Senior Reporter

B2B publisher Place North West is seeking a senior reporter to join our editorial team in Manchester.

Those looking to apply should send a cover letter, CV, and links to recent work to editor Julia Hatmaker (julia@placenorthwest.co.uk) with ‘Reporter job application’ in the subject.

Place North West is an employee-owned B2B publisher and event organiser based in Manchester with a strong reputation built over 15 years. We deliver a daily newsletter read by a loyal and engaged community of property professionals in the region and beyond. This is supported by a busy conference programme providing fertile networking opportunities and valuable market intelligence.

The successful applicant will have at least five years of experience working in news journalism, preferably with knowledge of business reporting. A self-starter, you will be someone who takes pride in your work, is confident making new contacts, and strives for quality and accuracy in every story you produce.

You will be joining a small team in a highly productive office. While remote work is available, this is largely an in-office role.

Responsibilities:

• Write relevant property and related business news, gathering information from contacts and other sources

• Deliver exclusive content and conduct interviews with developers, council leaders, agents, architects and other representatives from all sectors of the built environment industry

• Write accurate, clear and concise copy to a daily deadline, following well-defined editorial standards

• Support the news desk during busy periods, such as updating stories, sourcing and formatting images, proofreading and transcribing interviews

• Work as part of the wider Place North West team to deliver conferences, sharing responsibility for speaker sourcing and briefing, brainstorming content, delivering social media promotion and other tasks

• Embed within the property community through networking to spot potential stories, market trends, and event topics

• Maintain and develop relationships with Place North West’s key commercial clients

• Travel to industry events in the region and beyond to secure stories and conduct interviews

• Work in our CMS to make sure stories meet a high standard of presentation

• Promote content across social media channels

• Chair roundtables, podcasts, and video interviews as needed by the editorial team

• Keep up to speed with innovations in journalism, to help develop multiple forms of coverage on Place North West, including podcasts, video, live streaming

• Work beyond typical office hours as required – attending networking events and delivering conference

• Other ad hoc duties as required by the business from time to time

Required skills and experience:

• Demonstrable talent for good reporting and a sound news instinct

• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, and a clean, competent writer

• Ability to unearth and tell interesting stories about the property industry, be willing to secure interviews and ask tough questions

• Have a strong understanding of business or financial journalism and at least a basic understanding of the dynamics that impact the real estate market

• Excellent time management skills and ability to write quickly and accurately

• Be able to write in different styles and include the written word, audio, visual, and infographics in content for publication

• Able to develop and maintain contacts with key people in the market

• Business acumen and an awareness of the commercial needs of a small business and its clients, including when it comes to news reporting and other editorial tasks

• Experience and interest in multimedia storytelling – podcasts, video

• Be financially literate and able to use numbers and data to good effect within articles

• Strong work ethic with a high degree of determination and drive

• Positive attitude and team mentality

• Event experience preferable, not essential: chairing panel debates, hosting roundtables

Benefits

• Salary starting from £30,000, dependent on experience

• A standard schedule of 8am to 4pm (except on event days). No weekend work.

• Mobile phone and travel expenses compensation

• Non-taxable bonus if the company does well, as per employee ownership trust rules

• Time off between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, when the office is closed, in addition to regular holiday allowance