Lead Audience Editor, Sports — Remote & Data-Driven

Gannett Co; McLean (VA); Remote; USD 93,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

USA TODAY is seeking an innovative, data-driven Audience Editor to lead audience engagement strategy for our Sports coverage. You will oversee a small team of content creators and collaborate across the USA TODAY Sports leadership to grow reach, improve discoverability and drive revenue through social, newsletters, video and newsletters.

You should be fluent in analytics and audience trends, comfortable shaping newsroom workflows, and able to translate strategy into measurable actions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in communications, journalism, marketing or related field preferred or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• At least 5 years of newsroom experience, including management, preferably in an audience development role at a digitally-focused media organization with expertise in sports. Journalism experience is mandatory.
• A proven passion and experience with storytelling via social media, search and newsletters, with expertise in platforms such as Reddit, Discord, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, Threads and more.
• Proactive leader that can manage their time and prioritization of tasks independently.

Responsibilities

• Develop strategies, workflows and best practices to rapidly achieve audience growth and increase discoverability through social, newsletters, emerging platforms and search in collaboration with the greater USA TODAY audience team and the USA TODAY Sports leadership team.
• Monitor analytics for USA TODAY Sports both on platform and on social, in newsletters and alerts, translating that data into action steps for journalists on your direct team and on the broader Sports team.
• Lead audience planning for major sporting events, tentpoles and breaking news, determining how journalism should be packaged, distributed and presented at each stage of the audience journey.
• Create, edit or optimize audience-focused content during major events and breaking news when needed.
• Partner crossdivisionally on new efforts to monetize our journalism and grow audience on social media and distributed platform channels.
• Manage a team of content creators charged with ensuring consistent brand strategy, voice and execution across platforms for USA TODAY Sports, including social channels, newsletters, section fronts, app alerts and wherever our journalism meets the audience.
• Create and monitor reporting and KPI progress, including metrics for loyalty, engagement, relevance and other business goals.
• Be an innovative, creative thinker that is willing to experiment to support company's goals.

Skills

Audience engagement

Analytics

Social media

Leadership

Strategy

Team management

Newsroom experience

Digital media

Education

Bachelor's degree in communications/journalism/marketing or related field

Master's degree preferred

Job description

USA TODAY is seeking an innovative, data-driven Audience Editor to lead audience engagement strategy for our Sports coverage. You will oversee a small team of content creators and collaborate across the USA TODAY Sports leadership to grow reach, improve discoverability and drive revenue through social, newsletters, video and newsletters.

You should be fluent in analytics and audience trends, comfortable shaping newsroom workflows, and able to translate strategy into measurable actions.