Social Media Specialist

About the role

Groupon connects 42 million customers with local experiences - restaurants, events, wellness and travel - and the million-plus merchants who deliver them. Our mission is to get people offline and into the real world at prices that make it possible. We're an AI-native company in the middle of a platform transformation, moving from a deals marketplace to an experience discovery platform that works for customers and merchants at the same time.

Social Media Specialist - NA

Full-time * Chicago (preferred) or US remote * Reports to Brand Marketing Director

About the Role

We're looking for a Social Media Manager to lead organic social strategy for Groupon across our main market, North America. This is a hands-on, AI-driven role: you'll set the direction, but you'll also be in the platforms every day - building, testing, and producing with generative tools as your default.

You'll report to the Brand Marketing Director, and you'll work closely with the Social Media Manager for International on shared standards, tooling, and production, and partner with our new Creative Director on creative quality and campaign integration. The remit is organic only across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and whichever platform matters next quarter.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & direction

• Lead the organic social strategy across North America (US) - channel mix, content pillars, posting cadence, and platform-specific approaches.
• Define what good looks like for our channels and translate brand strategy into social-native ideas that actually perform on each platform.
• Set quarterly priorities and a content roadmap aligned with brand campaigns, commercial moments, and platform trends.

Hands-on production

• Personally produce flagship content and AI-driven experiments - you should be in the tools, not just briefing them.
• Build with generative tools (e.g. Kling, Higgsfield, Veo, Sora, Runway, Midjourney, ElevenLabs) and adopt new ones as they emerge. Specific tools matter less than fluency and taste.
• Maintain a consistent weekly publishing cadence across priority channels to keep our communities active and our accounts present in the algorithm, using AI-driven production to make that volume possible without dropping the bar on quality.
• Prototype new formats and content concepts that the rest of the team can then scale into a repeatable production line.

Collaboration

• Partner with the Social Media Manager for INTL on shared creative standards, AI tooling, production workflows, and the use of shared resources across the function.
• Work closely with the Creative Director on visual identity, campaign integration, and creative quality.
• Coordinate with regional market leads, PR, performance marketing, and brand to keep social aligned with the wider company narrative.

Performance & insight

• Own the metrics that matter for organic social - views, reach, engagement quality, audience growth, brand-relevant signals - and translate them into clear decisions.
• Run a regular test-and-learn cadence; kill what underperforms quickly; double down on what works.
• Build monthly readouts that move the conversation beyond vanity metrics.

Key Requirements

• Portfolio required. Please submit a link or PDF with your application showing examples of social content you have personally produced, including AI-generated work. A brief document, a portfolio site, or a curated set of live post links all work - candidates without a portfolio won't be assessed.
• 2-4 years in social media, with at least one year of strategic ownership of a brand channel (not purely scheduling/community).
• Deep cultural fluency with how Gen Z audiences consume and create on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube - formats, humor, aesthetic codes, and the cadence at which trends rise and burn out.
• Demonstrable portfolio of AI-generated social content. We will look at the actual work - examples might include AI video (Kling, Higgsfield, Veo, Sora, Runway), AI imagery (Midjourney, Flux), AI audio/voice (ElevenLabs), or hybrid workflows.
• Native or proficient English.
• Deep platform fluency on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube - formats, algorithm behaviour, and what audiences in INTL markets actually respond to.
• Comfort with data: you can read a content performance report and tell the team what to do next.
• Hands-on experience pulling, interpreting, and acting on social data - using either platform-native analytics (TikTok Studio, Meta Business Suite, YouTube Studio) or third-party tools (Sprout, Dash Hudson, Brandwatch, or similar).
• Self-directed. You can take an ambiguous brief and come back with a plan, not more questions.
• Experience running social for a brand operating across multiple European markets.

Nice to Have

• Comfortable being on camera. A meaningful share of our content works best when filmed first-person - trying a deal, walking through an experience, reacting in real time - and willingness to record yourself for that kind of content is a plus.
• Experience leading or mentoring others, even informally.
• Experience working across multiple markets or time zones.
• A track record of being early to a platform or format that later went mainstream.
• Light motion design or visual storytelling chops.
• Background in marketplaces, e-commerce, or local services.

What Success Looks Like

• Our channels feel consistently alive - never quiet, never stale.
• AI-driven production lets us ship more content per week without sacrificing quality.
• Within 12 months, organic social is a measurable contributor to brand health in NA - not just a content channel.
• NA and INTL social operate as one connected function - shared standards, shared tools, no duplicated effort.

Location & Flexibility

• Chicago (preferred) or US remote.
• Hybrid working with regular in-office days.
• Full-time, permanent.
• Compensation: up to USD$70,000/year + 10% target bonus
• Our process: Step 1: Recruiter Screen
• Step 2: Case exercise
• Step3: Interview with Hiring Manager
• Step 4: Interview with CMO

Additional information

Groupon is an AI-First CompanyWe're committed to building smarter, faster, and more innovative ways of working and AI plays a key role in how we get there. We encourage candidates to leverage AI tools during the hiring process where it adds value, and we're always keen to hear how technology improves the way you work. If you're passionate about AI or curious to explore how it can elevate your role you'll be right at home here.

Groupon's purpose is to build strong communities through thriving small businesses. To learn more about the world's largest local e-commerce marketplace, click here. You can also find out more about us in the latest Groupon news as well as learning about our DEI approach. If all of this sounds like something that's a great fit for you, then click apply and join us on a mission to become the ultimate destination for local experiences and services.