Head of Global Sports (London)

About Us

Powered by one of the largest global newsrooms in sports media, The Athletic brings sports fans the most comprehensive stories about the teams, sports and athletes they love. The Athletic’s newsroom of 450+ full‑time staff delivers in‑depth coverage of hundreds of professional and college teams across more than 47 North American markets and all 20 football clubs in the English Premier League, as well as many Championship clubs.

About the Role

This is a role (based in London) providing comprehensive editorial oversight of our global sports and soccer coverage, based in the UK; providing support to the Editor‑in‑Chief, partnering with stakeholders across the editorial organisation and business teams on a range of initiatives, and leading on editorial standards from a UK perspective. The ideal candidate will have a keen interest in and knowledge of men’s and women’s sports, as well as the ideas and experience to know how to tell these stories to a wide audience. They will be nimble and able to ‘own a moment’ in the sporting calendar, adept at managing a large team of people in multiple time zones, comfortable with handling breaking news and live coverage, and open to pursuing multi‑platform and off‑platform opportunities to further enhance our coverage. This is an exciting opportunity for a decisive, creative leader to make an impact and then progress and further develop with The Athletic as we work towards our mission of becoming the global sports news destination for fans.

Responsibilities

• Lead on editorial standards in the UK, working closely with the North American newsroom and legal counsel.
• Work to bring a distinctive, compelling, and authentic voice to all digital media products.
• Manage a staff of reporters and editors with an emphasis on the delivery of distinct news and analysis around big sporting moments and pursuing investigative opportunities.
• Work closely with the business team to identify areas for growth and then deliver incisive journalism accordingly.
• Assist with big‑picture, conceptual vision for The Athletic’s international desk, including long‑term direction; generating and planning story ideas; editorial platforms; expansion opportunities.
• Maintain an understanding and proficiency of subscription and engagement metrics.
• Maintain proficiency and knowledge for SEO (best practices available).
• Coordinate staffing assignments, editorial resources and process, and commission freelance journalists as required.
• Edit and publish stories via WordPress.
• Manage the desk’s financial budget, including projecting month‑to‑month expenditures and managing travel.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in digital sports journalism, with experience at a management level.
• Experience and thorough knowledge of UK editorial standards; knowledge of U.S. reporting standards a plus.
• Advanced ability to generate story ideas that result in solid sub‑growth and engagement.
• Ability to work well with writers on strengthening ideas; strong sense of how to take a single idea and develop it into a broader package on numerous platforms.
• Advanced understanding of the following editing tasks: copy editing, story structure, recognizing problematic sentences, style guidelines.
• Ability to add context to stories, edit in the writer's voice, ensure fairness, provide story structure.
• Expert ability to help develop less experienced writers and editors.
• High‑end knowledge of the sporting landscape.
• This role requires a combination of office‑based and remote working, with a minimum three days per week in our London office and an expectation of working weekends or evenings when the sporting calendar requires. It may also include international travel.

Benefits

The Athletic offers unique perks and benefits to all full‑time employees based on their country of residence. Our UK benefits packages offer benefits and perks, competitive to the local market.