pitches.
• Propose new ideas to scale data, analytics, and product functions to optimize commerce revenue for WIRED brands.
• Synthesize broad findings into insights that inform content strategy and monetization, leveraging executive presence to influence decisions.
• Mentor, educate, and develop staff, recommending effective processes and procedures to improve workflow and results.
• Partner with Data Insights, Product, and Editorial leadership to identify and implement action plans against headwinds and growth opportunities.
• Collaborate to maximize all go-to-market Commerce activity including newsletter, social media, paid campaigns, and events.
• Demonstrate a nuanced and deep understanding of the product recommendation ecosystem in search, social, newsletter, and video.
• Develop a deep understanding of the target audience and define best practices to reach and engage with them.
• Strategize, plan, and ensure timely execution of weekly, seasonal, and tentpole content calendars that leverage SEO opportunities and business insights.
• Synthesize purchasing data, consumer trends, and competitive analysis to make informed, strategic editorial decisions that drive key Commerce KPIs and revenue growth.
• Collect and analyze audience analytics to make data-informed content decisions.
• Work closely and collaboratively with editorial, advertising, engineering, video, and design teams to push forward Commerce initiatives as a top priority.
• Identify new opportunities for content category growth and assign categories to meet revenue goals.
• Manage profit including revenue and personnel costs.
• Ability to size business opportunities and clearly articulate impact to teams.

Qualifications

• Best-in-class execution from ideation to completion with a deep understanding of WIRED.
• Strong understanding of content-driven commerce.
• 15 years of dedicated content and commerce experience with experience in scaling a business.
• Strong people-management skills required to champion and rally the team toward an evolving media landscape.
• Experience overseeing direct email marketing strategies to maximize audience engagement and lifetime value.
• Experience running a direct-to-consumer business—managing first-party data and direct email marketing required.
• Experience building a content commerce business off-platform on social required.
• Proven vendor and partner relationship management with a commercial viewpoint.
• Team management and five years of leadership experience is required.
• Comfortable with revenue forecasting and planning.
• Experience communicating with and presenting to senior executives and translating company priorities into actionable goals for teams.
• Demonstrated history of fostering and sustaining a diverse and inclusive team; expertise in mentorship and team leadership.
• Strong organizational skills with excellent attention to detail and the ability to juggle multiple priorities.
• Knowledge of best-in-class SEO practices.
• Ability to size business opportunities and leverage data to influence everyday priorities to meet revenue goals.
• Experience working in Google Sheets required.

Pay

The expected base salary range for this position is $195K to $205K. 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.