The Times and The Sunday Times are seeking a travel assistant to work as part of the Travel team.

The successful candidate will be expected to carry out administrative tasks, chase contacts and story leads, edit copy and write travel pieces. You will also write and publish social media posts and videos. You should have a keen interest in travel journalism; be a witty, stylish and accurate copy editor and writer; be bursting with original ideas for travel features; and have social media skills and an understanding of how best to present our stories to our digital audiences.

Apply with a covering letter and your CV by February 12.

Responsibilities  

• Carry out research for articles on behalf of editors and writers

• Administrative duties include organising the Head of Travel diary, travel for writers, transcribing, ordering office equipment, booking couriers and managing the department’s post

• Edit and publish key travel pieces on social media across all platforms

• Liaise with our digital teams and Times Radio to ensure we present our stories in the best way and bring them to as many readers as possible

• Devise and commission distinctive and engaging features for our digital platforms as well as in print

• Edit copy and write thoroughly researched, entertaining, accurate travel pieces

• Track down and build contacts and organise interviews on behalf of editors and writers

• Organise relevant log-ins and access for new starters and freelancers and supervise work experience and interns 

• Attending daily and weekly departmental meetings

Skills and experience 

• Journalism qualification, NCTJ qualification or equivalent

• Has had writing published in a national newspaper, magazine or website

• Demonstrable interest in Travel journalism

• Good understanding of SEO, social media techniques and digital storytelling

• Regular and dedicated consumer of a wide range of publications and podcasts 

• Persuasive presentation skills, well-developed interpersonal skills, with the ability to problem-solve and negotiate positive outcomes

• Able to communicate succinctly and effectively

• Familiarity with Google Docs and Gmail is advantageous

• Is punctual and is always prepared to put in extra time and effort when necessary

• Has a proactive approach to work and regularly reviews how things are done to maximise efficiency

• A strong understanding of editorial compliance and regulatory issues

We are News UK: One of the leading media businesses in the UK and Ireland, our newsbrands include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday and The TLS. Our national broadcast brands include talkSPORT, Times Radio, talkRADIO and Virgin Radio, and we have market-leading local radio stations across Ireland. In April 2022, we launched TalkTV, a major new TV channel available to everyone across the UK, delivering a schedule of news, current affairs and entertainment and sport. Our world-famous brands provide news, analysis, opinion and entertainment to almost 40 million people each month. Spanning digital and print, audio and video, events and experiences, our brands are home to a plurality of opinion, representing the diverse communities we serve. News UK is wholly owned by News Corp.

Life at News: At News UK we believe our people are our heartbeat - they are the driving force behind our brands and we want the ways we work to enable people to thrive.  Some of us work flexibly, in many different ways. We encourage you to talk to us about the flexibility you would like. We can’t promise to offer exactly what you want, but do provide multiple flexible working options.  Many of us work in a hybrid way between one of the News UK & Ireland offices and remotely.  

We champion diversity and inclusion, we strive to maximise and encourage every individual’s potential and ensure everyone feels valued. We support this through our Diversity Board, D&I  strategy & training, creating more diverse content and our intern and apprenticeship programmes.  We also have 9 employee-led networks; Cultural Diversity, News is Out, GenZ, Sustainability Champions, News for Parents, Women in Tech, News UK Christian Fellowship,  Women’s Steering Group and Disability network. 

We take pride in looking after our amazing talent at News UK supporting the Health and Wellbeing of our staff. We offer private medical insurance covering pre-existing conditions, discounted gym memberships, ClassPass at Home, weekly virtual HIIT, yoga and run club classes, and a ‘Bikes for Work’ scheme, as well as offering opportunities for physio/massage, counselling and legal support. 

In addition we also offer:   

•    A generous pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5%;

•    Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary & paternity leave up to 2 weeks;

•    30 days holiday and up to 4 volunteering days per year;

•    Wide range of training available, plus full LinkedIn Learning access.

We want to ensure that everyone we meet has the opportunity to perform to their best when interviewing, so feel free to let us know, at any stage, whether you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, and we will do our best to accommodate.  

News UK is an official partner of the Journalism Diversity Fund, founder of the Journalism and Disability Forum, and proud member of the Valuable 500. At News UK, we will continue to promote an inclusive and diverse workplace, to help people with visible and non visible disabilities create careers in media and aim to make our content accessible to all.