Job Description

The Baltimore Sun seeks a strategic Audience Engagement Director to lead efforts to attract, retain and engage readers by aligning content strategies with audience insights. This role serves as a critical bridge between data and storytelling, overseeing analytics, content distribution and optimization, platform performance and reader engagement.

The ideal candidate is passionate about communication, deeply analytical, and skilled at guiding editorial and product teams in developing a cohesive, audience-first approach within an evolving digital media landscape.

Working closely with editors, reporters, product, and marketing teams, this person will champion a data-informed newsroom culture that puts readers at the center of editorial strategy, as well as ensuring our journalism reaches the widest and most relevant audience possible.

Essential Functions

• Lead audience engagement strategy by developing and executing data-informed plans to attract, grow and retain readership across all platforms.
• Collaborate with newsroom leaders to establish and monitor key performance indicators that align with audience growth strategies and editorial goals.
• Analyze data from various platforms (website, mobile, social media, newsletters, push alerts) to provide actionable insights that inform content strategy and distribution.
• Work closely with editorial teams to identify and implement strategies that deepen engagement, increase retention, and grow readership.
• Produce and maintain clear, impactful reports and dashboards that visually display real-time trends and inform data-driven decisions across editorial and business teams.
• Provide regular training and support to newsroom staff to build fluency in analytics tools, SEO and audience-first content practices.
• Conduct A/B tests and experiments to refine content strategies, headlines, and distribution methods.
• Partner with product, marketing, and technology teams to ensure cohesive audience strategies and seamless integration of analytics into daily workflows.
• Assist newsroom leaders in developing and implementing incentive programs aimed at improving content performance and driving organizational goals.
• Deliver on time with minimal to moderate supervision.
• Stay up-to-date with trends in digital journalism, audience development, and analytics technology.

Education and Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, data science, marketing, or a related field.
• 3+ years of experience in an analytics, or related role. Newsroom experience preferred.
• Proficiency with analytics platforms such as Google Analytics, Parse.ly, or similar.
• Mastery of SQL and experience working in Google BigQuery, AWS, or other big data environments.
• Strong understanding of social media analytics, SEO, and audience engagement strategies.
• Ability to interpret complex data and translate it into actionable insights for non-technical audiences.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, presentation, and storytelling skills.
• Familiarity with newsroom workflows and CMS platforms.

The Baltimore Sun is committed to building a diverse newsroom that reflects the people it covers and the audience it serves. Candidates are encouraged to highlight new perspectives they can bring to our team.

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