Director, Social Media & Community Growth Strategy

Director, Social Media & Community Growth Strategy

Macmillan is seeking a strategic and forward-thinking Director, Social Media & Community Growth Strategy to lead our corporate organic social media and community engagement efforts. This role will define the vision and roadmap for how Macmillan connects with readers, authors, and influencers across digital communities—building engagement, discoverability, and measurable growth through best-in-class content, platform innovation, and data-driven storytelling. The Director will oversee the strategy and performance of Macmillan's branded social channels and Fablelistik, Macmillan's line of limited edition and fine press books. This high-visibility leadership role will drive audience and conversion growth across established and emerging platforms—especially video-first channels such as TikTok, and Instagram Reels. The ideal candidate is a creative and analytical strategist with deep expertise in social media ecosystems and a proven ability to translate trends, insights, and algorithms into actionable strategy. The Director will collaborate cross-functionally with publisher marketing teams and CIMA divisions—including Performance Marketing & Audience Development, Direct-to-Consumer Marketing & Ecommerce Strategy, and Author, Brand, & Backlist Marketing Strategy—to deliver cohesive, conversion-driven campaigns that achieve global KPIs, model best practices, and strengthen Macmillan's digital leadership in a constantly evolving landscape. Cover Letter Required.

What you'll do:

• Define and execute the vision for a best-in-class organic social media and community growth strategy across Macmillan's branded channels and Fablelistik, driving audience engagement, discoverability, and conversion.
• Oversee and optimize performance across key platforms—including TikTok, Meta, X, YouTube, LinkedIn and emerging social environments—developing platform-specific content and engagement strategies that deliver measurable growth.
• Lead social strategy and innovation, translating trends, insights, and algorithms into actionable campaigns in a constantly evolving digital landscape.
• Champion a data-informed, conversion-driven approach to organic social media, leveraging analytics and platform insights to refine content, audience development, and engagement tactics.
• Partner with publisher marketing teams to align on and achieve global social media KPIs, model best practices, and support divisional growth through shared insights, trend analysis, and coordinated initiatives.
• Collaborate cross-functionally within CIMA with Performance Marketing & Audience Development, Consumer Insights, and Direct-to-Consumer Marketing & Ecommerce Strategy to integrate organic social media campaigns with paid media, audience analytics, and commerce initiatives creating a unified, conversion-driven digital ecosystem that delivers measurable results across the organization.
• Partner with the D2C and Performance Marketing teams on social-led conversion strategies, including TikTok Shop, Fablelistik, and other commerce-driven initiatives.
• Leverage social listening and analytics tools to identify emerging trends, optimize strategy, and share actionable insights with stakeholders across the company.
• Integrate AI and machine learning to enhance social listening, sentiment analysis, creator discovery, predictive scheduling, audience modeling, and rapid creative iteration, driving measurable improvements in engagement, conversion, and campaign performance across platforms.
• Drive continuous innovation in response to evolving platforms, technologies, and audience trends, keeping Macmillan at the forefront of social storytelling, engagement, and digital culture.
• Guide and mentor a high-performing team, fostering creativity, innovation, and operational excellence across social content and community management.

What you'll bring:

• 10+ years of experience in social media and digital marketing, ideally within publishing, entertainment, lifestyle or a creative consumer brand.
• 3+ years of people management experience, with a track record of developing and leading high-performing teams.
• Proven ability to set and deliver a vision for best-in-class social strategy that drives measurable engagement, conversion, and brand growth.
• Deep expertise in social platform ecosystems, algorithms, and analytics, and TikTok in particular, with fluency in video-first content and community-building strategies.
• Strong command of social analytics, reporting, and listening tools (Emplifi, Sprinklr, Meltwater, Sprout Social, or equivalent).
• TikTok Shop, Meta Shop and social commerce experience a plus.
• Ability to translate data, cultural insights, and trends into actionable creative direction that supports both audience engagement and revenue goals.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration and communication skills, with experience aligning multiple stakeholders to corporate objectives.
• Strategic leadership style that balances creativity with operational discipline, fostering innovation and accountability across teams.
• Passion for books, digital storytelling, and community connection, with curiosity for the technologies and trends shaping the future of social media marketing.

Salary range for this position $120,000 to $130,000. This position is classified as remote but is tied to our New York, NY office located at 120 Broadway. Employment is subject to New York State tax withholding under applicable regulations.

Macmillan Publishers is the U.S. trade company that is part of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large family-owned group of media companies headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's publishing companies include prominent imprints around the world that publish a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats. U.S. publishers include Celadon Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, The St. Martin's Publishing Group, and Tor Publishing Group. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, companies in the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group publish under the Pan Macmillan name. The German publishing company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur.

Macmillan is proud to be an equal opportunity employer consistently striving to foster a culture where everyone belongs. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and identities. Qualified applicants are evaluated without regard to race, color, religion, age, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, physical ability, neurodiversity, genetic information, protected veteran status, family and economic status and background or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. We prohibit discrimination of any kind and will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law.