Our client based in Central London is in need of a Senior Editor for an exciting and rewarding new role on a contract basis. You will take on full responsibility for the Tech and Gadgets channel of this established and renowned website. Ideally you’ll come from a deadline driven newsroom environment where you have been working across blogs, apps and social media content, and be used to working with breaking news. You’ll know the key stories in the tech world and how to create a story around these, in fact you’ll probably know about them before they happen with the contacts you have in the industry. You’ll also have a massive following on twitter and Facebook and know how to use these to your best advantage. Day to day responsibilities will include commissioning, budget management as well as hands on writing and editing. You’ll need to be articulate, confident and have the vision to make this channel the best of its kind. This is a great opportunity for an established Editor or a Deputy who is eager to take the next step in their career. As standard with these roles it will be shift based and include some weekend work. Team/Department Mission Tech & Gadgets is an important part of the business. Across all channels, we have a new culture of up-to the minute, real-time news and content within a fast paced, creative content environment that reflects the “Best of Now” strategy and sits within the parent channel of Lifestyle. Role Purpose The candidate needs to become the face of Tech & Gadgets in the UK. They need to live and breathe innovation and new technology and articulate their enthusiasm to both internal and external audiences. Many of Tech &Gadgets channel competitors are enthusiastic blogs. The candidate needs to be able to reflect this energy and enthusiasm for a mainstream audience. As part of that, they need to act as an ambassador, to firmly put the channel on the map, gaining access to events and pre-release technology, get the channel noticed, get it nominated for awards and appear in the media to represent the channel. The candidate needs to be able to quickly react to breaking news, both with the ability to generate news and comment themselves or have an impressive list of contacts on hand to commission top flight writers to assist. They also need to be comfortable telling stories in a number of different ways including words, pictures, video, and other ways to come in the future. Key Accountabilities This individual needs to be the personification of ‘Best of Now’ regarding Tech & Gadgets - Be engaging - participative, create debate. The candidate needs to be able to reach out to its users and understand their wants and needs. - Be first, or if you can’t be, move the story on. The candidate needs to be able to work quickly and accurately and be on top of their industry and all the key stories. - Be fresh, bold & original – tone and content. What you write for the channel – and what you communicate – needs to follow this principle at all times. - Write the way people talk – to their friends. Their copy needs to be full of energy and enthusiasm. They need to be absolutely enthralled with technology and the latest gadgets. They need to be able to communicate this energy onto everything they do. - Be picture led – pictures drive the clicks. The candidate needs to have an eye for high quality photography, and plenty of ideas of how photos could be better used to bring technology to life in the channel. - Less planning, more reaction: the candidate will be able to quickly adjust their activity to suit breaking news. For example, they will know the right freelance to contact who can get them a news story within the hour if need be, and a reaction piece within two hours. Other priorities: - Lead and own commissioning process, including sourcing new contributors and managing social writer pool. - Take ownership and facilitate of day-to-day news agenda across these channels, being point of contact for NEP team for all channels. - Take ownership of the overall editorial calendar across the team, and ensure daily, weekly, monthly and annual planning of editorial activity. - Assisting Managing Editor in setting, apportioning and managing editorial commissioning budgets across the team. - Liaise with NEP team on a daily basis to ensure breaking news is represented in the trending blog, and on the homepage modules. - Be confident in leading interviews and presenting to camera for video exclusives. - Ensure Tech & Gadgets is ahead of our competitors in terms of timely, original content, and beating rivals on breaking news. - Work with International to identify opportunities for content packages that can be shared. - Assist Managing Editor in operational running of team, including best practice across various disciplines such as SEO, image management and general housekeeping. - Tracking and measure all statistics and targets across team using relevant tools such as Omniture, social dashboards and other tools, and ensuring positive action is taken where appropriate. - Assist Managing Editor in ensuring content partnerships are being maximized. - Work with Managing Editor on launching large scale editorial projects, such as new ad funded channels in Tech & Gadgets, including planning editorial road maps, writing channel propositions and executing launch plan. - Work the sales on client pitches and briefs, and be able to sell the channel proposition to potential clients. - Be able to effectively analysis statistics in the areas of SEO, comments, social media, unique users, dwell time and video streams, and identify and execute editorial actions where appropriate. - Be a key figure in producing original video content and securing exclusives for the channel through effective networking with relevant contacts in the industry. - Be flexible and available to attend and cover live events outside of working hours, and attend key industry launches and celebrity events. - Participate in weekend and out of hour’s rota that includes 8am starts, and show flexibility to work key calendar events. - Monitoring users’ feedback and, wherever appropriate, acting on it. - Close monitoring of competitor activity. Knowledge, Skills and Experience Essential Experience - Experience in managing direct reports or leading a team to excellence. - A bulging book of excellent industry contacts within the technology industry - Proven experience of setting and leading technology focused daily news agenda for a large online audience. - Proven track record in launching large scale editorial initiative, sponsorship, or vertical. - Must have a track record of smart news judgment. - Must have a deep understanding of social media, and be ready to respond quickly and efficiently to news that breaks through this medium. - Must have a close on eye competitor sites and understand strengths and weaknesses of other competitors to position own unique content. - Must have a proven track record in spotting great pictures and know how to sell them with an original angle. - Must write stop-you-in-your-tracks headlines. - Be able to demonstrate an ability to operate under pressure. - Must react quickly to produce up-to-the-minute articles. - Must be able to demonstrate being able to identify stories that reflect Best of Now agenda. - Demonstrate a great eye for pictures and how to turn them into stories. - Interest in, and/or experience of any of the following different subject areas is desirable but not essential: men’s lifestyle, personal finance.