Director of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

About Us:

 

Ground News https://ground.news/ is a news comparison platform that makes it easy to compare sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. We give people the tools to understand the world across perspectives; to see how a story is being framed, and recognize what they're not being shown.

We believe a healthy civil society depends on citizens who can navigate the information ecosystem with clarity and independence, rather than retreat into echo chambers or outsource their judgment.

Unlike most tech platforms, we don't rely on algorithms to keep users hooked so we can sell ads. We're supported by readers who pay for a subscription to build a more nuanced understanding of the news, the world, and themselves.

The Opportunity: Director of CRO

This role is joining Ground News at a pivotal stage of scale. As our reader base expands globally, optimizing how we introduce users to our premium ecosystem is one of our most critical growth levers.

Sitting within the Revenue function but operating at the vital intersection of Marketing and Product, you will hold end-to-end accountability for improving, scaling, and monitoring all user conversion flows across our web and mobile app platforms.

This is a high-impact, hands-on role requiring a blend of strategic user-experience psychology and data-informed execution. You will directly own the key subscription entry points: from content metering rules and web funnel redesigns to the critical initial minutes of mobile app onboarding. You will turn anonymous readers into highly engaged, lifelong active subscribers, ensuring our acquisition loops are frictionless, data-transparent, and fully aligned with our mission to enhance trust and media literacy.

What You’ll Do:

• End-to-End Funnel Ownership: Take complete accountability for the conversion rates, user journeys, and revenue outcomes across all digital touchpoints (Web, iOS, and Android).

• Onboarding & In-App Optimization: Architect, test, and refine the mobile app onboarding sequence and in-app purchase (IAP) funnels to maximize user activation and initial paywall conversion.

• Web Funnel Strategy & Redesign: Lead the continuous optimization and strategic structural redesign of our web acquisition funnels, landing pages, and checkout experiences.

• Content Metering & Paywall Architecture: Own the performance, rules, and deployment of our content paymeters, balancing open access to information with clear value propositions for our premium tiers.

• High-Velocity Experimentation: Design, launch, and analyze a continuous roadmap of A/B and multivariate tests spanning copy, pricing presentation, visual layouts, and user flows.

• Cross-Functional Execution: Partner seamlessly with our Product, Analytics, and Engineering teams to ensure tracking instrumentation is flawless and that monetization strategies respect our user experience. You'll drive your roadmap through influence and prioritization; securing the engineering and design capacity your experiments require, rather than direct authority.

• Performance Monitoring & Reporting: Establish definitive dashboards to track core subscription health metrics (e.g., stop rates, hit-to-lead ratios, checkout abandonment, and trial-to-paid conversion).

What You’ll Bring:

• Proven Growth Track Record: 5+ years of experience specializing in conversion rate optimization (CRO), growth marketing, or product-led growth (PLG) within a D2C subscription or consumer-centric product, where you have personally owned conversion outcomes.

• Data Savviness: You are highly analytical and deeply comfortable navigating behavioral data. You possess a strong baseline familiarity with SQL to write your own queries, segment data, and independently validate funnel performance.

• Funnel Mastery: Deep, systemic understanding of digital subscription mechanics, user psychology during checkout, and native mobile payment behaviors (Apple IAP / Google Play Billing).

• Cross-Functional Influence: A proven ability to drive outcomes through partners you don't directly manage; aligning Product, Engineering, and Marketing around a shared conversion roadmap and earning the capacity to ship it.

• Strategic Communication: An ability to sit comfortably between marketing,product, and engineering, translating conversion data into clear, actionable technical requirements and visual briefs.

• Execution Mindset: A self-directed operator who loves building frameworks from scratch, setting clean testing hypotheses, and moving fast without sacrificing analytical rigor.

Nice to Haves:

• Direct, hands-on experience utilizing modern paywall and optimization tooling such as Superwall or Piano.

• Familiarity with our growth and data ecosystem: Posthog, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and Customer.io http://Customer.io (CIO).

• A healthy relationship with failed experiments: you treat a losing test as a signal rather than a setback, and you thrive on quick build-measure-learn loops that turn rapid iteration into compounding wins.

• Passion for media literacy, news analysis, or experience working with content-rich digital products.

Why Work at Ground?

Co-founded by a former NASA engineer and Bain consultant, a position with Ground News provides an unparalleled learning experience both personally and professionally. At Ground, we prioritize growth: both for our business and team members. You’ll have the freedom to work remotely and play a key role in the development of Ground News products.

This is an opportunity to work with a growing and mighty team that is working every day to build a world where cooperative, civil debate is the norm, media is accountable, and critical thought is the baseline of our information consumption. Ground is based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, but this role is remote.

What you’ll enjoy at Ground News:

💰 Competitive total rewards: A market-benchmarked base salary, calibrated to your location.

🌍 Remote-first environment: Work from anywhere in Canada, on your own time zone plus enjoy in-person meetups and team gatherings.

🩺 Health & Wellness that matter: Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance coverage for you and your family.

📈 Keep growing: Access to professional development opportunities to keep expanding your skills and career.

🚀 Mission-driven team: Join a group of smart, dedicated people who are building meaningful products with real-world impact.

Our culture is one of collaboration, creativity, and diverse perspectives. If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding accessibility needs, please contact talent@ground.news, and a member of our team will be happy to help.