Job Description
Job Title: Director - Audience Strategy & Engagement
Reports to: Executive Editor & Managing Director, Sky News
Division: Sky News
Base location: Osterley
We are putting in place a new leadership structure to strengthen collaboration across the newsroom and support delivery of our 2030 vision for a premium, video‑first Sky News, built for the digital future.
Role Overview
The Director, Audience Strategy & Engagement is a senior leader responsible for defining and delivering Sky News' platform strategy, ensuring content is discoverable, relevant, and distinctive across all platforms, in keeping with the Sky News vision to be a premium, video first digital news organisation.
The role is highly data-driven, requiring strong AI expertise and a deep understanding of audience behaviour, platform performance, and content distribution.
The role uses audience insights to guide editorial decisions and works closely with the Hubs to ensure content performs well. It plays a key part in converting users of Sky News' free content into paying subscribers.
The Director, Audience Strategy & Engagement owns the editorial product experience for the Sky News owned and operated platforms and works collaboratively with the Sky Product team to optimise these services.
The role blends strategic thinking with editorial instinct and leads a team of editors and specialists to maximise reach and impact. It requires close collaboration across editorial, product, marketing, and commercial teams to drive growth and innovation.
The Director, Audience Strategy & Engagement will be someone with a wide industry perspective and agitator for change – they must want to challenge the status quo.
What You'll Do – Main Responsibilities
Define and lead the audience strategy across all platforms, ensuring alignment with editorial and commercial goals.
Oversee the Platform teams, including platform curators as well as audience insight specialists.
Commitment to innovation, experimentation and challenging the status quo – this role must embrace and drive change.
Partner with editorial hubs by providing the audience strategy to inform commissioning decisions.
Partner with the Sky News commercial team to convert business strategies into editorial and platform strategies.
Own and evolve the editorial product experience for Sky News' owned and operated platforms (website and app), working closely with the Sky Product team to ensure delivery, audience growth, and alignment with editorial and commercial priorities.
Lead the curation of content across platforms, ensuring it is presented in a way that maximises engagement, and impact.
Oversee community management, including performance monitoring, feedback loops, and platform-specific engagement tactics.
Collaborate with product and technology teams to ensure tools and workflows support audience-centric publishing.
Represent the audience perspective in senior editorial and strategic forums.
Manage budgets and resources to support audience growth and engagement initiatives.
Be a fully committed member of the Sky News leadership team, aligned wholly with Sky News' collectively agreed strategic vision and goals, and embody these in the leadership of the Audience Strategy & Engagement team
Champion diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in content and engagement strategies.
What You'll Bring – Required Skills & Experience
Proven experience in audience development, digital publishing and content strategy at a senior level.
Deep understanding of audience behaviour, analytics, and performance metrics across platforms.
Strong data skills and AI expertise to optimise content performance and inform strategic decisions.
Experience overseeing the delivery and presentation of content across multiple platforms, ensuring consistency and audience relevance.
Experience owning and evolving a product roadmap, particularly for digital news platforms.
An expertise in digital video.
Strong leadership and team management skills, with experience leading cross-functional teams.
Strategic thinker with the ability to translate insight into editorial and platform impact.
Experience working with editorial, product, and commercial stakeholders to align goals and priorities.
Familiarity with social media, SEO, newsletters, and community engagement best practices.
Demonstrated ability to innovate and adapt in a fast-paced, digital-first environment.
An industry wide perspective and instinct to challenge orthodox thinking.
Commitment to diversity, inclusion, and editorial integrity.
Sky News
At Sky News, our mission is to bring you the full story, first. We take you there, 24:7, reporting from the heart of the events changing our world. We ask the big questions of everyone, revealing what you want to know. And our style is bold and independent, giving you a fresh perspective.
In the UK, Sky News is a compelling alternative to the public service broadcasters and opinion-driven news outlets, reaching one in three people every month.
Across the world, we are one of the most-followed English language news brands on social media, bringing award-winning British journalism to a global audience.
Sky News is part of Sky, one of Europe's leading media and entertainment companies, owned by Comcast Corporation.
Watch Sky News, free, wherever you get your news.
The Rewards
There's a reason people can't stop talking about. Our great range of rewards really are something special, here are just a few:
Sky Q, for the TV you love all in one place
The magic of Sky Glass at an exclusive rate
A generous pension package
Private healthcare
Discounted mobile and broadband
A wide range of Sky VIP rewards and experiences
How You'll Work
We know the world has changed, and we want to offer our employees the chance to collaborate at our unique office spaces, whilst enjoying the convenience of working from home.
We've adopted a hybrid working approach to give more flexibility on where and how we work. You'll find out more about what this means for this role during the recruitment process.
Osterley
Your office base:
Our Osterley Campus is a 10-minute walk from Syon Lane train station. Or you can hop on one of our free shuttle buses that run to and from Osterley, Gunnersbury, Ealing Broadway and South Ealing tube stations. There's also plenty of bike shelters and showers.
On campus, you'll find 13 subsidised restaurants, cafes, and a Waitrose. You can keep in shape at our subsidised gym, catch the latest shows and movies at our cinema, get your car washed and even get pampered at our beauty salon.
Inclusion
We are a Disability Confident Accredited Employer, and welcome and encourage applications from all candidates. We will look to ensure a fair and consistent experience for all and will make reasonable adjustments to support you where appropriate. Please flag any adjustments you need to your recruiter as early as you can.
Why wait?
Apply now to build an amazing career and be part of a brilliant team. We can't wait to hear from you.
To find out more about working with us, search on social media.
Just so you know: if your application is successful, we'll ask you to complete a criminal record check. And depending on the role you have applied for and the nature of any convictions you may have, we might have to withdraw the offer.