The Washington Spirit is seeking a Director of Growth & Retention to lead Washington Spirit’s paid and owned media strategy in service of single-game ticket revenue, fan retention, and season-to-season growth. This role is accountable for driving demand, conversion, repeat attendance, and upsell across the full fan lifecycle—from awareness to fandom—by designing scalable campaigns, programs and fan journeys across paid media, email, SMS, and web platforms.
Reporting to the Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, the Director serves as a strategic thought partner and sounding board while owning executional excellence across growth channels. This role manages external paid media agencies, partners cross-functionally with ticketing and strategy teams, and leads the evolution of a fan-first digital ecosystem designed to convert casual awareness into lasting fandom.
The Director of Growth & Retention will:
- Own growth and retention strategy across paid and owned channels, with direct accountability for single-game ticket sales and retention rates of single-game buyers.
- Lead paid media strategy and performance across paid social, search, display, and emerging platforms, with a focus on efficiency, incrementality, and revenue impact
- Manage and optimize paid media budgets, forecasting performance and reallocating spend based on ROI, saturation, and match-level priorities
- Serve as the primary point of accountability for external paid media agencies, ensuring strategy, performance transparency, and continuous optimization tied to ticketing outcomes
- Partner closely with the Ticket Sales team to align media strategy with inventory, pricing, promotions, and priority matches
- Design and oversee lifecycle and retention programs across email, SMS, and owned digital touchpoints that drive repeat purchases and season-to-season retention
- Build scalable, automated fan journeys that move fans from awareness to first purchase, repeat purchase, and long-term loyalty
- Own email and SMS channel growth, including list acquisition, engagement quality, conversion contribution, and churn management
- Collaborate cross-functionally with ticketing, partnerships, content, brand, and analytics teams to ensure growth efforts ladder directly to revenue goals
- Establish and track clear KPIs, including cost per acquisition, ticket revenue, repeat purchase rate, retention, and fan lifetime value
- Translate insights into action, adjusting channel mix, pacing, messaging, and match prioritization based on performance
- Champion a fan-first, revenue-driven mindset aligned with the Spirit’s brand and mission to grow women’s sports
- Stay current on digital marketing trends, marketing automation tools, privacy regulations, and best practices in consumer growth and sports marketing
The ideal candidate has:
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Digital Media, or a related field
- 8+ years of experience in growth marketing, digital marketing, or performance marketing within a consumer-facing industry
- Proven experience managing paid media budgets with a strong track record of driving measurable growth and revenue outcomes
- Demonstrated success building and executing automated fan or customer journeys, including lifecycle email and/or SMS campaigns personalized by behavior and purchase data
- Deep understanding of paid media strategy, attribution, and performance measurement across digital channels
- Experience managing external agencies and cross-functional stakeholders
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data, identify trends, and translate insights into strategy
- Comfort working in fast-paced, revenue-driven environments with ambitious growth goals
- Experience in sports, entertainment, or live events is a plus, but not required
- A passion for storytelling, fan engagement, and growing women’s sports
- Excellent leadership, communication, and collaboration skills
Location:
This role is primarily based at our Falls Church, VA office. Our front office team follows a hybrid arrangement.
ABOUT THE WASHINGTON SPIRIT
The Washington Spirit is a founding club of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), proudly representing the Washington, DC metropolitan area. It is the first franchise to have a minority woman hold a majority stake. A visionary entrepreneur, Michele Kang, is leading a new era for women’s sports with a vision to:
- Become the most preeminent sports organization in the world
- Build a high-performance culture of winning on and off the pitch
- Train women as women
- Motivate and inspire the next generation of girls and women
We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital or veteran status, or any other protected class.
