The Sacramento Bee is seeking an innovative, high-energy journalist to develop and execute digital audience growth and engagement strategies across its five California newsrooms. The digital strategy and audience editor will create the roadmap for connecting local readers with our journalism and helping them live their best lives in our communities.
This Sacramento-based journalist will ensure that our newsrooms are producing journalism that meets the needs of our local digital audience. You will lead a team of audience strategists and reporters focused on engaging readers with information that helps them navigate life in the Sacramento region, from restaurants and festivals to housing and transportation. The reporters working on this hybrid team move quickly and write frequently with a sharp focus on audience and the information that helps them enjoy everything the Sacramento region has to offer.
This editor will also be a leader in The Bee’s efforts to engage and serve local communities of interest and to create journalism squarely aimed at these readers and potential readers. This editor will also be expected to collaborate with editors across the newsroom and McClatchy Media on new content and audience engagement initiatives.
The digital strategy and audience editor will lead efforts to test, measure and refine a variety of digital audience and growth tactics that engage local readers and build long-term loyalty among our subscribers. The newsroom you’ll join is deeply committed to listening to, engaging with and meeting the needs of our neighbors across the Sacramento metro area.
The successful candidate is skilled at engaging with readers across our platforms, from social media to live events; has demonstrated success in growing newsletters and other news products; and has a firm command of SEO, including Google Trends and Google Discover. The candidate also possesses a love of purposeful experimentation, informed by results.
The editor in this role will be audience-minded, first and foremost, and eager to experiment and collaborate. They should be well-versed in story editing, coaching and digital strategy, able to balance many responsibilities and work with several direct reports. You’ll be an innovator in the newsroom and lead data-driven content and distribution experiments in partnership with reporters, editors and McClatchy’s news analytics team.
The successful candidate will be comfortable communicating and guiding the tactics we are using to execute our audience strategy on a daily basis. This person will collaborate with editors across Sacramento’s newsroom along with The Fresno Bee, The Modesto Bee, The San Luis Obispo Tribune and the Merced Sun-Star.
Sacramento is a vibrant, culturally diverse city with a welcoming climate and a renowned dining scene. As the state capital of the fourth-largest economy in the world, it draws both politicos and outdoor enthusiasts. The “City of Trees” is known for its glittering history, cultural diversity and dozens of lush farmers markets. (And it’s only 100 miles to the Sierra Nevada mountains, 88 to San Francisco, and 143 to Yosemite.) It’s a fantastic place to put down roots, and this job offers the chance to contribute meaningfully to its future.
McClatchy Media’s editorial leaders are expected to seek out and embrace the ethical use of artificial intelligence and other automation to enhance and elevate our work, create supplemental content and build efficiencies that free our journalists to focus on high-quality content production.
Empowering staff to learn and employ audience-focused approaches to journalism is key to success in this role, as are using and championing AI in ways that build trust in its capabilities.
The anticipated base pay range for this position is between $80,000 and $110,000. Individual base pay may vary within that range depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, department equity and relevant education.
Key responsibilities:
- Collaborate with McClatchy teams to create data-driven strategies that produce audience growth and subscriber loyalty on our websites.
- Regularly analyze performance data to improve audience development strategies, and give feedback to your team and your newsrooms in daily meetings.
- Curate and write newsletters and implement best practices to increase list size and engagement.
- Train newsrooms on SEO, headline writing, and how best to reach digital and new audiences.
- Coordinate and/or host live and virtual events, town halls and listening sessions to build trust with our communities.
- Elevate on-site experiences for new and existing readers.
- Lead an inspiring and community-driven social media strategy that creates long-term advocates for local journalism.
- Coordinate with editors producing high-impact journalism projects, ensuring that they put their audience at the center, from the idea phase onward.
What you’ll bring:
- 5+ years of experience, preferably in a digital media organization
- College degree or equivalent work experience
- Reliable news judgment and a clear understanding of journalism ethics
- Experience in a leadership role
- A proven track record of growing and engaging with audiences
- A track record of experimenting and iterating, quickly and often
- An ability to advise reporters, edit stories, and craft headlines and SEO with a strong focus on the intended readership
- A deep understanding of social media best practices and newsletter and alert strategies
- Experience with analytics platforms, and ability to analyze and communicate effectively about audience analytics
- Curiosity about and awareness of audience trends in the digital media space
- Must work comfortably in a job that will be fast-paced, data-driven, shaped constantly by feedback and experimentation
- Reporting and editing experience a plus
What we’ll bring:
As a journalist at McClatchy, you will join a supportive, flexible, collaborative team. McClatchy strives to be an employer of choice, and our benefits package is made with this goal in mind. With a focus on health, well-being, wealth and daily life, our package options include healthcare coverage for employees and their families, financial protection from expected and unexpected expenses, multiple no-cost wellness resources and even coverage for four-legged friends.
Our overall benefits package also includes a 401(k) with employer match, competitive paid time off and corporate holidays, and a variety of mental health benefits. With an excellent support team and with focus on your well-being as a top corporate strategy, McClatchy provides benefits to support you and your family in achieving your health and wellness goals. For more information on McClatchy's benefit plan, please visit McClatchyLivewell.com.
To apply, include a persuasive cover letter and your resume.
About the McClatchy Media Company
The McClatchy Media Company features a portfolio of vibrant and trusted news, lifestyle, entertainment brands and a robust retail distribution network. Our iconic local news brands such as the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and The Sacramento Bee, have collectively earned a total of 57 Pulitzer prizes and are complemented by popular lifestyle and entertainment brands such as Us Weekly and Woman’s World. Together, our brands reach more than 100 million unique visitors a month,The McClatchy Retail Network, our distribution and logistics arm, offers delivery to more than 56,000 retail locations weekly.
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Salary/Compensation: $80,000 - $110,000 per year
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