VP Digital Editorial

Posted 2 Days Ago
Be an Early Applicant
Bristol, CT, USA
In-Office
236K-317K Annually
Expert/Leader
Digital Media • Gaming • News + Entertainment • Sports
The Role
Leads ESPN’s digital editorial vision, strategy, audience growth, content innovation, and business performance. Oversees a multi-layered organization of editors, reporters, and content leaders; manages budgets and investments; and partners with Programming, Product, Technology, Marketing, Research, Sales, Finance, and Disney executives to deliver distinctive, data-informed, multi-platform sports storytelling and fan experiences.
Summary Generated by Built In

Job Posting Title:

VP Digital Editorial

Req ID:

10159570

Job Description:

At ESPN, we are shaping the future of sports storytelling and how fans discover, experience, and engage with sports across digital platforms.

The Vice President, Digital Editorial will be a senior leader responsible for defining and advancing ESPN’s digital editorial strategy, ensuring our storytelling remains distinctive, relevant, innovative, and deeply connected to fans. This leader will set the vision for how ESPN creates, packages, distributes, and evolves digital content while balancing editorial excellence, audience growth, innovation, and business performance.

Leading a multi-layered organization of editors, reporters, and digital content leaders, the VP will bring exceptional editorial judgment, strong business acumen, and a deep understanding of evolving consumer behaviors, technology, and the sports media landscape.

What You’ll Do

Set the Digital Editorial Vision & Strategy

  • Define and drive a forward-looking digital editorial strategy that strengthens ESPN’s leadership in sports storytelling and aligns with broader audience and business priorities.
  • Anticipate shifts in consumer behavior, technology, platforms, and the competitive landscape to evolve how ESPN creates, packages, distributes, and delivers digital content.

Drive Audience Growth, Engagement & Innovation

  • Drive audience growth and engagement through distinctive storytelling, editorial franchises, and innovative content experiences across platforms.
  • Leverage audience insights, performance data, and market trends to inform editorial priorities, investment decisions, and new opportunities for growth.
  • Champion innovation in how fans discover, consume, and engage with ESPN content while maintaining the highest standards of editorial quality, accuracy, and credibility.

Lead the Business & Organization

  • Lead and develop a multi-layered digital editorial organization, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, accountability, inclusion, and high performance.
  • Own the financial and operating priorities of the function, ensuring resources and investments are aligned to ESPN’s highest-impact audience and business opportunities.
  • Partner across Programming, Product, Technology, Marketing, Research, Sales, Finance, and The Walt Disney Company to connect digital editorial strategy with broader fan experience and business objectives.

Required Qualifications

  • A minimum of 12 years of progressive experience in digital editorial, journalism, media, content, or a related field, including significant senior leadership responsibility.
  • A minimum of 7 years of experience leading managers, senior leaders, and multi-layered organizations.
  • Demonstrated success defining and executing digital editorial or content strategies within a complex media, sports, entertainment, or consumer-facing organization.
  • Exceptional editorial judgment and storytelling expertise, with experience overseeing high-profile, complex, and multi-platform content.
  • Deep understanding of digital audience behavior, content distribution, emerging platforms, and the evolving ways consumers discover and engage with content.
  • Demonstrated ability to leverage audience insights, data, and market trends to inform editorial strategy, prioritize opportunities, and drive measurable outcomes.
  • Strong business and financial acumen, including experience managing budgets, evaluating investments, allocating resources, and connecting editorial strategies to business performance.
  • Proven ability to anticipate industry and consumer shifts and translate them into innovative editorial strategies, capabilities, and experiences.
  • Exceptional leadership capabilities with a track record of building, developing, and inspiring high-performing teams and senior leaders.
  • Demonstrated ability to influence and align senior executives and cross-functional partners within a complex, highly matrixed organization.
  • Strong communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to articulate a compelling vision, simplify complexity, and establish credibility across an organization.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Senior leadership experience within sports media, digital publishing, streaming, subscription, or another scaled consumer media business.
  • Deep familiarity with the sports ecosystem, fan behavior, audience development, and the evolving media and technology landscape.
  • Proven success developing distinctive editorial franchises and multi-platform content initiatives that have driven meaningful audience growth and engagement.
  • Experience leading organizational transformation or modernizing editorial operations, capabilities, workflows, and talent.
  • Familiarity with emerging technologies and their implications for content creation, discovery, personalization, distribution, and audience engagement.

Required Education

  • Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communications, Media, Business, or a related field.
The hiring range for this position in Bristol, CT is $ 236,000.00 to $316,500.00per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.

Job Posting Segment:

ESPN Global Sports & Talent Office

Job Posting Primary Business:

ESPN Next

Primary Job Posting Category:

Editorial - Sports

Employment Type:

Full time

Primary City, State, Region, Postal Code:

Bristol, CT, USA

Alternate City, State, Region, Postal Code:

Date Posted:

2026-09-01

Skills Required

  • At least 12 years of progressive experience in digital editorial, journalism, media, content, or a related field, including significant senior leadership responsibility.
  • At least 7 years of experience leading managers, senior leaders, and multi-layered organizations.
  • Success defining and executing digital editorial or content strategies within a complex media, sports, entertainment, or consumer-facing organization.
  • Exceptional editorial judgment and storytelling expertise overseeing high-profile, complex, multi-platform content.
  • Deep understanding of digital audience behavior, content distribution, emerging platforms, and consumer content discovery and engagement.
  • Ability to use audience insights, data, and market trends to inform editorial strategy and drive measurable outcomes.
  • Strong business and financial acumen, including budget management, investment evaluation, resource allocation, and connecting strategy to business performance.
  • Ability to anticipate industry and consumer shifts and translate them into innovative editorial strategies, capabilities, and experiences.
  • Exceptional leadership capabilities with a record of building, developing, and inspiring high-performing teams and senior leaders.
  • Ability to influence and align senior executives and cross-functional partners in a complex, matrixed organization.
  • Strong communication and relationship-building skills, including the ability to articulate vision and simplify complexity.
  • Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communications, Media, Business, or a related field.
  • Senior leadership experience within sports media, digital publishing, streaming, subscription, or a scaled consumer media business.
  • Familiarity with the sports ecosystem, fan behavior, audience development, and the evolving media and technology landscape.
  • Success developing editorial franchises and multi-platform content initiatives that drove audience growth and engagement.
  • Experience leading organizational transformation or modernizing editorial operations, workflows, capabilities, and talent.
  • Familiarity with emerging technologies affecting content creation, discovery, personalization, distribution, and audience engagement.

The Walt Disney Company Compensation & Benefits Highlights

The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The Walt Disney Company and has not been reviewed or approved by The Walt Disney Company.

  • Pay Growth & Progression Recent union agreements raised wage floors for large groups of park cast members—e.g., Disneyland’s $24/hour minimum rising to $26 over the contract and Walt Disney World’s path from $18 toward about $20–$20.50 by 2026—signaling upward movement in hourly pay. These steps are described as meaningful improvements for many frontline roles.
  • Healthcare Strength Company materials outline medical, dental, and vision coverage for many full‑time roles, wellness resources, and (in Central Florida) access to Centers for Living Well clinics and pharmacy. References to mental‑health support and paid time off reinforce a strong core health offering.
  • Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits Complimentary theme‑park admission and discounts on hotels, dining, merchandise, and recreation are positioned as signature perks. Education support through Disney Aspire adds notable lifestyle value for eligible hourly employees.

The Walt Disney Company Insights

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The Company
HQ: Burbank, CA
219,548 Employees
Year Founded: 1923

What We Do

The Walt Disney Company is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise that operates through segments including entertainment, sports, and experiences.

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