Director, Digital Insights

About this role

OVERVIEW

A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. The NPR audience values information, creativity, curiosity, and social responsibility – and our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields, from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day, our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide.

Across our organization, we’re building a workplace where collaboration is essential, diverse voices are heard, and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at NPR . This means that integrity, adherence to our ethical standards, and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at NPR.

Intro to Position

The Director of Digital Insights serves as the strategic compass for our digital ecosystem, establishing the insight engine that drives long-term portfolio growth and audience engagement. Sitting at the intersection of complex behavioral data, primary research, and executive decision-making, this high-visibility leadership role is tasked with elevating how our organization measures value and understands our audience across every digital touchpoint.

While shaping the long-term vision for the domain, you will immediately steer two key transformational initiatives: the launch of a new flagship mobile application, and guiding a foundational re-thinking of our digital video strategy. Leading a multi-tiered insights team, you will ensure technical data integrity, redefine monetization metrics, and translate product performance into executive-level strategic directives that continuously evolve our platform ecosystem. Reports to Vice President of Audience Insights.

Responsibilities

• Flagship App launch strategy: Partner with app leadership, Product and Engineering to architect the measurement framework, behavioral tracking, and lifecycle KPIs for the new centerpiece mobile application .

• Team leadership & capability building: Build, mentor, and cultivate a high-performing insights team. Provide tailored coaching across varying levels of leadership and skill, fostering technical excellence (advanced SQL techniques, database design principles, and query optimization), strategic thinking, and influence.

• Video playbook reinvention: Build a modern, cross-platform video insights strategy that tracks engagement, consumption, and loyalty across web, app, and third-party video ecosystems.

• Primary research specification: Identify critical gaps where behavioral data fails to explain user intent. Design, scope, and write complex methodologies for qualitative and quantitative primary consumer research to validate the new business model.

• Technical oversight & governance: Guard data integrity across the pipeline. Ensure the analytics team maintains rigorous tagging standards and comprehensive quality control (QC) procedures during rapid product iterations.

• Narrative-driven Influence & storytelling: Transform complex, multi-dimensional data into compelling, visually intuitive stories. Champion the "so what?” and “now what?" behind the numbers, translating technical behavioral data into clear, persuasive narratives for executive leadership that turn metrics into actionable business strategies.

• Cross-functional alignment & mediation : Serve as the primary strategic bridge and connective tissue between deeply technical analytics, developers, and content creator business units. Proactively navigate and resolve conflicting priorities, differing data interpretations, and cross-functional friction, aligning diverse stakeholders around a unified, data-backed product vision.

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time.

Required Skills/Competencies

• Web & cross-platform measurement strategy: 8+ years of experience leading digital analytics strategy, with proven expertise in architecting web measurement frameworks, site optimization analytics, and tracking cross-platform user journeys across web, mobile, and video ecosystems.

• Complex stakeholder management: Demonstrated ability to navigate matrixed organizations, build alignment across disparate departments (Product, Engineering, Editorial/Content, Development), and translate complex data insights into clear, actionable executive directives.

• Mobile app &video domain expertise: Hands-on leadership in mobile app analytics—specifically defining measurement frameworks and lifecycle KPIs for new app launches—alongside modern digital video measurement across owned platforms and third-party video networks.

• Mixed-methods insights leadership: Expertise in bridging quantitative behavioral data with quantitative and qualitative primary research methodologies to explain user intent, validate new digital business models, and identify portfolio growth opportunities.

• Technical analytics governance: Deep familiarity with modern data pipelines, tag management systems, product analytics tools (e.g., GA4, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Segment), and establishing strict QC/data integrity protocols across fast-paced development cycles.

• SQL expertise and literacy: Direct, strategic experience using SQL to manipulate complex datasets to produce analysis of user journeys and behavioral segments. Ability to evaluate analyst code for efficiency, accuracy, and full utilisation of available data.

• Multi-tiered people management: Proven track record of building and leading insights teams, with specific experience coaching both individual contributor managers and developing first-time supervisory managers while mentoring junior analysts.

Preferred Qualifications

• Media, public media or subscrip

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