Audience Development Editor

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Western Pennsylvania’s largest news organization, is seeking an Audience Development Editor to guide the growth of our digital subscriber base and expand our on- and off-platform audiences. This person will take ownership of our social media channels to actively engage with audiences and take deep dives using our analytics tools to identify trends in content consumption and help shape content production decisions with editors and reporters.

This position will work alongside a team of digital editors and producers who manage the website, social media and SEO strategies. The audience editor will be a key conduit between the newsroom and the Post-Gazette’s web developer team while spearheading innovative strategies for expanding our reach into untapped audiences.

This person will be a self-starter who keeps up with industry trends and develops innovative ideas for creating and disseminating analytics reports and audience growth initiatives across the newsroom.

The strategy will broadly focus on building connections and developing loyalty for audiences to discover and engage with the Post-Gazette's journalism on our website, in our mobile apps and on social media platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads and Reddit. The strategy will also include the effective development and implementation of newsletters to expand our audience reach.

Among the tasks for this experienced audience editor include:

Generating a collection of audience-focused analytics reports and dashboards for both individuals and departments to measure success and drive tactical decisions. Help define and evangelize the use of audience data to support real-time editorial decision-making and project feedback.
Leading our existing social media channels and developing strategies to expand our reach into other off-site platforms we are not currently engaged with.
Implementing metric-based, actionable barometers of growth for editorial staff members to best suit each department's needs, personalities and content.
Guiding search engine optimization efforts across the broader Post-Gazette staff. Own KPIs of audience growth by guiding and helping enforce SEO and social media strategies.
Informing homepage presentation and curation decision-making processes.
Educating Post-Gazette staff members on the best digital publishing practices through contextual-based analytics reports.
Crafting social media approaches across a wide variety of platforms (including expanding paid partnerships and campaigns with Facebook) that help newsroom staff build bigger followings to help boost total audience.
Fostering a positive audience-driven mindset through all Post-Gazette editorial departments and staff.
Working alongside non-editorial staff, including the Product team and Marketing staff, to share the Post-Gazette's journalism to newfound potential audiences with sophisticated promotional strategies.
Keeping the Post-Gazette aware of the newest audience engagement trends, platforms and tools, leading the evolution of digital publishing efforts when appropriate within the overall newsroom strategy.

Qualifications

5+ years of experience in digital audience development or related field.
Direct experience with primary analytics tools in a modern digital newsroom including but not limited to Google Analytics, Chartbeat, Adobe Analytics, Parse.ly, CrowdTangle, etc.
Experience with developing social media distribution strategies and analyzing social media success metrics. Experience with Social News Desk and managing social media ad campaigns is a plus.
Skilled data cruncher who is proficient in generating targeted reports using the above tools to help analyze audience engagement and help shape decision making across the newsroom.
Outstanding interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills required.
Ability to prioritize, manage and successfully execute multiple projects simultaneously.
Demonstrated experience exceeding challenging quantitative goals.
Self-starter with the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within a cross-functional team.
Adept at being the newsroom thought leader on audience development trends, staying abreast of a constantly changing field of tools available to drive audience growth and engagement including social platforms, software tools and others as they launch.

Other things to know:

Competitive salary and benefits package.
We encourage everyone to apply who shares our passion for indispensable journalism and our drive to create a sustainable business model to support it.
As an equal opportunity employer, the Post-Gazette is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture, and we encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with special needs.

The Employer is involved in a labor dispute at its place of business. Offered employment is in place of employees involved in labor dispute.