Senior Social Media Manager

About the Role

Define and elevate Upwork's social media presence to drive brand discovery and engagement with new audiences. This role offers a unique opportunity to blend creative vision with operational leadership, shaping social-first storytelling and achieving measurable business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve Upwork’s social media strategy, translating brand positioning and business priorities into clear annual and quarterly plans with defined success metrics.
• Define how social drives discovery, relevance, and credibility with non-followers by setting a strong point of view on platforms, formats, and cultural moments.
• Lead, coach, and develop an established team of social media managers and hybrid contributors, raising the bar on strategic thinking, creative standards, and operating rigor.
• Establish clear goals, performance expectations, and development plans, using consistent feedback loops to support growth and accountability.
• Build a test-and-learn culture where experimentation across content, formats, messaging, and distribution is expected, documented, and shared to improve outcomes.
• Ensure social content is creatively strong, culturally relevant, platform-native, and performance-minded, with clear measurement tied to reach, engagement, and downstream impact.
• Partner closely with Brand, Content, Communications, SEO, Influencer Marketing, and Paid Media teams to amplify social programs and maximize cross-channel impact.

Requirements

• 8+ years leading organic social at scale (brand or agency), owning always-on strategy and execution for at least one primary channel, with a proven ability to drive discovery, engagement, and cultural relevance.
• Strong creative and editorial judgment with a performance mindset, translating insights, trends, and data into platform-native storytelling through testing, experimentation, and continuous optimization.
• Deep understanding of social platforms and formats, with particular strength on LinkedIn and YouTube, and experience speaking to both B2B and B2C audiences.
• Proven senior-level ownership and execution, able to drive work end to end with sound judgment, minimal oversight, and a balance of strategic thinking and hands-on delivery.
• Exceptional written communication skills, moving fluidly between social copy, strategic narratives, and clear, executive-ready documentation.
• People leadership experience, including setting goals, coaching performance, developing managers, and building trust within established teams.
• Experience managing budgets and external partners (agencies, creators, vendors) with clear briefs, feedback, and accountability.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and using modern tools, including AI-powered tools for planning, drafting, analysis, and optimization, paired with strong judgment and a collaborative learning mindset.