Audience Editor

Job Description

MinnPost is hiring an audience editor, a key leadership position that will manage and direct audience development efforts across the organization.

This position will lead new investments in MinnPost’s audience strategy as we navigate the ever-changing digital media environment, using audience data to craft and execute engagement strategies that includes – but goes well beyond – growing website and newsletter audiences. That growth must be paired with stronger and more meaningful connections with readers, demonstrating that journalism is an essential source of information that equips people to be civically engaged through everything from voting to participating in public discourse to identifying and pursuing solutions that make state and local systems work better. 

At MinnPost, we aim to serve people seeking analysis, context and perspective on news affecting our state through in-depth and explanatory journalism. We’ve grown our newsletter audience by more than 50% in the past two years and have new audience research in hand to help inform decisions to further that growth. We’re also looking forward to making new investments that will grow our newsroom starting in 2025. 

The audience editor will play an important role in shaping how to deepen audience relationships and leverage that additional coverage to better serve even more Minnesotans. We’re looking for someone who is entrepreneurial, a great collaborator, and is driven by our shared belief that rigorous, in-depth journalism that inspires and engages communities across the state is crucial to a strong democracy.

In this role, you will:

• Supervise the newsroom audience team responsible for web production, visual journalism, newsletters, social media, the daily Glean, audience analytics tracking, and audience and community engagement
• Devise and execute ambitious audience goals, collaborating with other editors to optimize workflows for strong audience engagement and audience growth
• Contribute to MinnPost’s leadership team and provide regular internal and board-level updates on audience growth 
• Develop new digital products and manage existing products with an eye toward meeting readers’ needs
• Collaborate with editor-reporter teams on audience distribution and engagement strategies for specific stories or beats to increase reach and impact
• Edit freelance stories and MinnPost’s op-ed section, Community Voices
• Deploy community engagement strategies for meaningful communication with underserved audiences and connect their needs into MinnPost’s programming, including through MinnPost events
• Ensure best practices for SEO across the organization and manage MinnPost’s Google Ads profile
• Manage content partnerships and pursue republication opportunities with other media organizations and select stories from other organizations to feature on MinnPost’s site 
• Manage audience and tech contractor work
• Collaborate with key members of the business team to develop and maintain alignment between audience and revenue strategies 
• Work with other newsroom editors to cultivate an inclusive and collaborative editorial and organizational culture that ensures our newsroom and coverage reflect the diversity of Minnesota

Benefits

• Health insurance (80% for employees / 50% for partners or dependents)
• Dental insurance with employer paying 80% of premiums for employees
• 401(k) dollar-for-dollar employer match up to 3% for all 401(k) contributions or eligible student loan payments
• Monthly phone stipend
• Vacation time off (15 days per year to start)
• Paid holidays (8 days per year) and floating holidays (4 days per year)
• Sick and safe time (12 days per year)
• Paid birthing person health leave (100% up to 6 weeks)
• Paid family leave (100% up to 8 weeks)
• Short-term disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Options for employee-paid dental, vision, long-term disability, and supplemental life insurance

Since its founding in 2007, MinnPost has established itself as one of the nation’s largest and most successful regional nonprofit news organizations. Central to our work is our focus on writing about civic and cultural issues with depth, clarity and context, providing coverage that gives our readers a deeper understanding of the critical challenges and dynamics shaping public life in Minnesota. 

While we’re more mature than a start-up, we’re often called to wear many hats and jump in to help each other when the situation calls for it. We’re committed to maintaining a healthy work-life balance and providing a place for staff to feel supported in their professional growth and achieve ambitious goals.

Please submit your resume and complete an application using this form: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8130019/Audience-Editor-Application-2024 

The priority deadline is January 10, 2025. Applications submitted after the priority deadline will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Job Requirements

Relevant skills and qualifications:

• 3+ years of journalism experience in a digital media environment
• Experience leading teams or projects
• Ability to multitask and work on deadlines
• Strong writing and editing skills
• Strong organizational and communication skills 
• Experience in WordPress or similar content management systems
• Familiarity with content analytics, especially Google Analytics and Parse.ly
• SEO experience, including keyword research, headline writing and link-building
• Proven ability to set measurable goals and test strategies and tactics that make progress toward those goals
• Take a test-and-learn approach to strategy development and drive innovation
• Ability to make, both independently and collaboratively, data-informed decisions

There are great candidates who might not check all these boxes or who hold important skills we haven’t listed. Don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

To better reflect the communities we serve, we seek to recruit staff members from many backgrounds and with diverse identities. We strongly encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities.

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