Manager, Social & Emerging Platforms

Job Description:

The Trust is the award-winning creative studio of The Wall Street Journal and Barron's Group, creating premium branded content and storytelling for some of the world's leading brands. We combine the journalistic excellence and authority of our publications with strategic creativity, data-driven insights and innovative content experiences to help clients connect with influential audiences.

The Manager, Social & Emerging Platforms is a strategic and creative thinker tasked with helping to drive the cross-functional vision, growth, and execution of emerging and evolving content formats including social, TV and LLM-optimized formats for Custom Content and Brand Advertising.

Evolving beyond core social channel management and creative vision, this role bridges creative direction, platform strategy, and commercial opportunity. You, with a new social team, will establish centralized ownership over the custom and brand social ecosystem—from pricing and product strategy to paid distribution and end-to-end creative direction. Additionally, this role acts as a primary cross-platform strategist, expanding storytelling initiatives into appropriate TV formats with social extensions as well as actively contributing to traditional video programming, host/talent engagements, and next-generation media consumption platforms.

Positioned with clear cross-departmental visibility, you will re-establish early-stage involvement in pre-sale strategic development, ensuring social and emerging platform strategies are baked into overarching campaign narratives rather than added downstream. You will also oversee dedicated execution resources across paid media and creative strategy, elevating the organization’s overall expertise and driving commercial revenue growth.

This role offers an early progression path toward creative leadership across the broader media organization and visibility with new teams, including TV. 

• Strategic Vision & Commercial Ownership
  • Centralize Social Strategy: Serve as the primary, authoritative voice of social as a cross-MMS function across both Custom Content and Brand Advertising.
  • Product & Pricing Strategy: Partner with Product Strategy to design, price, and package scalable social products, custom content offerings, and paid distribution models that reflect competitive publisher benchmarks.
  • Early-Stage Pre-Sale Ideation: Re-establish early seat-at-the-table involvement in high-value pre-sale pitch workflows, shaping core strategic frameworks and creative directions from inception.
  • Cross-Departmental Enablement: Develop internal education, standards, and training to enable sales, planning, and editorial teams, driving revenue growth and reducing execution friction.
• Creative Direction & Platform Expansion
  • Omnichannel Creative Direction: Lead high-level creative direction for social-first campaigns while expanding traditional Creative Director duties across broader media formats where new platforms and social and LLM optimization are critical – expected to be a greater number of campaigns. 
  • Emerging Content Platforms: Continuously evaluate and test new platforms, content formats, and media consumption habits to keep the studio at the forefront of digital culture and audience behavior.
  • Paid & Organic Alignment: Oversee paid social strategies and organic content outputs, ensuring campaign creative aligns with platform-native behaviors and delivery algorithms.
• Team Leadership & Resource Management
  • Team Supervision: Working with your manager, direct and manage dedicated execution resources, including Full-Time Paid Social Strategists and Social Writer, delegating day-to-day tactical output to focus on higher-level strategic expansion.
  • Workflow Optimization: Establish formalized team structures and operational workflows that eliminate organizational ambiguity and streamline production between internal creative, sales, and product teams.
    

• Experience: 7+ years of progressive experience in digital strategy, social media leadership, or creative strategy within a media publisher, agency, or content studio environment.
• Strategic & Commercial Acumen: Proven track record of developing market-ready digital/social products, establishing pricing strategy, and shaping pre-sale pitches that win commercial business.
• Creative Scope: Strong portfolio of creative direction spanning short-form social, native video, platform-first strategy, and cross-platform extensions (e.g., experiential, events, hosting).
• Team Management: Experience delegating execution to direct reports or specialized strategists (paid and creative) while maintaining quality control and high-level client delivery.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Ability to navigate complex, matrixed media organizations, build consensus across product/editorial/sales teams, and establish formal operational ownership.