Substack is building a new economic engine for culture, giving the brightest, most interesting, and most creative people on the internet the power of their own publishing platform. Substack empowers independent writers, artists, videographers, podcasters, and creators of all types to create, share, and make a living off their work through subscriptions, while offering them creative freedom, ownership, and a direct connection to their audiences.
As the Head of News & Politics Partnerships, you will be responsible for growing and managing the News & Politics category on Substack. Your job will be to bring news and politics industry leaders over to Substack, help them make money and create community and continue to expand the market. Success will mean political news, community and cultural moments happen on Substack. In this role, you’ll be a leader on the Partnerships team, overseeing strategy, budget, external relationships, goal execution and team management for your market.
The ideal candidate will be a scrappy, innovative, creative thinker, with a deep interest in supporting creators, shaping culture, as well as deeply connected within news market and politics. They’ll be a self-starter who is ok with shifting priorities and eager to make an impact in a fast-paced, startup environment – able to both set ambitious strategy and goals and also execute those goals. They will be comfortable interfacing with creators, writers, reporters, politicians and industry leaders. They will possess experience managing direct reports, and building and iterating on programs that can scale across markets. This role reports to the Head of Partnerships and is based in Washington DC, New York City, San Fransisco or Los Angeles, or for the right candidate, remote.
Responsibilities:
Display market leadership in the news and politics creator economy by recruiting and advising top talent on Substack
Develop strategic programs for the market in service of activating creators and bringing new users to Substack as well as supporting current Substack creators.
Develop and scale best practices for social media strategy, audience development and digital content
Partner with internal teams (communications, product + data) to identify promising political creator segments and continuously refine the Substack creator experience
Work cross-functionally to enhance politics outreach strategies and streamline processes for onboarding and supporting creators effectively
Support event, brand and marketing initiatives
Showcase Substack as the home for new media, the platform where creators can connect directly with their biggest fans and build thriving media businesses
Be a leader on the Partnerships team, working cross-functionally with the communications, product business operations and leadership teams to build and execute programs for the market, and for the Substack brand.
Travel for team building and strategic meetings
10 years of professional experience in news, publishing or politics
Excellent written, verbal, and diplomatic skills, with a sharp attention to detail.
Rolodex/Connections point
Experience managing a team.
Comfortable working with data, and using it to measure impact and develop stronger programs
A voracious reader and subscriber to Substacks, with a keen sense of the evolving tech and media landscape.
The ability to work quickly and effectively while managing several projects under deadline.
Strong people skills, with experience working directly with creators
Substack’s compensation package includes a market-competitive salary, equity for all full-time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation salary range for this role is $190,000 - $250,000. Multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, determine final offer amounts and may vary from the amounts listed above.
Substack is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or transgender status), age, national origin, veteran or disability status. We’re seeking people passionate about enabling independent expression and building a better business model for creators. If you want to see what media, communities, and content can become when unmoored from advertising models, and you have the skills and experience to contribute, we’d love to meet you.
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Skills Required
- 10 years of professional experience in news, publishing, or politics
- Excellent written, verbal, and diplomatic communication skills
- Strong connections within the news and politics industries
- Experience managing a team and direct reports
- Comfort working with data to measure impact and improve programs
- Ability to manage multiple projects under tight deadlines
- Experience working directly with creators
- Deep interest in creators, culture, news, and politics
- Strong knowledge of the evolving technology and media landscape
What We Do
Substack lets writers connect with their audience on their own terms and earn money doing it. We make it simple for writers to publish to an email list that they own, get discovered on the web, and charge for subscriptions. More than 500,000 people pay to subscribe to writers across the Substack network, and the top writers make millions of dollars a year. Substack’s model depends on the success of writers using Substack – we only make money when they do. “Substack makes it dead simple to start a newsletter and get paid for it.” – Judd Legum, author of Popular Information "Substack gives me a way to connect with my audience on my own terms.” – Lyz Lenz, author of God Land and Men Yell At Me Make something that matters Great writing is valuable. It respects readers' time, their intelligence, and their trust. It helps us make sense of and change the culture we live in. At Substack, we're building a business model that enables great writing to thrive. Learn more about our opportunity and mission. We are a small but growing team, and there is more to build than we could ever imagine. That’s why we need you. We aim to take pragmatic approaches to problem solving while shipping high-quality products that allow the writing on Substack to take the spotlight. Every person at the company participates in customer support. We do this to build empathy with our users and enable us to build better products. We believe that a diverse team will help us build a product that best serves the needs of a wildly diverse ecosystem of writers. So whatever your background or perspective, we’d welcome your input to help build the best possible version of Substack.
