Audience Editor - Sports

About the role

The Minnesota Star Tribune is an innovative modern media organization building on an extraordinary 159-year legacy. With seven Pulitzer Prizes and numerous other accolades, we stand as a beacon of journalistic excellence in Minnesota. We’re seeking a dynamic leader passionate about journalism and democracy to help shape the future of one of the state’s most trusted institutions. As the Audience Editor for Sports, you will be embedded with the Sports desk and serve as the lead strategist for audience development, helping drive growth and engagement for one of the nation’s most ambitious sports teams in news.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead audience strategist for the Sports desk, partnering with editors and reporters on coverage planning, story presentation, and distribution.
• Use audience data, research, search trends, and performance insights to shape coverage decisions and identify growth opportunities.
• Help the Sports team better understand priority audiences, including loyal subscribers, casual fans, team-specific audiences, younger readers, and people discovering our journalism on new platforms.
• Advise on how Sports stories are framed, timed, and presented across StarTribune.com, YouTube, search, newsletters, social media, mobile, and other platforms.
• Partner with social media editors, newsletter producers, and the homepage team to strengthen the reach and impact of Sports coverage, especially during breaking news and major sports moments.
• Identify opportunities to test new approaches to headlines, story formats, live coverage, video, newsletters, and audience engagement, then help the desk apply what works.
• Collaborate with the centralized Audience Team to bring shared tools, expertise, and best practices to Sports while contributing to a culture of experimentation, audience service, and journalistic excellence.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in journalism or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and work-related experience.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in audience development, digital journalism, sports journalism, social media, newsletters, analytics, SEO, product strategy, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of audience behavior across digital platforms, including social media, newsletters, search, homepage, mobile, and video experiences.
• Ability to analyze performance data and translate it into clear, actionable newsroom insights that inform coverage, framing, and distribution strategy.
• Experience developing strategies that drive audience growth, subscriber value, and engagement.
• Strong research skills, including the ability to synthesize multiple data sources into useful audience segments, trends, and recommendations.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with editors, reporters, and platform teams.
• Strong news judgment and an understanding of how sports audiences engage with breaking news, live events, analysis, features, personalities, enterprise journalism, and community conversation.
• Knowledge of fan behavior, digital habits, and the evolving ways audiences discover and build loyalty with sports journalism.
• Experience collaborating across editorial, product, social, newsletter, video, or audience teams.
• Commitment to journalistic excellence, public service, and audience-centered decision-making.

Preferred Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in a newsroom, sports media, audience development, or platform strategy role, especially with experience using data and research to grow and engage audiences.
• Experience training, coaching, and developing journalists in audience growth, SEO, analytics, and digital storytelling best practices.
• Familiarity with analytics tools and audience measurement platforms.
• Experience working on subscription-based or membership-driven media products.
• Familiarity with Minnesota sports audiences, fan communities, or major sports coverage rhythms.
• Experience developing audience strategies that reach both loyal users and new or emerging audiences.
• Social media content creation and video editing experience is a plus.

Schedule

Wednesday–Sunday, 1 pm–10 pm. Schedules may need to be adjusted at times to accommodate the needs and coverage plans of the Sports Department.

Pay

Annual pay range for this H-scale position is $92,890, as stated in the contract of the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild. Compensation will depend on several factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience.

Benefits

• Modern downtown office with a free fitness center, collaborative spaces, golf simulator, and rooftop patio.
• Comprehensive benefits including commuting subsidy, medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Wellness and work-life balance programs, including financial incentives, generous paid time off, flexible holidays, one volunteer day, and two wellness days.
• Financial and family support, including a 401(k) with company match, paid parental and caregiving leave, hybrid work arrangements, and tuition reimbursement.
• Additional perks such as an employee assistance program, pet insurance, flexible spending accounts, and health savings accounts.