The Times and The Sunday Times represent a combined 400 years of covering news and providing comment and analysis on the UK and the world. We are authoritative, credible, responsible, trusted and a part of the nation’s cultural heritage.
Your role: The Executive Producer, News is responsible for overseeing our news podcast output across all The Times and The Sunday Times’ platforms, including audio, video and social. This is an exciting and demanding full-time role, coordinating seven days of output each week on our flagship daily news show, The Story, and will require regular Sunday working. You will be responsible for strategic and editorial decision-making, leading a highly effective team of producers and working with the news desks and reporters of two of the world’s great newspapers.
This role combines editorial judgement, people management, platform expertise, and data-led decision-making, as well as the ability to constantly adapt to changing circumstances to deliver the best version of our news, investigative and current affairs reporting.
Day to day you will:
Audience
Work with the Head of Podcasts on the development strategy for news podcast content across all Times platforms
Identify growth opportunities across platforms, formats, and audiences, ensuring content reaches new and existing viewers effectively
Drive change within the production team, potentially including bonus and afternoon editions of The Story, as well as moving to Sunday working
Collaborate with editorial, production and marketing teams to align audience goals with broader brand objectives
Content
Oversee the production and publication of The Story across seven days for audio, video and social
Shape the show’s identity as a news podcast with an emphasis on investigative reporting, while adapting to the differing demands of current affairs output on the weekends
Maintain the highest editorial and production standards across the production team, including liaising with our legal and compliance teams
Liaise with those teams working on other of our current affairs podcasts
Make consequential and complex editorial decisions, often under pressure of a deadline and escalating these only when necessary
Performance
Own the end-to-end reporting of performance metrics across platforms, allowing us to track performance over time
Translate complex data into clear, actionable insights for the Head of Podcasts
Leadership
Lead and develop a team of producers and hosts, setting standards and driving change to realise your vision of the show, in consultation with the Head of Podcasts
Foster a culture of ambition, experimentation, accountability, and continuous improvement
Work with senior leaders on the papers’s editorial, video, social product, data, and marketing teams to maximise the impact of our reporting
What we’re looking for from you:
Significant experience of daily news, investigative and/or current affairs reporting, ideally within a newspaper or media organisation.
Deep understanding of podcast research, production and storytelling - though The Story is not primarily a narrative podcast
Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data and translate it into strategic recommendations
Proven track record of growing audiences and improving engagement across digital platforms
Proven experience of working well under pressure and the ability to constantly adapt in a changing work environment and/or demands of that day’s story
Proven ability to work with senior editors from different disciplines and teams to drive our news podcasting
Experience of managing teams, including working with HR and working collaboratively across departments
We are News UK: One of the leading media businesses in the UK and Ireland. Our newsbrands include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday and The TLS. Our national broadcast brands include talkSPORT, Times Radio, Talk and Virgin Radio UK, and we have market-leading local radio stations across Ireland. Our world-famous brands provide news, analysis, opinion and entertainment to almost 40 million people each month. Spanning print and pixel, audio and video, events and experiences, our multiplatform brands are home to a plurality of opinion, representing the diverse communities we serve. News UK is wholly owned by News Corp.
Life at News
Driven by passion, guided by principles and acting with purpose. We represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter. We inform our audiences so that they can make decisions based on trusted information.
To do this, we believe our employees must represent different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. We strive to maximise and encourage every individual’s potential and ensure everyone feels valued. We support this through our Diversity Strategy, which focuses on three main priorities - attracting talent from a wider, more representative pool, developing equity programmes to drive better representation in our leadership, and ensuring diversity in our workforce as well as the journalism and content we produce. We also currently have 13 employee led networks and groups that support our strategy and connect like minded employees socially.
Benefits
Some of our benefits include:
Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary & paternity leave up to 2 weeks
Wide range of training available, plus full LinkedIn Learning access
Private medical insurance including coverage for pre-existing conditions
Discounted gym memberships, free ClassPass at Home, weekly virtual yoga classes
‘Bikes for Work’ and ‘Electric Car’ scheme
Up to 60% discount on Harper Collins books
Access to exclusive events and competitions with exciting brands such as talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK & The Times. Weekly virtual panel chats with top journalists and celebrities
Access to wellbeing benefits such as EAP, physio/massage and counselling
A generous pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5%
30 days holiday, plus bank holidays and up to 4 volunteering days per year
We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process. If you require reasonable adjustments due to a disability or health condition at any stage of your application or interview, please let us know. You can contact us at [email protected] to discuss how we can support you to perform at your best.
