Audience Development Manager

Audience Development Manager - Food Group (up to £45,000)

Immediate is home to some of the biggest and most loved consumer brands in the UK, including Radio Times, Good Food and BBC Gardeners World magazine. Our trusted, quality content reaches millions of people a month across digital, print, video, podcasts, apps and live events.

We're the destination for people looking to get more from the things they love. We're here to inspire, fuel, encourage and educate.

Whether it's the big things, or the little things – from reaching fitness goals to savouring good food, cultivating outdoor spaces, or enjoying the latest TV sensation – we help bring our audiences joy.

12 month fixed-term contract

About the role

Reporting into the Audience Development Lead, you will work closely as part of the wider SEO and Audience Development team, managing the SEO content strategy for Immediate Media's food websites. This will involve working closely with writers and sub‑editors on best practice guidelines, identifying new and existing opportunities and reporting on the wider performance of some of our most valuable channels.

Search is a major channel for our websites and we are looking for an experienced Audience Development professional to support the team to defend and grow traffic.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the brand teams to develop and implement data‑driven SEO content strategies and grow search traffic.
• Provide support to editorial teams in the planning, briefing, writing and optimising of new and existing content.
• Proactively identify, prioritise and maximise opportunities for growth across new content verticals or organic channels.
• Monitor and report on performance of brand content in search, providing clear analysis and supporting the wider team with interpreting and responding to insights.
• Provide regular traffic narratives for the senior leadership team, relating content performance in search to revenue and budgets.
• Develop SEO best practice for recipe and food content, regularly testing and reporting on new tactics to inform our approach.
• Guide writers on best practice procedures for creating or optimising content for search, providing templates and hands‑on support where necessary, and develop audience training sessions for the Immediate editorial community.
• Monitor and respond to market and competitor trends in the food and recipe space, performing in‑depth competitor analyses to identify tactics used by other food and lifestyle publishers to enhance organic traffic and audience engagement.
• Collaborate more widely with marketing, commerce, product and data teams on initiatives to drive Good Food and Olive Magazine's growth, aligning SEO strategies with wider business goals.
• Manage the monthly content optimisations process, informing editorial refreshes around seasonal and evergreen topics to defend and improve core content rankings.
• Work with the technical SEO team to create product improvements from a technical perspective, including undertaking a robust internal‑linking strategy.
• Keep updated with SEO industry developments such as algorithm updates and new SERP features, ensuring that key stakeholders and our communities are aware and communicating required actions.

Requirements

• A thorough understanding of how Google Search, Google Discover, AI Overviews and SEO works.
• A track record of success in developing data‑led content strategies and contributing to organic traffic growth on digital content platforms.
• Strong understanding of content SEO principles, keyword research and user intent analysis.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build and maintain relationships.
• Familiarity with enterprise SEO tools such as Google Trends, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, SEMrush etc.
• Strong analytics capabilities, with proficiency in tools such as Google Analytics, Search Console and Data Studio.
• A natural curiosity and enthusiasm for audience development and SEO practices, particularly in relation to media businesses.
• Experience working in matrixed organisations, managing multiple stakeholders across editorial, technical and business teams.
• Understanding of technical SEO.

Benefits

• A relaxed working environment with regular socials including a summer festival.
• Supportive well‑being initiatives and benefits, talks and workshops, and mental health first‑aiders and champions.
• 25 days holiday plus a day for your birthday; offices will be closed between Christmas and New Year's which are in addition to your annual entitlement.
• Tailored training and development through our in‑house learning platform and LinkedIn Learning.
• A progressive and transparent culture focused on your development.
• Flexible / hybrid working plus early finish Fridays.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Enhanced family policies including paternity, adoption and surrogacy leave. We also provide a pregnancy loss, fertility and carers policy.
• Competitive pension plans and life assurance.
• A newly renovated modern office with lots of collaborative spaces.

EEO Statement

People are at the heart of our business and creating a diverse and inclusive working environment is important to us. Immediate is an equal opportunities employer. We’ll never treat anyone less favourably because of their sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marital/civil partnerships, sexual orientation, race, nationality, ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, or disability. We’re also committed to supporting applications from those who are returning to work following a career break, maternity leave or caring responsibilities.