The Kansas City Star, winner of nine Pulitzer Prizes, is seeking an experienced, high-energy digital journalist to join our team as an Assistant Audience Development Editor. 

This Kansas City-based manager will report to The Star’s Audience Development Editor and collaborate on strategies that grow and engage our local audience and build long-term loyalty among our subscribers. Job No. 1: Working to ensure The Star’s journalism meets the needs of our growing local digital audience.

You’ll join an audience team energized by experimentation and the constant search for new and creative ways to connect with our diverse readership across platforms. The newsroom you’ll join is deeply committed to listening to, engaging with and meeting the needs of our neighbors throughout the Kansas City metro area. 

This editor will lead our daily audience efforts, in collaboration with the Audience Development Editor, determining the best ways to show the breadth and depth of our journalism across our digital platforms. This will include everything from preparing the newsroom’s daily audience report before the morning news meeting to on occasion planning and writing The Star’s flagship morning and afternoon newsletters.

The successful candidate is skilled at engaging with readers across our platforms, from social media (Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Reddit, Facebook and X) to live events; has demonstrated success in writing and growing readership for newsletters, push alerts and other news products; and has a firm command of SEO. The Assistant Audience Development Editor will use our analytics tools (Power BI, Amplitude, Parse.ly/Marfeel) to identify topics of high reader interest and ensure our coverage plans meet our readers’ needs. 

In addition to audience development duties, the Assistant Audience Development Editor will oversee up to three reporters covering high-interest, trending topics such as dining out and local entertainment/celebrity news. This editor will work with these reporters to identify trending stories or stories that have high-audience potential, assign the stories, and ensure that they are reported with a local audience-first focus and published quickly. 

Keen news judgment, strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate with colleagues – both local and remote – are musts. 

Kansas City is a vibrant, large city with a high quality of life – replete with iconic professional sports teams and a world-class arts scene – and a low cost of living relative to cities its size. It’s a fantastic place to put down roots, and this job offers the chance to contribute to its future. 

We believe that our team is stronger when we include individuals with a variety of perspectives and experiences, and we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

The successful candidate will bring many of the following: 

• A track record of experimenting and iterating, quickly and often.
• Strong word editing and organizational skills.
• Familiarity with digital planning and packaging.
• Excellent news judgment and journalism ethics.
• Strong collaborative instincts and a love of teamwork.
• Comfort with a job that will be demanding, fast-paced and constantly evolving.
• Excellent communication skills, including leading training and coaching sessions around building audiences.
• A familiarity with communities in the Kansas City area.
• Familiarity with how to measure success using audience metrics and analytics.
• College degree or equivalent work experience.
• At least three years of audience engagement, editing or reporting experience.
• Experience managing social media accounts, and working knowledge of SEO concepts and Google Trends to grow our readership, especially among potential subscribers.
• Understanding of social media best practices.
• Understanding of newsletter best practices.
• Ability to use analytics tools such as Parse.ly to make real-time decisions for elevating our journalism and developing related digital strategies.
• An independent spirit that can make decisions quickly and can handle several tasks at once.
• Excellent news judgment and a demonstrated ability to “see the story” that is going to matter to readers.
• Proven ability to work with cross-functional teams. 

To apply, include a persuasive cover letter, your resume and four to six examples of your best work.

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 health care 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. 

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