Who we are
The Grocer is the UK’s biggest, most interesting and most widely respected B2B title, the bible of the food and drink industry, and as close as a B2B publication comes to consumer journalism, covering stories of national importance, from the cost of living crisis, to health and obesity, as well as topics like new product development, sustainability and ethics, marketing, food waste, technology, shopper behaviour, sourcing, food safety, entrepreneurship and more.
As a result there is huge interest from the public in our award-winning coverage and our stories are regularly picked up by the national media.
But the main objective of our huge and varied output is to inform our B2B audience, and to help grow the number of subscribers and registered users to our website and related newsletters. And this senior role is of huge importance in achieving that and continuing our transformation as a multimedia power brand.
Position
The Grocer is looking for a senior editor to steer the UK’s biggest, most interesting and most widely respected B2B title in its continued transformation as a multimedia powerbrand.
As editor of thegrocer.co.uk you will manage the day-to-day digital operations and output of thegrocer.co.uk, a fast-growing, award-winning, subscription-based website, liaising with a large team of editors and reporters to deliver superb paid-for content, optimised for the appropriate channel, in a timely fashion.
What you will be doing
- Contributing to the strategic direction, brand positioning and development of thegrocer.co.uk as a multi-channel, paid-media publication, so that The Grocer understands and fulfils the needs of its readers
- Helping to develop and implement thegrocer.co.uk’s digital strategy (e.g UX/SEO/taxonomy/navigation/newsletters/data/tools and products), creating and delivering new digital content and products as appropriate – eg podcasts
- Ensuring all content published on thegrocer.co.uk is optimised and enhanced in terms of story narrative/layout/headlines and SEO/imagery/in-article links/data visualisation/tagging to make sure the user experience is consistently high
- Configuring and maintaining thegrocer.co.uk’s home page and landing pages, using automation as well as manual intervention, to ensure we surface the best, most valuable and most up to date content
- Planning, commissioning and editing digital content that complements The Grocer’s wider output and helps build traffic and engagement – including news, opinion pieces from industry experts, trend reports, range previews, listicles, digital features, data journalism and videos
- Ensuring thegrocer.co.uk is run efficiently and effectively in terms of commissioning, briefing, planning, workflow, production and signoff, liaising closely with and inspiring colleagues across the team, with resources maximised and overlap minimised
- Tracking analytics on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, using data to help inform daily output and shape future content strategies
- Overseeing thegrocer.co.uk’s newsletter programme – managing production and scheduling, tracking performance and helping to evolve and develop the newsletter proposition to support the broader paid-media strategy
- Overseeing thegrocer.co.uk’s social media outreach – managing posts, tracking performance and helping to develop and deliver the ongoing strategy to drive traffic/awareness of our content and activities
- Managing thegrocer.co.uk’s editorial webinar schedule, liaising with commercial team and editorial team on production and promotion
- Inspiring the editorial team’s development of data, multi-media and social media skills (working in conjunction with the digital and social editor but also subs and art desks), while identifying suitable and relevant training programmes
- Overseeing the development of conveniencestore.co.uk and forecourttrader.co.uk, to continue building audience and engagement within their communities, while complementing the overall mother brand strategy
- Handling complaints, ensuring due process is followed and legal matters are dealt with appropriately
- Editing and signing off print copy when required due to holidays or illness – ensuring it meets legal requirements and journalistic standards
Requirements
- To be an outstanding editor and journalist, with experience in commissioning, editing and promoting all forms of digital output (ie including video, podcasts and social media).
- Have a passion for digital storytelling, ensuring that our content is compellingly written, edited and formatted, featuring optimal use of headlines, imagery, data visualization and audio/video to engage and capture the attention of subscribers and new prospects alike.
- Have demonstrable skill and experience in devising and delivering successful digital content strategies, integrated workflows and digital transformation, using Adobe Analytics data to support decision making.
- Have a proven track record of operating successfully in a digital-only environment, using content management systems, data analytics, data visualization and other tools
- Possess good people management and training skills to enable and bring the best out of our large editorial team in an age of influencers, platforms and AI
Company benefits include:
- Eligible to work part of the week from our Crawley and London office and to work remotely for the rest of the week in line with the Company’s current Agile Working Policy
- 25 days’ annual leave in addition to bank holidays- increasing by one additional day after 6 years, up to a maximum of 30 days.
- An additional day of leave for you to take on a cultural celebration day or on your birthday if you like. A day for you! At William Reed, we call this our “MeDay”.
- A volunteer day to take for supporting a chosen charity and giving back to the community.
- Opportunity for hybrid working
- Contributory pension
- Life Assurance Scheme
- Group Income Protection
- Enhanced family-friendly leave pay entitlements
- Wellbeing benefits, including: A health care cash plan, Employee assistance programme and a 12-month wellness calendar for company-wide health, wellbeing, diversity & inclusion awareness dates.
- Cycle to Work scheme
- Electric car scheme
Why work for us:
- We have offices in Gatwick and London, UK; Montpellier, France; Singapore and Chicago, US.
- We provide a supportive work environment and are committed to maintaining a healthy work/life balance for all of our employees. Working for William Reed means that you will be joining a stable organisation that is committed to developing its employees and brands.
- We warmly welcome and encourage applications from talented individuals of all backgrounds and characteristics.
If you need any support in accessing this opportunity, please do not hesitate to discuss this with us.
Please complete the application form to apply for this role, ensuring you include a covering letter which contains links to examples of your work.