Managing Editor

WILLIAM REED; Crawley; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading media group is seeking a Managing Editor for The Grocer in Crawley. This role involves overseeing daily operations of the publication, ensuring high editorial standards, and managing a team. Candidates should have extensive B2B journalism experience and strong editorial skills. The position offers a hybrid work model with competitive benefits, including flexible working arrangements and generous leave policies.

Benefits

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Cultural celebration day or birthday leave

Volunteer day for charity

Contributory Pension

Life Assurance Scheme

Wellbeing benefits including healthcare cash plan

Cycle to Work Scheme

Electric Car Scheme

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in B2B journalism and editing.
• Strong commissioning, editing, and rewriting skills across different formats.
• Excellent creative and flexible working approach.

Responsibilities

• Manage the magazine’s day-to-day operations.
• Uphold high editorial standards ensuring accuracy and fairness.
• Contribute to strategic direction and brand positioning of The Grocer.

Skills

Extensive B2B journalism and editing experience

Strong commissioning, editing, rewriting skills

Excellent skills, speed, flexibility and creativity

Superb people management and motivational skills

Strong delegation skills

Understanding of online, audio-visual and social media

Job description

Managing Editor

Who we are

The Grocer is the UK’s biggest, most interesting and most widely respected B2B publication, and the trusted source of the £210bn Food & Drink industry.

A multi-award-winning, multi-media powerhouse, it prides itself on its outstanding journalism, editorial integrity and creativity.

It’s the flagship of the highly successful William Reed group, a family-owned global media group, powering customer success through insight, inspiration and connection across content, events, conferences, and research in the UK, Europe, US and Far East.

Position

Full time – permanent

Location

Gatwick / London / Hybrid

The Grocer is looking for an outstanding business journalist and editor, to take responsibility for the magazine’s day-to-day operations, working alongside the Editor-in-Chief to help steer The Grocer through its continued evolution as a highly successful, fully paid-for publication.

With a 27-strong editorial team, and working across print, online and newsletter publications, this is a big job, with high standards to maintain, new challenges to tackle and new opportunities that need to be explored to ensure we meet the needs of our audience and continue to build on our legacy, which dates back to 1862.

But it’s worth it! The Grocer covers a wide range of topics – the economy, health & obesity, food safety, entrepreneurship, online, sustainability, technology (including AI), new product development, marketing & advertising, supply chain, pay & remuneration – and its coverage is highly valued by its readers and regularly picked up by the national and even international media.

What you’ll be doing

• Uphold the high editorial standards set by The Grocer, ensuring that our journalism is accurate, robust, authoritative and fair
• Ensure The Grocer is run efficiently and effectively in terms of briefing, planning, workflow and production, with direct responsibility for product & supplier news and features
• Manage a team of editors and journalists, proofing and signing off copy, while empowering the team to take responsibility for their work where appropriate
• Maintain and develop solutions that maximise commercial opportunities (while retaining editorial independence)
• Optimise content to achieve maximum success in digital forms and formats, while making best use of digital tools and software where appropriate to enhance the offer
• Manage our regular columnists, and finding new ones, to ensure that The Grocer is full of interesting, topical and well-read comment and opinion
• Contribute to the strategic direction and brand positioning of The Grocer as it evolves as a multi-platform publication, so that the title fulfils the needs of its readers on a daily and weekly basis, across digital and print
• Deputise for the Editor-in-Chief of The Grocer in conjunction with the Editor of thegrocer.co.uk
• Represent The Grocer in the media, chairing awards panels, conferences and webinars, attending conferences

What you’ll need

• Extensive B2B journalism and editing experience
• Strong commissioning, editing, rewriting skills across news, features and opinion
• Excellent skills, speed, flexibility and creativity
• Superb people management and motivational skills
• Strong delegation skills, but also a willingness to sweat the details
• An understanding of online, audio-visual and social media
• Knowledge of retail, food & drink, fast moving consumer goods etc is not essential, but will clearly be welcome

Location

Hybrid – In line with our current agile working policy, the successful candidate will be eligible to work part of the week from our Gatwick and / or London offices and to work remotely for the rest of the week. This will include one day in Gatwick and the other office days in Gatwick or London. For commuting to the Gatwick office, we have a minibus service which provides convenient transportation to and from the nearest station (Three Bridges) at the start and end of each day.

Company Benefits and Initiatives Include

• 25 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays – increasing by one additional day after 6 years, up to a maximum of 30 days.
• An additional day of leave for you to take on a cultural celebration day or on your birthday if you like. A day for you! At William Reed, we call this our “MeDay”.
• A volunteer day to take for supporting a chosen charity and giving back to the community.
• Opportunity for hybrid working
• Contributory Pension
• Life Assurance Scheme
• Group Income Protection
• Enhanced family-friendly leave pay entitlements
• Wellbeing benefits, including: A health care cash plan, Employee assistance programme, Virtual GP service and Access to health & wellbeing resources and tools.
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Electric Car Scheme

Why work for us

We provide a supportive work environment and are committed to maintaining a healthy work/life balance for all of our employees. Working for William Reed means that you will be joining a stable organisation that is committed to developing its employees and brands.

We warmly welcome and encourage applications from talented individuals of all backgrounds and characteristics.

If you need any support in accessing this opportunity, please do not hesitate to discuss this with us.

How to apply

To apply, please complete the application form, uploading a CV, links to your journalism portfolio and a cover letter explaining why you’re right for the job.