Publishing Director

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

• 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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Define audiences based on depth of engagement and…