Job Description

Head of Sport

Location:

London

Department:

The Times & The Sunday Times

Salary Details:

Not Specified

Advertising End Date:

24 Sep 2023



The head of sport is responsible for delivering a distinctive, agenda-setting sport news and features package across all platforms for The Times and The Sunday Times. They will ensure world-class standards of digital and print journalism, and lead the sport editorial team as we move to digital-first commissioning and publishing.

Responsibilities

• Successfully manage a productive relationship with the editor of The Times and the editor of The Sunday Times as well as journalists across the newsrooms

Work with the MEO to create a seven-day structure for the Sport team which successfully optimises the publishing of content on our digital platforms and print products

Work with editors, writers and reporters to conceive, commission and edit distinctive agenda-setting sport content for a digital and print audience, focusing onconstructive stories that put people at the heart, with high quality analysis and expertise

Create the sport news list and manage the development of stories with the sport news editors, reporters and writers

Commission exclusive video, polls, interactive graphics and picture galleries to engage our digital audience and plan how these stories are shared and promoted online

Use SEO, Inca and Google Trends to help guide commissioning

Use social networking and other digital platforms for content generation and to promote The Times and The Sunday Times Sport content

Forward-plan, working with journalists on long-range projects and interview spreads

Work collaboratively with all internal departments including commercial, marketing, production and distribution, finance and HR

Manage an external profile as a spokesperson for The Times and The Sunday Times with key Sporting bodies, political and commercial stakeholders within sport

Control costs to ensure the budget is managed as efficiently as possible to agreed objectives, ensuring all products are commercially viable

Lead and manage the sport team, developing talent and supporting progression

Skills and experience

• Experience working as a senior editor for a national newspaper and managing a large editorial department

Demonstrable expertise in sport news and features

An understanding of how audience data supports commissioning and how to promote a story on social media and through search engines

Knows how to attract and retain new digital audiences

An ability to work under pressure, to tight deadlines and with rigorous accuracy

Ability to communicate succinctly and effectively

Experience of working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams

Persuasive presentation skills, well-developed interpersonal skills, with the ability to problem-solve

A strong understanding of editorial compliance and regulatory issues

Apply with your CV and a covering letter by September 24.

We are News UK: One of the leading media businesses in the UK and Ireland, our newsbrands include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday and The TLS. Our national broadcast brands include talkSPORT, Times Radio, talkRADIO and Virgin Radio UK, and we have market-leading local radio stations across Ireland. In 2022 we launched TalkTV, a major new TV channel available to everyone across the UK, delivering a schedule of news, current affairs, entertainment and sport, with Piers Morgan in a primetime evening show. Our world-famous brands provide news, analysis, opinion and entertainment to almost 40 million people each month. Spanning digital and print, audio and video, events and experiences, our brands are home to a plurality of opinion, representing the diverse communities we serve. News UK is wholly owned by News Corp.

Life at News : At News UK our people are our heartbeat - they are the driving force behind our brands and we want to enable people to thrive. Some of us work flexibly, in many different ways. We encourage you to talk to us about the flexibility you would like. Many of us work in a hybrid way between one of the News UK & Ireland offices and remotely.

We championdiversity and inclusion (https://www.news.co.uk/diversity-and-inclusion-at-news-uk/) , we strive to maximise and encourage every individual\'s potential and ensure everyone feels valued. We support this through our Diversity Board, D&I strategy & training, creating more diverse content and our intern and apprenticeship programmes. We also have 11 employee-led networks.

We take pride in looking after our amazing talent at News UK supporting the Health and Wellbeing of our staff. Some of what we offer includes:

• A generous pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5%;

30 days holiday and up to 4 volunteering days per year;

Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary & paternity leave up to 2 weeks;

Wide range of training available, plus full LinkedIn Learning access.

Private medical insurance covering pre-existing conditions

Discounted gym memberships , ClassPass at Home, weekly virtual HIIT, yoga and run club classes

\'Bikes for Work\' scheme

Access to wellbeing benefit ssuch as physio/massage and counselling

We want to ensure that everyone we meet has the opportunity to perform to their best when interviewing. Please let us know, at any stage, whether you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, and we will do our best to accommodate.

News UK is an official partner of the Journalism Diversity Fund, founder of the Journalism and Disability Forum, and proud member of the Valuable 500. At News UK, we will continue to promote an inclusive and diverse workplace, to help people with visible and non visible disabilities create careers in media and aim to make our content accessible to all.

News UK