Head of Editorial

Company: IE Media, Inc.

IE Media, Inc. is a leading, global digital media publisher that covers technology, engineering, and science news. We deliver the most futuristic and cutting-edge developments in these areas to our readers and followers on social media through articles and videos.
IE’s fast-paced and collaborative international work environment celebrates quality and ethical journalism. The team includes a diverse group of infinitely curious individuals from all around the world who share a joint passion for sharing the latest and the most important info with the world, as we believe knowledge is power.
We’re looking for a Head of Editorial to own IE’s content strategy across every surface we publish on — the website, IE+ subscription, newsletters, video, and social — and to be accountable for the audience and revenue that content produces.
This is a leadership role, not a hands-on production role. You’ll set the direction, the standards and the targets, and you’ll lead three functional heads who run the day-to-day: a Managing Editor for editorial, a Head of Video, and a Social Media lead. They execute; you own the outcome.
You’ll be a journalist by background who has spent the last several years growing audiences — someone who has run a newsroom and also knows, from doing it, how search, Discover, newsletters, video and social actually build readership and turn it into revenue.
What you’ll own:
One content strategy. Editorial, video and social currently pull in different directions. You’ll bring them under a single plan: what we make, for whom, on which platform, and how each piece feeds the others.
IE+ growth. Subscription is the revenue stream we’re building the company around. You’ll define what IE+ is for, what’s free and what’s paid, how readers move from one to the other, and what we ship to make subscribers stay.
Editorial quality and speed. Raise the bar on evergreen and IE+ content while keeping breaking news fast enough to earn Google Discover traffic. Own the quality rubric and the publishing workflow, including how AI is used in it.
Video and social direction. Set the editorial direction for video — what stories we tell, and how — including client-facing branded content. Set the strategy for how editorial and video content is packaged and distributed on social; the platform relationships, monetization programs and paid social are run by your Social Media lead.
The numbers. IE+ subscribers, Discover and organic traffic, newsletter growth, YouTube growth, branded content engagement, social video revenue. You’ll set data-backed targets with the CEO and report against them monthly.
Your team
Three direct reports:
* Managing Editor — runs the editorial team, daily news desk, commissioning, freelancers and the IE+ content pipeline.
* Head of Video — runs video production, the YouTube channel output and client video work.
* Social Media lead — runs platform growth, community, creator and platform partnerships, monetization and paid social.
Your job is to make these three functions work as one operation: shared priorities, one editorial calendar, content that moves between formats by design rather than by accident.
What you’ll do:
* Set and own the editorial strategy across web, IE+, newsletters, video and social.
* Define IE+ positioning, free-to-paid funnel, and the product and content roadmap that grows subscribers.
* Establish editorial standards and a quality rubric; hold the team to them.
* Own the publishing workflow, including AI-assisted production, with human oversight that prevents factual errors and quality erosion.
* Set the Google Discover playbook — pre-publish criteria, speed-to-publish targets — and make sure the desk runs it every day.
* Give editorial direction to video: story selection, storytelling approach, and the narrative craft on branded content for commercial clients.
* Set the strategy for repurposing editorial and video into social formats, and for what social sends back to the site and IE+.
* Manage, develop and hold accountable the Managing Editor, Head of Video and Social Media lead.
* Manage editorial budgets, including freelance commissioning.
* Set KPIs with the CEO and report monthly on performance against them.
* Represent IE editorially: occasional flagship pieces, interviews, podcast appearances, and subscriber-facing events.
What success looks like:
* First 90 days. A written content strategy the CEO has signed off. A Discover pre-publish checklist live on every news story and a measurable cut in time-to-publish on breaking news. An agreed quality rubric in use. The first IE+ data-led pieces shipped. The three functional heads working from one calendar.
* Year one. IE+ subscriber growth against target. Discover and organic traffic up. Newsletter list growing. YouTube growing as Facebook dependency winds down. Branded video work that clients renew and expand.
What you bring:
* 12+ years in digital journalism, including senior editorial leadership — you’ve run a newsroom, not just worked in one.
* A demonstrable audience-growth record you personally drove: SEO and Google Discover, newsletters, video, social distribution. Numbers you can show and references who’ll confirm them.
* Subscription experience — you’ve built or grown a paid content product and understand free-to-paid funnels.
* Experience directing video editorially, ideally including branded or sponsored content for commercial clients.
* A clear, working point of view on AI in editorial production: where it belongs, where it doesn’t, and how to keep quality up at volume.
* Experience leading through functional heads — managing managers, across formats, remotely and across time zones.
* Comfort with budgets, KPIs and commercial conversations; you’ve shared revenue targets with sales before.
* Genuine curiosity about engineering, technology and science. Deep domain expertise isn’t required on day one; a nose for what engineers find credible is.
* Excellent written and verbal English.
* Not required, but a plus: P&L ownership; engineering, science or technology-trade publishing background; experience with community products or membership models.
Compensation:
* Competitive base salary, benchmarked to senior editorial management.
* Performance bonus tied to editorial delivery and results.
* Remote-first, with travel for team gatherings and key events.
We're a startup, not a legacy publisher. That means:
* Decisions get made fast and adjusted faster.
* The CEO is reachable and so is everyone else. No moats, no gatekeeping.
* We measure outcomes, not activity. Looking busy is not the same as delivering.
* We hire owners and we trust them. We don't manage by surveillance.
Not for you, if:
* You need a fully built team, a quiet seat, and a clean org chart.
* You haven't personally edited a piece in over a year.
* You treat deadlines as aspirational.
* You go quiet when things get difficult.
* You think AI is a threat to editorial rather than one of the most important editorial tools of the decade.
* You want someone else to chase the work through to publication.
IE is dedicated to supporting its diverse and inclusive editorial staff. IE urges women, people of color, armed forces veterans, people with disabilities, and gender-nonconforming people to apply. IE does not discriminate based on sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, affectional choice, or gender identity. We recognize a person's unique experiences as points of strength and welcome them as journalists on our team, working in service of the mission to explore and report on engineering, in whatever form it takes.

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