About The New Arab
The New Arab is a fast-growing English-language website focused on authentic coverage of news, current affairs, and culture and lifestyle stories from the Middle East and North Africa region and beyond. Targeting audiences interested in the region in English language speaking countries and communities, led by the UK, North America, South and East Asia, and Australia/New Zealand.
The New Arab’s diverse newsroom offers a platform for the voice of the Middle East and aims to provoke an exchange of ideas and open discussion in a responsible manner via news, in-depth analysis and comment. We have a large pool of journalists from all backgrounds, allowing us to provide fruitful and insightful reporting on cultural and social issues, as well as political and humanitarian issues.
The New Arab is the English sister publication of Arabic daily newspaper and online news outlet AlAraby Al-Jadeed and is part of the Fadaat Media network, which allows us to leverage sprawling networks of correspondents in the region and their high-quality output, as well as its own resources.
Job Overview
The Associate Editor – Opinion & Analysis supports the Opinion and Analysis desks through editing, production, publishing and digital presentation. The role includes CMS management, headline writing, SEO, image selection, social packaging and multimedia adaptation.
The Associate Editor prepares articles for publication, ensures copy meets editorial standards, coordinates with contributors and editors, and helps adapt written content into social, video and newsletter formats.
The role may support commissioning workflows and contribute story or contributor ideas, though its primary focus is editorial production, quality control and cross-platform publishing.
Key Responsibilities
· Edit Opinion and Analysis articles for accuracy, clarity, consistency and house style.
· Prepare articles for publication, including structural edits, line edits, factchecking, proofreading and headline refinement.
· Ensure copy is legally sound, grammatically accurate and suitable for digital audiences.
· Review sourcing, attribution, balance and compliance with UK media law and editorial guidelines.
· Rewrite intros, standfirsts, headlines and captions for readability and SEO.
· Ensure articles are published on time and to a high editorial standard.
· Upload, format and publish content using the CMS.
· Prepare headlines, metadata, tags, hyperlinks, captions and related-story links.
· Apply SEO best practice to headlines, URLs and article structure.
· Select, crop and credit images in line with copyright requirements.
· Optimise articles for homepage placement, newsletters and social distribution.
· Support homepage and section-page curation where required.
· Identify articles suitable for explainers, quote cards, reels, scripts and social-first formats.
· Draft captions, scripts, subtitles and platform-specific social copy.
· Support visual asset production for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook and LinkedIn.
· Assist with face-to-camera scripts, explainers and contributor-led multimedia formats.
· Liaise with contributors on edits, deadlines, copy queries and publication details.
· Support commissioning editors in managing submissions and publication workflows.
· Maintain editorial calendars, Trello boards and workflow systems.
· Assist with contributor research and background checks.
· Help identify topics, contributors and editorial angles under commissioning editors’ direction.
- Monitor performance through analytics tools including Chartbeat and Google Analytics.
- Work with editorial, video, newsletter, social media and creative teams on content production.
Person Specification
Essential Skills and Experience
- Degree-level education or equivalent professional experience.
- Proven experience in journalism, editing, digital publishing or editorial production.
- Strong written English and excellent attention to detail.
- Strong editing, proofreading and rewriting skills with excellent written and spoken English.
- Experience editing journalism, analysis or opinion content in a digital publishing environment.
- Strong understanding of CMS platforms, SEO, headline writing and digital publishing standards.
- Knowledge of Middle East and North Africa politics, culture and current affairs.
- Ability to manage multiple deadlines accurately under pressure within a fast-paced newsroom.
- Understanding of media law, copyright, editorial standards and collaborative newsroom workflows.
Desirable Skills and Experience
- Arabic language skills.
- Experience working with MENA-focused journalism or international news.
- Familiarity with analytics tools such as Chartbeat, Google Analytics or Google Search Console.
- Experience using workflow tools such as Trello, Airtable, Slack, SharePoint or similar.
What We Are Looking For
We are looking for a digitally fluent editor with strong copy-editing skills and experience in CMS publishing, multimedia production and cross-platform content distribution. The ideal candidate will be comfortable editing complex analysis, preparing articles for publication and working with social and video teams to adapt journalism for digital audiences.
Benefits:
- Bereavement leave
- Casual dress
- Enhanced maternity leave
- Life insurance
- Private medical insurance
- Sick pay
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Ealing, Greater London: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- Are you authorised to work in the UK without sponsorship? Please note, we do not offer sponsorship.
Experience:
- Journalism: 3 years (required)
Work Location: In person
