Retention & Performance Manager

Your Team: You will be joining the Customer Marketing team, with a focus on Retention, a data-driven and commercially minded group dedicated to deepening our relationship with our audience. We focus on understanding our customers' needs to ensure they continue to find value in our world-class journalism and digital products.

Your Role: As our Retention & Performance Manager, you will take ownership of the numbers, reporting directly to the Head of Retention. You will be accountable for save rate, churn, and renewal performance across our subscriber base, translating complex data into clear commercial recommendations and executing strategies to drive results. This is a role for an analytical mind with the commercial instinct to turn insights into action and balance technical reporting with creative campaign design.

Day to day You Will

• Own and report on core retention KPIs, including cancellation rate, save rate, renewal performance, churn, tenure, and lifetime value.
• Produce clear weekly and monthly reporting with actionable recommendations for the wider business.
• Identify trends in churn and cancellation data to diagnose root causes and develop targeted interventions.
• Manage the retention offer strategy and annual renewal cycles to maximise save rates and commercial return.
• Build and optimise churn prevention and reactivation journeys across multiple channels using test-and-learn frameworks.
• Design and execute campaigns to reduce cancellations and re-engage subscribers, measuring performance rigorously.
• Collaborate with product, data, and UX teams to improve on-site journeys, with a particular focus on the online cancellation flow.
• Present performance insights and recommendations to stakeholders, translating data into compelling narratives.
• Lead cross-functional projects alongside editorial, customer service, and product teams to ensure a joined-up subscriber experience.

what we're looking for from you

• Possession of a commercially minded approach, showing equal comfort with owning metrics and running marketing campaigns.
• Experience in retention or lifecycle marketing within a digital subscription or media environment, with a track record of measurably reducing churn.
• Experience with churn reporting, renewal cycle management, and save rate optimisation beyond basic campaign execution.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to build and interpret reports using data tools such as Excel or BI platforms like Tableau.
• Proficiency in customer segmentation, journey design, and lifecycle automation tools.
• Ability to move from insight to action quickly, leading initiatives end-to-end while collaborating effectively across diverse teams.
• Natural instinct for prioritisation, staying focused on the most impactful numbers and metrics.

If you think you have what it takes but don’t tick every requirement on the list, please do apply. We recognise that considering someone’s potential as well as their experience is a great way to hire. We want to hear from people who have a passion to learn and develop.

News UK is one of the leading media businesses in the UK and Ireland. Our newsbrands include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday and The TLS. Our national broadcast brands include talkSPORT, Times Radio and Virgin Radio UK, and we have market-leading local stations across Ireland. Our world-famous brands provide news, analysis, opinion and entertainment to almost 40 million people each month. Spanning print and pixel, audio and video, events and experiences, our multi-format brands are home to a plurality of opinion, representing the diverse communities we serve. Driven by passion, guided by principles and acting with purpose, we exist to promote a fair society, freedom of speech and a little bit of fun. Rethinking continually the business of storytelling, we represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter.

At News UK, we embrace a hybrid work model, currently requiring a minimum of three days per week in the office. This approach fosters collaboration, innovation, and team spirit within our workspace. Certain roles may necessitate additional in-office days; please discuss this with your recruiter for specific requirements.

Life at News Driven by passion, guided by principles and acting with purpose. We represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter. We inform our audiences so that they can make decisions based on trusted information.

We represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter most. To ensure these stories resonate with as broad an audience as possible, it is essential that our organisation reflects the diversity of the people we reach. Whether through age, gender, ethnicity, disability, social class or sexuality, we are committed to representing the rich variety of voices that make up our society. And we champion a culture where everyone has the opportunity to contribute and thrive as we continue to innovate and drive long term sustainable growth. This is done through our Diversity Strategy.

At News UK, we take pride in our exceptional employee-led networks that bring together individuals with shared interests and create a vibrant sense of community. We believe our networks play a vital role in fostering a collaborative and supportive work culture at News UK. Groups that we support include the African & Caribbean Network, Parents and Carers, and LGBTQ+ group News Is Out, and the Apprentice Society.

Benefits

Some of our benefits include:

• Private medical insurance including coverage for pre-existing conditions
• Discounted gym memberships, free ClassPass at Home, weekly in person/ virtual exercise classes
• ‘Bikes for Work’ and ‘Electric Car’ scheme

We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to perform to their best when applying for a role. If you would like to receive any information in a different way or for us to do anything differently to support you to apply for any of our roles please contact us on careers@news.co.uk.