Skip to main content

This job has expired

The Independent, Sports Live Editor

Employer
The Independent
Location
Kensington, London, W8.
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
Nov 21, 2021

View more

Industry
Journalist
Job Type
Freelance
Hours
Full Time
Sector
Nationals, Online, Sports, News
Discipline
Editor

Sports Live Editor – The Independent

About us

The Independent is an online news publisher that was established in 1986 as a politically independent national newspaper. In 2016, The Independent became a fully digital publisher, moving away from print in pursuit of sustainability, and to keep its values alive.

Through The Independent and indy100 websites, its subscription and contribution services, as well as its syndication and advertising businesses, The Independent hopes to continue the work of many decades, and with over 100 million unique global visitors a month, to make its voice ever louder and more insistent the world over.

Today we have teams across the globe, from Delhi, Moscow and the Middle East, through to London, New York and Los Angeles.

The role

The Independent is looking for an experienced editor to lead live coverage for the sport section, and help influence editorial strategy and workflows.

The right candidate will be a highly organised self-starter, with a deep understanding of online sports journalism, live content and how to achieve online audience growth across SEO and social media particularly.

The right person will have an extensive background in sports journalism and substantial experience of leading a team as well as in SEO strategy for sport.

Candidates with newsroom experience are preferred, but those with an understanding of audience analysis across multiple platforms from other sectors will be considered.

Key Responsibilities And Skill

  • Planning, organising and executing live content for sport.
  • Optimise live coverage and react to trends.
  • Advise on publishing strategy and help lead on implementing best practice.
  • Complete understanding of all analytics platforms used to track The Independent and use them to map strategy and spot issues.
  • Act swiftly and vocally when issues arise.
  • Keep up to date with latest developments and best practice in the SEO industry by attending events and communicating learnings to wider team.
  • Work closely with the data team and convey insights and recommendations to senior stakeholders.

Essential Skills and Experience

  • Extensive knowledge of a wide range of sports.
  • Experience of successfully working in a similar role at a similar title.
  • Strong familiarity with The Independent and our coverage.
  • Proven track record for increasing engagement, traffic and followers.
  • Excellent organisational and planning skills required to manage the daily/weekly/monthly publishing flow of an editorial team.
  • Experience strategising and developing ideas for long tail content.
  • Experience collaborating with editors to grow and increase audience, both on site and across platforms.
  • Proficiency in analysing complex issues and developing actionable insights and plans – using data from proprietary platform analytics (e.g. Facebook) and or third-party aggregate sources (e.g., CrowdTangle).
  • Experience using SEO tools (e.g. Webmaster tools, SEMrush) and reporting and analytics tools (Omniture, Chartbeat).
  • Ability to interpret data and make insightful recommendations.
  • Skilled content creator.
  • Ability to clearly communicate best practices.
  • Expert knowledge of trends and tools for social media platforms.
  • An understanding of the commercial risks and opportunities associated with audience growth.
  • Experience of working in a dynamic fast-paced media environment.

Expected Behaviours

  1. Continuous Improvement – Works in a smart, flexible and focused way, is open to change and suggests ideas for improvements to the way things are done.
  2. Collaboration – Builds and maintains positive and supportive working relationships with colleagues. Helps to create an inclusive and professional work environment.
  3. Building Capability – Keeps own knowledge and skill set current and evolving and looks for ways to continue learning to support the achievement of business objectives.
  4. Quality Service – Delivers high quality and efficient service and takes account of the diverse customer needs and requirements when looking at ways to improve service quality.
  5. Responsive Delivery - Works to agreed business goals and objectives and deals with challenges in a constructive and responsive way. Takes personal responsibility for quality of outputs.

The Independent is an equal opportunities employer and we welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries. If you require any reasonable adjustments to complete your application, please do not hesitate to advise us accordingly.

All of our employees are entitled to benefits including free on-site gym, great pension, private healthcare and life insurance schemes. We also offer cycle to work and season ticket loan initiatives to make our employees’ journeys to work easier. We want our employees to enjoy working for us and we invest in training and development to support and develop rewarding careers.

Get job alerts

Create a job alert and receive personalized job recommendations straight to your inbox.

Create alert