Upwork Inc.’s (Nasdaq: UPWK) family of companies connects businesses with global, AI-enabled talent across every contingent work type including freelance, fractional, and payrolled. This portfolio includes the Upwork Marketplace, which connects businesses with on-demand access to highly skilled talent across the globe, and Lifted, which provides a purpose-built solution for enterprise organizations to source, contract, manage, and pay talent across the full spectrum of contingent work. From Fortune 100 enterprises to entrepreneurs, businesses rely on Upwork Inc. to find and hire expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive business transformation. With access to professionals spanning more than 10,000 skills across AI & machine learning, software development, sales & marketing, customer support, finance & accounting, and more, the Upwork family of companies enables businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and transform their workforces for the age of AI and beyond.
Since its founding, Upwork Inc. has facilitated more than $30 billion in total transactions and services as it fulfills its purpose to create opportunity in every era of work. Learn more about the Upwork Marketplace at upwork.com and follow on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X; and learn more about Lifted at go-lifted.com and follow on LinkedIn.
Social is a critical growth lever for Upwork. This Senior Manager, Social Media role represents a step-change opportunity to define Upwork’s social vision, elevate how the brand participates in culture, and drive measurable dscovery and engagement with new audiences. This role blends bold creative judgment with strong operational leadership, balancing social-first storytelling with performance accountability.
This is a people manager role overseeing a team of social media managers, contractors, and agency partners. You will own social strategy end to end, from annual planning through day-to-day execution, with accountability for brand impact, audience growth, and downstream business outcomes. You will stay close enough to the work to shape narratives, creative quality, and executive-ready communication, while enabling the team to operate with clarity, confidence, and sustainable pace.
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 that matter most.
- 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 over time.
- 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.
What it takes to catch our eye
- 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 through social-first work.
- 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, including small business owners, independent professionals, or creators.
- 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, accountability, and thoughtful stewardship.
- Comfort operating in ambiguity and using modern tools, including AI-powered tools for planning, drafting, analysis, and optimization, paired with strong judgment, curiosity, and a collaborative learning mindset.
Come change how the world works.
This position will initially be employed through a partner to ensure a seamless hiring process while we establish the hub. Once the hub is established, there may be opportunities to transition to employment with Upwork depending on business needs and other requirements. While employed by the partner, you’ll work as part of Upwork’s team, with access to our resources, culture, and growth opportunities.
