Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Web Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Web Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operation, strategic development, and continuous optimization of an organization's public-facing and/or intranet websites. This role owns CMS governance, SEO and analytics implementation, web performance and security practices, cross-functional delivery with marketing/IT/product teams, vendor management, and a roadmap that drives traffic, engagement, conversions, and revenue. The Web Manager balances tactical execution (content publishing, QA, tag deployment) with strategic initiatives (site migrations, personalization, A/B testing, accessibility compliance) and acts as the primary web point of contact across digital, marketing, and technical teams.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Web Specialist / Web Producer
Digital Marketing Manager
Front-end Developer / Web Developer

Advancement To:

Director of Web & Digital Experience
Head of Digital Marketing / VP of Digital
Product or Platform Lead (digital experience platforms)

Lateral Moves:

SEO Manager / Conversion Rate Optimization Lead
UX/Product Manager
Digital Project Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Own and execute the end-to-end website operations plan, including content publishing schedules, release coordination, QA, and rollback procedures to ensure high availability and consistent brand experience.
Act as the primary administrator for the content management system (CMS), managing templates, content models, permissions, publishing workflows, and ongoing CMS optimization to accelerate publishing velocity.
Develop, prioritize, and manage the web roadmap and backlog in collaboration with marketing, product, IT, and design teams to deliver iterative improvements, feature releases, and technical migrations on time and within budget.
Lead site performance optimization initiatives — including page speed improvements, image optimization, lazy loading, CDN configuration, and code-splitting — to improve Core Web Vitals and user engagement metrics.
Implement and maintain SEO best practices across site architecture, metadata, schema markup, canonicalization, hreflang, URL structure, and XML sitemaps to drive organic traffic growth and search visibility.
Design and execute A/B and multivariate testing programs using platforms such as Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize or similar, interpreting results to increase conversion rates and revenue.
Configure, maintain, and govern web analytics and tag management: GA4, Google Tag Manager, server-side tagging, event taxonomy, dashboards and regular reporting to measure KPIs and inform decision-making.
Ensure web accessibility (WCAG 2.1/2.2) compliance across templates and content and lead remediation efforts, accessibility testing, and procurement of accessibility tooling or audits.
Oversee site security and reliability practices including TLS/SSL management, WAF/CDN configuration, vulnerability scanning, patch coordination, and incident response protocols to protect customer data and maintain uptime.
Manage website migrations, platform upgrades, and large release projects (e.g., CMS replatforms, domain consolidations) including technical planning, SEO migration mapping, testing, and post-launch monitoring.
Coordinate third-party integrations with CRM, marketing automation (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo, Eloqua), e-commerce platforms, personalization engines, and APIs to ensure seamless data flow and campaign execution.
Lead cross-functional web governance including editorial calendars, content quality standards, brand guidelines, user experience patterns, and approval workflows to maintain consistency and reduce risk.
Serve as the escalation point for web incidents and outages; lead post-incident reviews, root cause analysis, remediation plans and permanent fixes to minimize recurrence.
Manage relationships with external vendors and agencies — including SLA negotiation, scope management, QA of deliverables, and budget oversight for design, development, hosting, and analytics services.
Conduct regular technical and content audits, identify opportunities for revenue uplift and UX improvements, and present prioritized action plans to stakeholders and leadership.
Oversee and mentor web operations team members, contractors, or cross-functional contributors, set performance goals, and ensure skills development in CMS, analytics, SEO and front-end best practices.
Implement personalization and targeted content strategies using behavioral data, segments and customer signals to improve engagement and retention across key journeys.
Maintain and improve tagging taxonomy and data-layer standards to enable reliable experimentation, personalization, and downstream analytics/BI usage.
Coordinate responsive design, cross-browser and mobile optimization efforts with designers and front-end developers to ensure consistent experiences across devices.
Create and maintain runbooks, deployment checklists, rollback procedures, and content governance documentation to support operational continuity and onboarding.
Provide stakeholder-facing reports and presentations on web performance, traffic trends, conversion funnels, SEO health, test outcomes, and roadmap progress to marketing and executive teams.
Drive continuous improvement in workflow automation (CI/CD for front-end, automated testing, build optimization) to shorten release cycles and reduce manual overhead.
Define and manage website-related budgets, vendor invoices, hosting expenses, and recommend cost-optimization opportunities without sacrificing performance or security.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc analytics requests and collaborate with BI teams to provide web-sourced datasets and insights for broader marketing and product initiatives.
Contribute to the organization's digital strategy and roadmap by sharing web performance insights, user feedback, and best practices across channels.
Collaborate with content strategists and SEO specialists to translate business goals into prioritized engineering and design requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies to scope web feature development, bug fixes and technical debt remediation.
Provide training and enablement for content authors and business users on CMS best practices, publishing workflows, tag deployment, and content accessibility.
Assist HR and recruiting with hiring plans for web team roles and provide technical input on candidate evaluations for web operations and front-end positions.
Support marketing campaign launches by ensuring landing pages, tracking, and integrations are tested, documented and live per campaign deadlines.
Maintain vendor and license inventories, document renewal timelines and ensure compliance with contracts related to web technologies and services.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Content Management Systems (CMS) administration: WordPress, Drupal, Sitecore, Adobe Experience Manager or similar — templates, workflows, and permissions management.
SEO technical and content optimization: site architecture, metadata, structured data (schema.org), hreflang, redirects and crawlability best practices.
Web analytics & tag management: GA4, Google Tag Manager, Adobe Analytics, conversion tracking, event taxonomies and dashboarding.
A/B testing and experimentation platforms: Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize, Adobe Target — experiment design, analysis, and interpretation.
Front-end fundamentals: HTML5, CSS3, basic JavaScript, responsive frameworks and understanding of cross-browser issues.
Web performance optimization: CDNs, caching, image optimization, lazy loading, and Core Web Vitals improvement techniques.
Accessibility standards and remediation: WCAG 2.1/2.2, ARIA, accessibility testing tools and audit processes.
Basic SQL and familiarity with BI queries to support ad-hoc reporting and integration with analytics.
Familiarity with DevOps/CI-CD tooling for front-end deployments, version control (Git), build tools and automated testing.
Security and hosting knowledge: SSL/TLS, WAF, vulnerability scanning practices, and managed hosting platforms (AWS, Azure, Netlify, etc.).
Integration experience: APIs, webhooks, marketing automation (Marketo, HubSpot), CRM and e-commerce platforms.

Soft Skills

Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration to align product, marketing, design and engineering goals.
Strategic thinking with ability to translate business objectives into prioritized web initiatives and measurable KPIs.
Excellent communication and presentation skills for reporting web metrics, test results, and technical tradeoffs to non-technical audiences.
Project and vendor management skills: scope definition, timeline management, budgeting and SLA enforcement.
Analytical mindset and data-driven decision making — comfortable with quantitative analysis and A/B test interpretation.
Problem-solving and incident management capability under tight timelines and production pressure.
Attention to detail for QA, accessibility compliance, and ensuring brand consistency across touchpoints.
Ability to mentor, lead and develop a small team of web specialists and contractors.
Adaptability to evolving web technologies, browser changes, and search engine algorithm updates.
Time management and prioritization skills in a fast-paced, multi-project environment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Computer Science, Information Systems, Communications, Web Design, or a related discipline.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with coursework or certifications in Digital Marketing, Web Development, Analytics, or UX.
Professional certifications such as Google Analytics/GA4, Google Tag Manager, HubSpot/Marketo, or CMS-specific certifications are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing, Digital Marketing, or Communications
Computer Science, Information Systems, Web Development
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), UX Design
Data Analytics or Business Intelligence

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–7 years of progressive experience in website management, digital operations, or web product roles. (Manager-level typically 4–6 years)

Preferred:

5+ years managing high-traffic websites or enterprise CMS environments with hands-on responsibility for SEO, analytics, A/B testing, and technical coordination.
Demonstrated track record of leading site migrations, improving page performance and conversion rates, and managing cross-functional digital projects.