Sr. Director, Web Experience and Digital Strategy

Major Function

Lead the strategic vision, digital experience design, and operational management of WWF-US's web presence, including worldwildlife.org and associated digital properties.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership
• Define and drive the long-term strategic vision for WWF's organizational website worldwildlife.org, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities, audience needs, and fundraising goals.
• Set standards for user experience, interaction design, information architecture, and web performance across all digital touchpoints.
• Lead the evolution of WWF's web presence into emerging discoverability channels, including AI-powered search, answer engine optimization (AEO), generative engine optimization (GEO), and large language model (LLM) discoverability.
• Anticipate and respond to shifts in the digital landscape, translating trends in AI, search, and audience behavior into actionable strategies and platform investments.
• Champion an evidence-based approach to web strategy — establishing a culture of analytics, experimentation, and continuous improvement grounded in robust data and user research.
• Vendor and Partnership Management
• Serve as the primary strategic owner of WWF's relationship with its external development partner (currently Torchbox), including oversight of the business as usual development work, one-off project work, support and development agreement, roadmap prioritization, and performance accountability.
• Lead vendor governance: manage contracts, service level agreements, development prioritization, and budget stewardship to ensure the organization receives maximum value from external partnerships.
• Evaluate, recommend, and onboard additional vendors and technology partners as needed to advance web strategy and platform capabilities.
• Digital Experience And Platform Oversight
• Oversee the design, user experience, and operational health of worldwildlife.org, built on Wagtail CMS, ensuring accessibility, performance, security, and compliance with applicable legal standards.
• Lead the web design system and ensure consistent application of brand standards, accessibility requirements (WCAG), and mobile-first responsive design across the site.
• Guide the organization's approach to technical SEO, structured data, and metadata strategy to maximize organic discoverability and search performance.
• Oversee web analytics infrastructure and reporting, ensuring web strategy, updates, and investments are grounded in user data and organizational performance metrics.
• Cross-Functional Partnership and Organizational Influence
• Partner with the Digital Content team to ensure the web experience and content strategy operate as an integrated system — from information architecture to content workflows to discoverability.
• Collaborate with Integrated Marketing, Development, Programs/Goals, and Communications teams to ensure the website meets acquisition, fundraising, and engagement goals.
• Provide thought leadership and serve as an organizational resource on digital experience strategy, emerging platforms, and the evolving role of the web within a multi-channel digital ecosystem.
• Lead CMS training and adoption across editorial and content teams, enabling staff across the organization to contribute effectively to the web.
• Team Leadership and Development
• Manage, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of web professionals, fostering a culture of strategic thinking, craft, and continuous learning.
• Model and reinforce a team culture aligned with WWF's values and the web team's vision: collaborative, curious, impact-driven, and deeply committed to inclusion.
• Lead workforce planning and talent development in partnership with the VP, Digital Platforms, to ensure the team has the skills and capacity needed to execute the web strategy.

Qualifications

• Key Competencies
• Driving for Results
• Selling the Vision
• Establishing and Executing Strategic Direction
• Building Strategic Partnerships
• Developing Talent and Teams
• Skills And Abilities
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience required; master's degree or other relevant graduate degree in digital strategy, user experience, communications, or a related field preferred.
• Minimum of 12 years of progressive experience in web strategy, digital experience, or related fields, including at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Deep understanding of the evolving digital discoverability landscape, including SEO, technical SEO, AEO, GEO, and how AI-powered platforms surface and present web content.
• Conceptual understanding of the end-to-end web development ecosystem, including domains and hosting, version control (e.g., Git/GitHub), and deployment pipelines.
• Ability to make informed strategic decisions, guide cross-functional teams, and engage effectively with engineering partners in these areas, without requiring hands-on implementation expertise.
• Fluency in web analytics platforms (Google Analytics 4 or equivalent) and experience building data-driven performance frameworks that connect web metrics to organizational goals; working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and modern front-end principles; experience with CMS architectures (Wagtail or similar Python/Django-based CMS a plus); proficiency with UX/UI design tools (Figma or equivalent) and familiarity with design systems, accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA or higher), user research methods, and usability testing.
• Significant experience managing external development agencies or vendors, including contract negotiation, SLA management, roadmap governance, and budget stewardship.
• Strong budget management skills, with experience managing multi-year budgets across internal teams and vendor relationships.
• Familiarity with project management platforms (Airtable, Basecamp, Jira, or equivalent) and agile/iterative development methodologies.
• Exceptional strategic communication skills, with the ability to translate technical complexity for non-technical audiences and organizational strategy for technical teams.
• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain collaborative relationships across functions, levels, and disciplines in a complex organizational environment.
• Strong leadership presence, with experience influencing and building organizational alignment around digital priorities.
• Ability to manage multiple high-priority initiatives simultaneously, making sound decisions under ambiguity and in fast-paced environments.
• Committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion within and across teams.