Food Content Editor (8-month FTC) in London

Please note that this is an 8-month Fixed Term Contract role.

Are you a multi-talented food content editor with flawless recipe-creation skills, covering everything from classics with a genius twist to the latest trends, all communicated through clear, concise and engaging multichannel copy? Do you have an insatiable appetite to set the bar high in food media, creating recipes and content that cuts through across print, online and social?

At Waitrose, we are looking for a qualified food content editor with more than five years of experience to join us on an eight-month contract. Working in collaboration with our specialist agency, Senior Content Manager and Food Content Editor, you will plan, produce and deliver content that drives our print and digital strategy forward, with a particular focus on our Your Week in Food newspaper and related digital content.

The ideal candidate will be as passionate about discovering the latest food trends and products as they are about creating recipes that meet nutritional and food safety policies. You must be a self-starter, commercially savvy and tech-literate using SEO and AI to boost content ranking and accomplish tasks at pace.

Critical purpose of the role:

• Be a point of contact for food content in Waitrose.
• Skilled in crafting, writing and editing engaging content across multiple communication channels, including print and online (SEO).
• Responsible for commissioning and delivering food and drink news, features and franchises for omnichannel editorial and commercial Partnerships.
• An agile Food Content Producer who can adapt tone, style, and approach to suit different formats and platforms, producing high-quality content that resonates with passionate food lovers.
• Responsible for producing engaging multi-format, multi-channel content that translates business priorities into compelling storytelling, making weekly shopping a more exciting experience for passionate food lovers.
• Collaborate with food content creators to maximise reuse of recipe-led content in owned content marketing channels.

Primary Outcomes & Accountabilities:

• Act in accordance with the Partnership’s purpose and democratic principles, constructively participating in co-ownership, and demonstrating to customers and each other that it is a better way of doing business.
• Share your knowledge, experiences, ideas and opinion to improve the Partnership, speaking honestly and frequently.
• Invest in your personal and professional development to achieve potential, by doing more, doing better, or doing different.
• Continuously engage with and actively contribute to your Profession.
• Take responsibility for actively engaging with change.

Content creation:

• Subject matter expert in food content, relevant for digital and printed application.
• Commission and produce compelling short and long form content across our content ecosystem, including food features, omnichannel franchises and news stories, ensuring alignment with editorial guidelines and brand voice.
• Support the planning, editing, commissioning, and delivery of a weekly trade-focused newspaper & supporting digital formats that enhance the shopping experience in-store and online.
• Create SEO‑optimised content for recipe collection pages, individual recipe pages, and food guides, ensuring alignment with search intent and improving organic search visibility.
• Stay ahead of the latest Waitrose food trends, product development and releases, producers and suppliers, emerging ideas and brands, offering fresh, timely, and exciting content that speaks to our customer’s needs for discovery.
• Support the development of, establish and maintain the house style for recipe work and food content.
• Produce advertorials and commercial content that aligns with brand objectives while maintaining editorial integrity.

Measures of success:

• Delivers programme of work to plan, on time, to budget and to agreed standards.
• Increase in content effectiveness.
• Accuracy of Food and Drink content including recipe content that meets nutritional and food safety policies.
• Integration of content across relevant channels.
• Delivery within budget and accurate reporting.
• Year on year efficiency gains.
• Audience reach, feedback and engagement metrics.
• Effective stakeholder communication and coordination (internal and external).

Skills:

• Food marketing: Food and beverage subject matter expert: deep understanding, knowledge, experience of all food and beverage related matters and connected and networked with experts and talent within the industry.
• Written Communication: Excellent writing, briefing, commissioning, proofreading and editing skills.
• Stakeholder Management: Identifies who is impacted by or involved in your goals/objectives and therefore who is key to achieving the desired successful outcomes.