Newsletter & Audience Engagement Editor

Description:

The War Horse seeks a creative, energetic, collaborative teammate to help us grow and diversify our newsroom’s audience. The Newsletter & Audience Engagement Editor will be part of a versatile, data-driven team that works with journalists across our virtual newsroom to build on this trajectory and increase the reach and impact of The War Horse’s journalism. The right person for this role will have a passion for news and data, a flair for story packaging, and strong communication skills.

Simply put, your mission will be to spread The War Horse’s world-changing reporting projects to the broadest audience possible and inspire civic engagement across the United States.

Our History & Programs

The War Horse has become a national leader in the military and reporting communities. Since 2015, our award-winning work has created international headlines, spurred changes to multiple military and federal laws, and been featured in Vanity Fair, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and many other publications. Our donors and supporters include Fortune 100 companies, Ivy League universities, leading foundations, and philanthropists who support journalism, democracy, and military families.

We’re more than just a newsroom. The War Horse has published more than 350 personal essays that we call “reflections.” They form the cornerstone of our writers program and provide vital context for our reporting. Many of these stories come directly from our writing seminars—all-expenses-paid workshops centered around community-building and training the next generation of writers to connect civilians to the human experience of war. Our writing seminars ensure those most affected by U.S. military policies have a prominent voice in the national conversation.

Explore more about our impact.

Primary Responsibilities

The Newsletter & Audience Engagement Editor will report to the Managing Editor to bolster our efforts to produce quality journalism and spread its impact to new audiences and donors. Your work will allow us to continue building a membership program that is key to our sustainability.

This is your chance to take a major role in a small newsroom with outsize ambition and a track record of success. Our ideal candidate will be a can-do, ready-to-execute leader in the following areas:

• Newsletter: You will evaluate and execute our newsletter strategy and goals and take the lead on planning, producing, and managing our newsletters and fundraising appeals.
• Social Media: You will run our social media accounts and establish a workflow that incorporates digital engagement best practices, by promoting our work, celebrating newsroom accomplishments and growing and engaging our audience.
• Community Engagement: You will work with the Managing Editor to curate partnerships and syndication opportunities that can amplify the reach and impact of The War Horse’s award-winning journalism. You will also help attract new voices to tell their stories and connect us to journalists, subject matter experts, sources, and/or VIPs who may share and amplify The War Horse’s reporting. Ultimately, our ideal candidate also will turn those engagement efforts into quarterly engagement events.
• Editorial: You will collaborate daily with the newsroom to foster engagement ideas and social media outreach to attract readers and sources for our journalism. Your creativity won’t stop there: You will also play a role in writing vibrant, engaging headlines, metrics-driven SEO tags, and other copy for news stories and reflections essays.
• Analytics: You will work with the leadership team to establish goals for the organization, including the internal and external key performance indicators for traffic, loyalty, engagement, and membership.

Qualifications

This is an extraordinary opportunity for an individual to grow in an investigative reporting unit dedicated to exposing abuses of power and betrayals of public trust within the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

We’re looking for a risk-taker with the vision to pursue new ideas and the energy to execute them.

Required:

• 2-3 years experience with a digital news organization or social impact organization.
• Deep familiarity with Mailchimp, Google Analytics, and Salesforce.
• Ability to design and execute coordinated engagement campaigns across multiple platforms.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Proven ability to use data to inform decision-making.
• Knowledge of emergent platforms and trends in digital media, and a desire to test and experiment.
• Knowledge of search engine optimization trends, particularly for news.
• Knack for building graphics and data visualizations to enhance our reporting and storytelling with a desire to learn more.
• Active on social media and embedded in internet culture. We want you to teach us the latest trends on connecting with diverse audiences.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ease working with teams remotely or on-site.
• Passion for the unpredictable and unexpected opportunities that pop up every single day in a fast-paced news environment.

Desired:

• Newsroom experience, ideally in a magazine or an investigative reporting environment.
• Experience building diverse newsroom audiences.

Salary & Benefits

This is a full-time salaried position based remotely. Compensation is $70,000 to $75,000/yr, based on experience, along with a growing benefits package, including 401k match, employer-subsidized medical, dental, and vision coverage, digital privacy services, and more.

How to Apply

• Submit a cover letter and resume to jobs@thewarhorse.org.
• Share three examples of your work on engagement projects or initiatives with a description of how they made a measurable impact on your newsroom’s audience.
• Wow us with three ideas on how you would improve The War Horse’s social media platforms and newsletter.
• For best consideration, please apply by Monday, September 16. Applications will be accepted until the job is filled.