Responsibilities

• Organise, mentor and inspire an award-winning team of around a dozen largely early-career journalists, and be present in our newsroom in the Adelphi Building to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of our near-24/7 digital operation.
• Deputise for the Head of Social Media and, where appropriate, the Head of Audience, on matters such as the running of the Social team and the attendance of meetings with editors or other senior colleagues.
• Work across the full range of our social platforms, as well as producing and publishing newsletters, sending alerts and ensuring we fulfil our commitments to the range of digital platforms above.
• Coordinate, check and enhance the work of Audience editors and fellows; devise digital-storytelling materials such as graphics, carousels, polls and quizzes that encourage visits to our apps and website and registrations and subscriptions.
• Liaise closely with senior and section editors from across our newsroom; act as an ambassador for our department, both internally and externally.
• Deploy deep knowledge of platforms and the latest developments on them to devise and contribute to our wider Social and Audience strategies and to identify opportunities to experiment on new and emerging outlets.
• Turn articles, podcasts and other media in every area we cover—from business, finance and geopolitics and science, technology and culture—into punchy, succinct social-media posts that are customised by platform.
• Monitor analytics and use these data to inform, rather than dictate, decision-making processes.
• Generally not responsible for producing short- or long-form videos or podcasts, which are handled by separate departments, but will lead on individual platforms and projects and liaise with Marketing and the wider Economist Group on activities intended to increase traffic, registrations and subscriptions.

Requirements

• Typically a Deputy has at least five years of Audience-focused experience in a newsroom or similar editorial environment.
• They can cite example after example of strategic success in reaching different audiences, in generating high-quality engagement to meet business goals, and in working well as part of a team.
• They can demonstrate proven experience of leading and directing a department, perhaps as a Head of Social Media at a smaller publisher or as a senior journalist at another digital outlet.
• They avoid common mistakes in their applications and show a solid grasp of The Economist, its journalism and its priorities, from platforms to business models.
• They will be based in the United Kingdom and must already be in possession of residency, citizenship or a visa that allows them to live and work in London on a permanent basis, without the need for any additional immigration-related process (this is non-negotiable).
• They cannot be sponsored or have limitations related to immigration decisions.