Senior Director, Merchandising

  • United States
  • Marketing Enterprise
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Coursera was launched in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 183 million registered learners as of June 30, 2025. Coursera partners with over 350 leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, and degrees. Coursera’s platform innovations enable instructors to deliver scalable, personalized, and verified learning experiences to their learners. Institutions worldwide rely on Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in high-demand fields such as GenAI, data science, technology, and business. Coursera is a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp.

We’re a global platform aiming to transform lives through learning by offering transformative courses, certificates, and degrees that empower learners worldwide to advance their careers through skill mastery. We’re looking for inventors, innovators, and lifelong learners eager to shape the future of education. If you’re ready to build the global programs and tools that fuel the power of online learning, join Team Coursera.

At Coursera, we are committed to building a globally diverse team and are thrilled to extend employment opportunities to individuals in any country where we have a legal entity. We require candidates to possess eligible working rights and have a compatible timezone overlap with their team to facilitate seamless collaboration. 

Coursera has a commitment to enabling flexibility and workspace choices for employees. Our interviews and onboarding are entirely virtual, providing a smooth and efficient experience for our candidates. As an employee, we enable you to select your main way of working, whether it's from home, one of our offices or hubs, or a co-working space near you.

Job Overview:

Reporting directly to the VP of Growth and Consumer Marketing, the Senior Director, Merchandising will be a strategic leader driving Coursera’s content merchandising vision, with a primary focus on maximizing the monetization potential of both new and existing content. In this role, you will architect and execute innovative merchandising strategies that harness consumer insights, emerging demand signals, content trends, and robust performance metrics to drive revenue, engagement, and conversion across our learning platforms. You’ll also lead go-to-market initiatives for new content launches and cultivate strong partnerships with content providers by developing frameworks that secure and optimize Media Development Fund (MDF) budgets. A sophisticated understanding of consumer purchase psychology, combined with a proven history of building scalable merchandising systems and precise measurement frameworks, is essential for success in this multifaceted role.

Responsibilities:

  • Develop and implement data-driven merchandising strategies to elevate content quality, drive personalization, and optimize conversions across Coursera's digital channels
  • Design scalable content monetization strategies tailored to specific content categories, leveraging innovative revenue models to drive growth for new and existing offerings
  • Foster a culture of innovation and operational excellence, inspiring a high-performing team while promoting a rigorous, data-driven approach to merchandising initiatives
  • Leverage analytics to refine content placements, recommendations, and personalization strategies in alignment with learner preferences and emerging market trends
  • Build cross-functional partnerships with Product, Engineering, Creative, and Marketing teams to integrate merchandising initiatives seamlessly into user experiences
  • Execute go-to-market strategies for new content launches, driving effective MDF utilization and strong collaborations with content providers to maximize revenue potential
  • Minimal travel will be required for industry events, client meetings, and team offsites (estimated 5% travel)

Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Analytics, or a related field
  • 10+ years of progressive experience in digital merchandising, e-commerce, or content marketing, with a proven record of building scalable systems from the ground up
  • Demonstrated expertise in leveraging consumer insights and behavioral data to craft merchandising strategies that drive personalization and robust revenue performance
  • Proven experience in establishing measurement systems that capture incremental performance and guide data-informed strategic decisions
  • Solid track record in developing go-to-market strategies for new content, including experience collaborating with external content partners and utilizing MDF budgets to support partner initiatives
  • Must be in Central OR Eastern Time Zone

Preferred Qualifications:

  • MBA or equivalent advanced degree
  • Strong understanding of consumer purchase psychology—knowing how decision-making processes and behavioral drivers can be strategically leveraged to optimize conversion and engagement
  • Exceptional collaboration and communication skills, with a history of working closely with Product, Engineering, Creative, and Marketing teams in fast-paced, dynamic environments
  • Visionary leadership abilities combined with creative intuition and rigorous analytical skills, enabling the execution of long-term strategic initiatives and sustained revenue growth

If this opportunity interests you, you might like these courses on Coursera:

[FOR US ROLES ONLY]

Compensation

US Zone 1

This role is not available in Zone 1

US Zone 2

$170,000 - 213,000 USD

US Zone 3

$148,800 - 186,000 USD

The range(s) listed above is the expected annual base salary for this role, subject to change.

Salary is just one component of Coursera’s total rewards package. All regular employees are also eligible for a bonus program and equity in the form of RSU’s.

A number of factors are taken into account when determining pay, which includes: job level, location, training/education, business need, skill set and internal equity. 

Current Zone Locations:

  • Zone 1- San Francisco Metro, New York City Metro or Seattle Metro
  • Zone 2 - CA (outside of SF Bay Area), CO, CT, DC, GA, IL, MA, MD, NY/NJ (other than NYC), OR, RI, TX, VA, WA (other than Seattle)
  • Zone 3 - all other US locations
Coursera is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected class.
 
If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, please contact us at accommodations@coursera.org.
 
For California Candidates, please review our CCPA Applicant Notice here.
For our Global Candidates, please review our GDPR Recruitment Notice here.
 

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