The Independent | Assistant Sports Editor

About us

The Independent is an online news publisher that was established in 1986 as a national newspaper independent of party political affiliations or proprietorial influence. In 2016, The Independent became a fully digital publisher, moving away from print in pursuit of sustainability, and to safeguard its values and journalism for the future.

The Independent has always thrived through innovation and change. It was the first British newspaper to add a Saturday magazine; the first to give photography the same prestige as a news copy; the first to challenge the Westminster lobby system of closed briefings; the first broadsheet to move to the more compact ‘tabloid’ format; the first to launch a concise quality compact paper; and the first – and only – major newspaper to pull off a successful transformation to fully digital publishing.

Through The Independent, Independent TV, eCommerce, indy100, subscriptions and other ‘reader revenues’, The Independent plans to continue the work of many decades, bringing much-needed independent journalism to over 100 million unique global visitors a month, make its voice ever louder and more insistent the world over.

We have an international editorial team with our main offices in London and New York.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. As a growing and global brand, we must have a workforce that’s more representative of our readers, viewers, clients and partners, and a workplace that creates a sense of belonging for everyone
• We are committed to hiring and developing a diverse workforce regardless of background, and we support our people to thrive in their careers here.

The Independent is an equal opportunities employer, if you require any reasonable adjustments to complete your application, please do not hesitate to advise us accordingly.

The role

The Independent is looking for an experienced sports journalist who is ready to take on their next challenge in an editorially focused role with some commercial objectives.

The right candidate will be able to balance project work as well day to day tasks on the sports desk. They will also be able to manage external relationships and identify commercial opportunities.

This role will be charged with managing any commercial sport partnership from an editorial perspective, this will entail a range of tasks from subbing content to launching newsletters.

As well as leading on partnerships editorially, this role will also need to play an active role in the sports desk and be capable of running shifts and help drive the sport news agenda.

The ideal candidate will be someone who is a creative thinker who has plenty of innovative ideas. You’ll be working in a fast-paced environment where accuracy and creativity are key so the ability to think under pressure is vital.

This role would be ideal for someone currently working on a sports desk who is looking to progress.

About you

You demonstrate the following behaviours:

• Continuous improvement – you work in a smart, flexible and focussed way, are curious, open to change and suggest ideas for improvements to the way things are done.

• Collaboration – you build and maintain positive and supportive working relationships with colleagues. You help to create an inclusive and professional work environment.

• Building capability – you keep your own knowledge and skill-set current up to date and look for ways to continue learning to support the achievement of business objectives.

• Responsive delivery – you work to agreed goals and objectives and deal with challenges in a constructive and responsive way. You take personal responsibility for the quality of your work.

• Care for others – you show awareness of diversity at all times, and respect others.

• Working safely – you show awareness of the importance of health and safety in the workplace.

You possess the following:

• A recognised journalism qualification or commensurate experience.
• Relevant legal and compliance training and qualifications.
• Experience of working on a sports desk.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities

• Manage sport focused partnerships editorially
• Seeking out new opportunities to enhance partnerships and create pitches.
• Edit and approve internal and partner content.
• Manage the sport newsletters portfolio and ensure engagement and growth metrics are being achieved.
• Carry out daily sports desk tasks from breaking news to identifying opportunities to increase traffic and grow the sport section’s audience.

Essential skills and experience

• Trained journalist with full understanding of the law.
• Strong familiarity with The Independent brand and our coverage.
• Excellent organisational and planning skills.
• Management of external partnerships.
• Experience of growing and increasing audience, both on site and across platforms.
• Experience using newsroom analytic tools such as Chartbeat, Adobe, Crowdtangle etc.

Our values – you will deliver across all our values

Inclusive: We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. Working as a team, we put transparency and effective communication at the heart of everything we do.

Innovative: From the very beginning, The Independent has been breaking the mould. We take risks and are always looking to try new ideas in pursuit of excellence.

Independent: Nobody tells us what to think; we make up our own minds and aren’t afraid to do things differently. Like our readers, we value honesty and integrity above outside influences.