Publishing Director – Commercial Growth & Audience Engagement

Reports to the Managing Director

This role is based in our Hawley, Dartford office, with regular travel to our HQ in Herne Hill

Start date: 1st April

The Publishing Director is responsible for driving commercial growth, audience engagement and performance across a defined portfolio of brands. This is a senior leadership role, with clear accountability for revenue, product performance, content strategy, and commercial outcomes.

The role exists to increase the value of our audiences, improve monetisation, and ensure our brands remain commercially relevant, differentiated, and sustainable in a competitive and evolving market.

A key focus of the role is making clear, evidence-based decisions on where to invest, where to evolve, and where to stop, balancing commercial ambition with long-term brand health.

The Publishing Director will work closely with commercial, marketing, editorial and data teams to deliver measurable growth in audience engagement, revenue and profitability.

Our Organisation

Mark Allen Group is a values-led business. We are looking for a Publishing Director who delivers strong commercial growth, audience engagement, and performance outcomes in a way that reflects our values of Passionate, Creative, Nurturing and Fair.

Passionate – Brings energy, pace and ownership to driving commercial growth, audience engagement and revenue performance.

Creative – Thinks differently about content, formats and commercial models, using insight and data to challenge legacy approaches and improve results.

Nurturing – Develops editorial and commercial leaders, raises standards, and builds confidence and capability through change.

Fair – Makes balanced, transparent decisions, sets clear expectations, and applies standards consistently across teams and brands.

What type of person would best fit?

• Commercially sharp, with strong judgement on where to invest and where to stop.

• Confident in making evidence-based decisions that improve audience engagement and revenue.

• Comfortable leading change in established brands and legacy environments.

• Clear and direct in setting expectations, while bringing people with them.

• Practical, outcome-focused and resilient under pressure.

This role requires a leader who can balance commercial pace with responsible leadership, ensuring results are delivered sustainably and with integrity.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Logic

Revenue is a function of engagement depth, not reach. Authoritative content attracts the right audience. Engagement proves influence. Influence is what advertisers, sponsors, and partners pay for. The Publishing Director is accountable for designing editorial and content strategy backwards from monetisation and commercial outcomes.

 Commercial Accountability

• Deliver sustained revenue growth driven by audience engagement.

• Translate editorial engagement into monetisable products and propositions.

• Build clear commercial pathways from content to revenue.

• Hold teams accountable for engagement metrics that directly support monetisation.

• Make clear, timely decisions to stop content and products that do not deliver engagement or revenue.

 Leadership and Culture

• Build a culture where editorial teams clearly understand how engagement drives commercial value and long-term sustainability.

• Set clear, transparent KPIs linking editorial performance to commercial outcomes, and hold teams accountable against them.

• Develop confident editorial and commercial leaders who think in terms of engagement, conversion, yield and ROI.

• Challenge legacy thinking constructively, helping teams move beyond a separation of editorial success and revenue.

Editorial Content as a Revenue Engine

• Ensure editorial strategy is explicitly designed to drive engagement, loyalty, and influence.

• Build content that attracts senior, high-value professional audiences.

• Use engagement data (time spent, return frequency, and conversion) to guide editorial investment.

• Ensure every major editorial initiative has a clear monetisation rationale.

• Balance credibility and independence with commercial outcomes.

Audience Engagement and Monetisation

• Define audiences based on depth of engagement and commercial value, not scale alone.

• Turn engagement into revenue via advertising, sponsorship, events, awards, webinars, research, data products, subscriptions, and premium content.

• Work closely with sales to package engaged audiences into high-yield propositions.

• Increase yield per engaged user across the portfolio.

Product and Portfolio Leadership

• Own the publishing product roadmap with engagement-led commercial logic.

• Launch new content and products quickly, test engagement, and monetise quickly.

• Scale products where engagement converts into revenue.

• Make clear decisions to discontinue products where engagement does not justify ongoing investment.

Experience and Profile

• Senior leadership experience in B2B publishing or B2B media.

• A proven track record of monetising engaged professional audiences.

• Deep understanding of how editorial content drives commercial performance.

• Confidence in owning revenue targets and engagement KPIs.

• Strong experience working with sales and commercial teams.

Why join Mark Allen Group?

• Be part of a specialist media business with strong, trusted brands and loyal professional audiences.

• Work in a hybrid environment that encourages collaboration

• Lead commercially significant brands with real autonomy and accountability.

• Contribute to work that informs, connects and supports industries that matter.

• Join a culture grounded in passion, creativity, fairness and long-term thinking.

 How to apply

• Upload your application via our careers site.

• You may include a short video introduction if you wish (optional).

• References or recommendations can also be shared (optional).

 Right to Work
Applicants must have the right to live and work in the UK. We do not offer visa sponsorship.

About Us

For over 40 years, the Mark Allen Group has built and grown specialised media brands that inform, connect, and support professional communities. We operate across healthcare, education, agriculture, business, finance, travel, retail, exhibitions, and critical communications, combining trusted content, data, events, and insight. We are a commercial media owner with a long-term mindset, balancing strong legacy brands with innovation and evolution. Our people play a central role in shaping how our audiences engage with us today and how we grow for the future.

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