The Athletic Media Company United States Full-time

About Us
The Athletic is a digital sports media company that brings true sports fans closer to the athletes, teams and leagues that captivate their attention. We serve a multi-faceted audience that craves a richer connection and understanding with immersive storytelling and a like-minded community of fans. Founded in 2016 and with major operational hubs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and Melbourne, we empower a truly global team of more than 600 creators and cover more than 250 professional sports and collegiate teams across the United States, Canada and the UK. Our newsroom has produced thousands of in-depth reports along with more than 120 podcasts and other forms of premium content. Put simply, The Athletic is at the center of a sports fan’s universe.
About the Role
This is a senior role providing comprehensive editorial oversight of our Fantasy & Sports Betting desk, using data analytics to optimize performance, and partner with stakeholders across the editorial organization and business teams on a range of initiatives.
This is a remote role for US and Canada.

Responsibilities

  • Manage a staff of reporters with an emphasis on the delivery of news and distinct team analysis.
  • Provide a big-picture, conceptual vision for the vertical, including long-term direction; generating and planning story ideas; editorial platforms; expansion opportunities.
  • Establish process and priorities to balance content assignments ranging from short-form and breaking news to daily coverage to long-form projects.
  • Work to bring a distinctive, compelling, and authentic voice to all digital media products.
  • Maintain an understanding and proficiency of subscription and engagement metrics.
  • Maintain proficiency and knowledge of SEO best practices.
  • Develop comprehensive multimedia coverage and contacts that include text and audio.
  • Coordinate staffing assignments, editorial resources and process. Maintain an updated and accurate forward-looking editorial budget.
  • Collaborate with staff on story ideas, and with the design team on best execution for stories with a clear visual element.
  • Oversee the vertical’s financial budget, including projecting month-to-month expenditures and managing travel.
  • Edit and publish stories via WordPress as well as the news and live file tools.

Requirements

  • 10+ years of experience in digital sports journalism, including at least five years of direct editorial and personnel management.
  • Expert ability to mentor writers and more inexperienced editors; can reposition/redeploy writers to get maximum value from staff.
  • Expert ability to generate story ideas that result in solid sub-growth and engagement.
  • Works well with writers on strengthening ideas. Strong sense of how to take a single idea and develop it into a broader package.
  • Expert understanding of the following editing tasks: copy editing, story structure, recognizing problematic sentences, style guidelines.
  • Ability to add context to stories, edit in writer’s voice, ensure fairness, provide story structure.
  • Leader in the day-to-day execution of ideas that result in engagement and subscriptions.
  • Works outside of regular purview to find ways to improve the operations and sharing of information.
  • Pushes company initiatives hard.
  • High-end knowledge of Fantasy & Sports Betting.
  • This position is based in the United States or Canada.