Job Title: Editorial Director
Location: London, UK 
Relocation from certain countries to the UK is available for this role subject to visa approvals. 
Gay Times is a certified visa sponsor.
Reports to: Managing Director
Key Stakeholders: Board, Managing Director, Social & Editorial, Partnerships

The Context

Gay Times has been a leading voice in LGBTQ+ media for over 40 years, a legacy built on cultivating conversation and amplifying community voices. 

Continually adapting to the shifting media landscape, Gay Times pivoted to a social and digital-first strategy in the early 2020s, becoming the first LGBTQ+ media brand to surpass 1M followers on Instagram. Today, we command a global reach of over 70M. However, as the market evolves, so does our strategy. 

Over the next 24 months, our ambition is clear: to become the world’s leading LGBTQ+ journalism brand with the largest number of subscribers of any LGBTQ+ media company. With the roadmap set and the groundwork laid, the brand is primed to scale its subscription product, building deeper audience affinity and long-term loyalty through robust editorial output.

The Role

Gay Times is seeking a formidable Editorial Director to spearhead Gay Times’ editorial output. Laser-focussed on creating content of value to our subscriber audience, you are someone who pairs deep journalistic integrity with a data-driven approach to audience growth. You are strategic and commercially savvy, with the ability to collaborate cross-departments to deliver upon business objectives. 

You will be the architect of our content strategy across our subscription platform and social channels, with a deep understanding of how to propel audiences through the conversion funnel into subscribers. Your primary focus will be spearheading our content offering to scale our subscription product and deepen audience engagement in our core markets.

As our Editorial lead, you will be driven by powerful LGBTQ+ editorial, with a compelling vision for Gay Times’ content strategy, which you’ll skilfully connect to business performance. You should be someone who lives in the news; deeply connected to the latest in politics, social and cultural stories, and will have a robust network of writing talent who you will collaborate with to bring the content strategy to life. Beyond your editorial capacity, you are a product thinker who understands how to craft engaging content and analyse its performance to drive subscriber acquisition and retention.

Your responsibilities will also include supporting the success of Gay Times Partnerships by providing the Commercial team with insights, concepts, and editorial thinking that reflects the voice of Gay Times and our audience’s interests, whilst addressing brand stakeholder objectives.

The Opportunity

This is a rare chance to shape the future of one of the world’s preeminent and longest-running LGBTQ+ media brands. You will have the autonomy to build a modern media product that serves a global community, underpinned by a sustainable, subscriber-first business model.

Core Responsibilities

1. Editorial Leadership & Strategy

  • Editorial Guardianship: You will define and enforce the editorial voice across all platforms, ensuring a cohesive, holistic, approach to how our content reaches the audience.
  • Omnichannel Oversight: Lead the daily content output for Gay Times with a primary focus on the subscription product, whilst strategically integrating social media and other top-of-funnel channels to accelerate subscriber conversion.
  • Global Perspective: Tailor content from a global lens, particularly to resonate with our core markets (USA and UK) across politics, culture, justice, community and more.
  • Direct Contribution: Research and write compelling editorial, maintaining a strong brand voice that’s authoritative and intersectional.
  • Content Curation: Curate and commission content across a wide range of topics from editorial contributors and submissions, optimising for audience engagement and impact by refining the output to align with readers’ behaviour and interest.

2. Subscription & Product Growth

  • Product-Market Fit: Working alongside the Product lead to constantly test and iterate with content, formats and new offerings to define conversion drivers and build long-term loyalty.
  • Subscriber Value: Develop and execute a vision for subscriber content, ensuring subscribers feel a unique and tangible value from their membership.
  • Audience Insights: Use performance data (traffic, dwell time, churn rates) to inform the editorial calendar and commissioning.

3. Commercial & Partnerships

  • Strategic Ideation: To help secure high-value partnerships to power our growth, you’ll collaborate with the Commercial team to develop the strategy and creative approach for brief responses, supported with audience and community insights to ensure authenticity.
  • Ecosystem Balance: Ensure that sponsored content and editorial integrity coexist across the ecosystem.

4. Team & Talent Management

  • Internal Leadership: Manage a core team of internal reports across editorial and social, fostering a high-performance, subscriber-driven culture.
  • Freelancer Network: Maintain and expand a global network of external LGBTQ+ contributors and specialists to power specific projects and diverse storytelling.

The Ideal Candidate

  • Editorial Background: Proven experience in a senior editorial role, ideally within a digital-first media brand.
  • Subscription Expert: You have a track record of working with paywalls, memberships, or subscription platforms and understand the "funnel" from casual reader to loyal member.
  • Data-Obsessed: You live in analytics. You can translate raw numbers into actionable content pivots.
  • Community-Minded: A profound understanding of LGBTQ+ rights and advocacy is non-negotiable. You understand the nuances of the community and the importance of intersectional representation.
  • Commercially Savvy: You understand that great journalism requires a healthy business model. You are comfortable talking about revenue, ROI, and brand alignment.
  • US/UK Fluency: Whichever side of the pond you are based, you possess a "world-view" and can navigate the cultural and political landscapes across the globe with ease.

How to Apply

To apply — send your CV, a cover note and two pieces of work in PDF format that you think best showcase your tone of voice and breadth of interest to careers@gaytimes.com

Applicants will be invited to a 20 minute pre-screening interview to assess eligibility.

Following this, successful candidates will be invited to a 60-90 minute interview with members of the Board. You will be asked to prepare some materials before this interview. 

After this, you will have a final interview with the leadership team.