Commercial Director
Executive Leadership Team | B2B Commercial Transformation | Digital Advertising Growth
About the opportunity
We are seeking an exceptional Commercial Director to lead the transformation of our B2B commercial business from a print-led advertising model to a digital-first, audience-led and growth-focused organisation. This is a senior enterprise leadership role with accountability for a €30m+ commercial budget and a clear mandate to leverage our strong brand portfolio to reinvent our digital advertising proposition, build new revenue streams, strengthen client experience and reposition the business as a trusted premium partner for advertisers and agencies.
As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, you will play a critical role in shaping commercial strategy, organisational change, product direction and market reputation. You will build a compelling digital advertising business around trust, editorial authority, audience intelligence, premium client experience and measurable commercial outcomes.
What you will lead
Define and deliver the B2B commercial strategy, with clear revenue, margin, audience, product and client growth targets.
Own and manage a €30m+ commercial budget, ensuring disciplined planning, forecasting, margin management and investment decisions that support digital growth.
Lead the shift from legacy print dependency to a modern digital advertising model built around audience value, insight, creativity, measurement and performance.
Develop and commercialise new advertising products that attract investment from new sectors, budgets and clients.
Grow and diversify revenue across direct sales, audio, events, video, programmatic, partnerships, sponsorship, branded content and integrated media solutions.
Create a premium, consultative and consistent client experience from first contact through to delivery, reporting and renewal.
Use audience intelligence to build compelling propositions that help clients understand, reach and influence high-value audiences.
Partner closely with editorial, subscriptions, product, technology and data teams to activate trust, authority and audience knowledge in commercially appropriate ways.
Embed automation, AI and workflow simplification across commercial operations to improve speed, quality, productivity and scalability.
Build, lead and develop teams to create a high-performance, digitally confident and commercially ambitious culture.
About you
You are a strategic and senior commercial leader with strong knowledge of the Irish advertising market, modern digital advertising expertise and the credibility to signal meaningful change both externally to the industry and internally to the commercial team. You are digital-first, tech literate and commercially ambitious, with a real understanding of the wider advertising ecosystem beyond publishing.
You bring proven experience of digital turnaround, growing new revenues from new products and introducing new sales strategies in competitive or disrupted markets. It requires strategic judgement, commercial courage and the ability to lead transformation with clarity, pace and conviction. You will also bring a genuine love of news and journalism, and a clear appreciation of its value to society, audiences and advertisers.
Experience we are looking for
Significant senior commercial leadership experience in media, advertising, digital publishing, platforms, agencies, ad tech or a comparable B2B digital revenue environment.
Strong knowledge of the Irish advertising market, with the industry credibility to open senior conversations and represent a clear digital-first change agenda.
Proven track record of delivering digital turnaround, growing new revenues from new products and creating new sales strategies in competitive or disrupted markets.
Deep understanding of digital advertising and the wider advertising industry beyond publishing, including direct sales, programmatic, video, audio, events, branded content, data-led propositions, ad tech and integrated campaign solutions.
Experience building premium client propositions and leading senior relationships with advertisers, agencies and strategic partners.
Strong understanding of audience data, measurement, segmentation and how insight can be translated into commercial value.
Experience leading organisational change, restructuring teams and building new capabilities in a legacy or transforming business.
Practical understanding of automation, AI and workflow redesign in a commercial or media operating environment.
Genuine appreciation for news and journalism, with the ability to translate trust, editorial authority and quality audiences into relevant commercial value.
Key attributes
Strategic commercial judgement: clever, strategic and future-facing; able to see where the Irish market, clients, audiences and technology are moving and turn that into a clear growth strategy.
Digital-first mindset: tech literate and comfortable building modern propositions around data, audience value, platforms, measurement and demonstrable outcomes.
Client-centricity: focused on premium experience, consultative selling and long-term client value.
Audience intelligence: able to convert insight into products, narratives, campaigns and revenue. Transformation leadership: able to simplify, prioritise, restructure and lead teams through significant change.
Change leadership: able to signal a decisive shift in ambition, capability and market relevance to the industry and to the internal commercial team.
Collaborative influence: able to work effectively across editorial, subscriptions, data, technology, finance and operations.
Commercial courage: willing to make clear choices, stop low-value activity and focus investment on growth opportunities.
Why join us?
This is a rare opportunity to lead a major commercial transformation at the intersection of journalism, audience intelligence, creativity and digital growth. You will have the platform to shape a future-facing revenue model, build a digitally confident commercial organisation and strengthen our position as a premium, trusted media partner for clients who value measurable engagement with high-quality audiences.
