Audience Editor, Indy100

About us

The Independent is an online news publisher that was established in 1986 as a national newspaper independent of party political affiliations or proprietorial influence. In 2016, The Independent became a fully digital publisher, moving away from print in pursuit of sustainability, and to safeguard its values and journalism for the future.

The Independent has always thrived through innovation and change. It was the first British newspaper to add a Saturday magazine; the first to give photography the same prestige as a news copy; the first to challenge the Westminster lobby system of closed briefings; the first broadsheet to move to the more compact ‘tabloid’ format; the first to launch a concise quality compact paper; and the first – and only – major newspaper to pull off a successful transformation to fully digital publishing.

Through The Independent, Independent TV, eCommerce, indy100, subscriptions and other ‘reader revenues’, The Independent plans to continue the work of many decades, bringing much-needed independent journalism to over 100 million unique global visitors a month, make its voice ever louder and more insistent the world over.

We have an international editorial team with our main offices in London and New York.

The role

Indy100 is looking for a dynamic audience specialist to help develop our continuously-evolving SEO and social media strategy for the brand focused on delivering news, lifestyle and gaming content for young adults.

The successful candidate will have a genuine passion for the large variety of topics Indy100 covers; think of it as all the best bits of online culture rolled into one place.

You will be a highly organised self-starter, with a deep and demonstrable understanding of how to achieve audience growth through SEO and social platforms, and bring an originality to the brand’s output that will help take it to the next level.

We are looking for someone who has a genuine love for social media, who is on the pulse of trends and new platforms for growth and has an excellent understanding of SEO strategies and how to optimise our largely viral influenced content. You will be working in a fast-paced, fun environment where accuracy and creativity are key, so the ability to think under pressure is vital.

You will be joining a team of problem-solving journalists based in the UK, who know how to identify unique angles for stories that have not been covered elsewhere and can give a voice to content and communities by using a more candid, creative, humorous and digestible approach to the day’s major talking points.

You must have experience in SEO or social media – ideally both. We are preferably looking for candidates from a journalistic background with newsroom experience, but will consider someone with excellent SEO skills and a strong interest in news.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. As a growing and global brand, we must have a workforce that’s more representative of our readers, viewers, clients and partners, and a workplace that creates a sense of belonging for everyone
• We are committed to hiring and developing a diverse workforce regardless of background, and we support our people to thrive in their careers here.

The Independent is an equal opportunities employer, if you require any reasonable adjustments to complete your application, please do not hesitate to advise us accordingly.

About you

Key responsibilities and accountabilities

• Develop and implement multi-platform social media strategy.
• Write social and SEO headlines for content across the website.
• Own social media posting – primarily TikTok, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram.
• Optimise published content for search engines and spot nascent trends.
• Use analytics platforms to report on performance and spot content opportunity gaps.
• Suggest stories and subjects for different areas of the site.
• Act as the point of contact for all Indy100 audience queries.

Essential skills and experience

• Strong familiarity with Indy100 and why we choose to cover the news and the angles we pursue.
• Proven track record for increasing followers and online engagement.
• Excellent organisational and planning skills required to oversee the publishing flow of an editorial team.
• Experience collaborating with editors to grow and increase audience, both on site and across platforms.
• Proficiency in analysing complex issues and developing actionable insights and plans – using data from proprietary platform analytics (e.g. Facebook Insights) and third-party aggregate sources (e.g. BrandWatch).
• Experience using SEO tools (e.g. Google Search Console, Semrush) and reporting and analytics tools (Adobe Analytics, Chartbeat).
• Expert knowledge of trends and tools for social media platforms.
• Experience of working in a dynamic fast-paced media environment.

Expected behaviours

• Continuous Improvement – working in a smart, flexible and focused way, you are open to change and suggest ideas for improvements to the way things are done.
• Collaboration – building and maintaining positive and supportive working relationships with your colleagues. You help to create an inclusive and professional work environment.
• Building Capability – you keep your own knowledge and skill set current and evolving and look for ways to continue learning to support the achievement of business objectives.
• Quality Service – you deliver high quality and efficient service and take account of the diverse customer needs and requirements when looking at ways to improve service quality.
• Responsive Delivery – you work to agreed business goals and objectives and deal with challenges in a constructive and responsive way. You take personal responsibility for the quality of outputs.

Our values – you will deliver across all our values

Inclusive: We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. Working as a team, we put transparency and effective communication at the heart of everything we do.

Innovative: From the very beginning, The Independent has been breaking the mould. We take risks and are always looking to try new ideas in pursuit of excellence.

Independent: Nobody tells us what to think; we make up our own minds and aren’t afraid to do things differently. Like our readers, we value honesty and integrity above outside influences.