Features Editor – What’s On Abu Dhabi

Motivate Media Group; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Motivate Media Group seeks a Features Editor for What’s On in Abu Dhabi. The role requires producing daily digital content and long-form features while managing the Abu Dhabi content calendar across various platforms. Applicants should have 3-5 years in digital publishing or lifestyle journalism, with a strong SEO focus and familiarity with social media trends. The editor will be responsible for writing articles, producing videos, and maintaining industry relationships to deliver engaging content for Abu Dhabi residents and visitors.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience in digital publishing or lifestyle journalism.
• Experience in SEO, including keyword strategy and content structure.
• Familiarity with social media platforms and trends.

Responsibilities

• Own the Abu Dhabi content calendar across digital, social, and print.
• Publish 50+ SEO-optimised articles per month.
• Write long-form features on Abu Dhabi's lifestyle and culture.
• Produce a minimum of 16 social posts and 8 short-form videos monthly.

Skills

Digital publishing

Features writing

Lifestyle journalism

SEO knowledge

Video production

Job description

What’s On is building towards a clear position: the most useful, most trusted lifestyle guide in the UAE. The Features Editor – Abu Dhabi is the person who owns that position in the capital, producing the daily digital content, long-form features, and social video that makes the brand essential to Abu Dhabi residents and visitors.

This is a strategic and production role at a brand in active transformation. It suits an experienced journalist or content creator who is equally comfortable filing a restaurant review, producing a TikTok, and writing a 1500-word feature – and who understands the difference between all three.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

This is What’s On‘s most senior Abu Dhabi editorial role. The Features Editor owns the Abu Dhabi content calendar – planning, commissioning, writing, and publishing across the website, social channels, and the monthly print magazine.

The role produces at volume across owned channels while also writing the long-form, carefully researched features that define the brand’s editorial authority in the capital.

WHAT YOU WILL RESPONSIBLE FOR:

Editorial and digital:

• Own the Abu Dhabi content calendar across digital, social, and print.
• Publish 50+ SEO-optimised articles per month – news, reviews, features, and listings.
• Write long-form features on the Abu Dhabi lifestyle, culture, and hospitality landscape for the monthly magazine.
• Consistenly break exclusive or first-to-market stories.
• Contribute to series formats.

Social and video:

• Produce a minimum of 16 social posts per month – carousels and tiles planned to the content calendar.
• Produce a minimum of 8 short-form social videos per month for TikTok and Instagram Reels.
• All social content is distinct from article amplification posts – these are original, platform-native formats.
• Maintain daily Stories across Instagram and Facebook.
• Monitor search trends and audience data to inform both SEO and social content decisions.
• Build and maintain Abu Dhabi PR and industry relationships to secure access and exclusives.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

Experience: 3-5 years in digital publishing, features writing, or lifestyle journalism. UAE experience is preferred. Abu Dhabi-specific knowledge is a genuine advantage.

SEO: Applied SEO knowledge – writing headlines for search, keyword strategy, content structure, meta data. Not just awareness of what SEO is.