USA TODAY Executive Editor of Audience and Digital Production

Role summary

USA TODAY is seeking a visionary, highly accomplished Executive Editor, Audience & Digital Production to serve as key driver of USA TODAY’s digital audience strategy and the executive owner of newsroom digital production across platforms. In one of the most critical leadership roles in our organization, this editor will set the agenda for how USA TODAY’s journalism is transformed into signature digital experiences that grow reach, deepen engagement, and build enduring reader loyalty.

Reporting directly to the SVP of USA TODAY, the Executive Editor, Audience & Digital Production will own and evolve the operating model for audience and production bringing together dedicated digital content pillar teams, platform owners, and a 24/7 central digital production desk into a cohesive, high‑performing system. They will oversee a sophisticated organization that spans our core editorial pillars, enterprise‑level planning, and experts across web, apps, newsletters, video, social and emerging platforms, ensuring that every major story and franchise is executed with clarity, speed and impact.

This executive will be accountable for portfolio‑wide digital performance, including growth in loyal users, repeat visitation, engagement depth, and conversion into newsletters and other owned channels. They will work as a true peer and strategic partner to pillar leaders across News/Life, Opinion, Sports and Entertainment shaping digital growth priorities, championing big‑bet projects, and making data‑driven decisions about where, when and how USA TODAY shows up for its audiences.

Central to the role is building a modern, scalable operating system for digital journalism. The Executive Editor will design and continuously refine workflows that make our coverage data‑informed, visually distinctive and relentlessly aligned to USA TODAY’s brand promise and enterprise priorities. They will lead a disciplined culture of experimentation standing up formal testing programs for formats, distribution strategies and audience journeys, and integrating responsible AI‑assisted tools into daily production in ways that strengthen quality, speed and efficiency.

As a senior newsroom executive, this editor will lead, inspire and develop a high‑caliber team of managers, editors, producers and platform specialists. They will be expected to set a clear vision, translate it into concrete operating standards, and build an inclusive, performance‑driven culture grounded in candor, coaching and accountability. This leader will ensure that audience insight, platform intelligence and journalistic ambition come together in a unified strategy.

The ideal candidate will bring a track record of leading complex digital news operations at scale, deep fluency in audience analytics and platform dynamics, and a demonstrated ability to drive change in fast‑moving environments. They will combine urgency and creativity with sound judgment and integrity and will be energized by the opportunity to build a flagship audience and digital production organization that positions USA TODAY to win the next decade of digital news. This role must be based out of Washington, DC or NYC.

Responsibilities:

• Own the audience strategy across platforms
• Set and communicate the audience and distribution strategy for USA TODAY’s digital portfolio, with a birds-eye view of business needs and growth targets.
• Ensure the structure intentionally integrates newsletters, social discovery, video/visuals distribution, search, and AI support across all pillars.
• Accountable for performance, KPIs, and division goals
• Monitor performance against key metrics (pageviews, unique visits, return visits, loyalty, platform growth) and be accountable for hitting audience and engagement goals.
• Close the loop between data and editorial decisions by ensuring platform owners and pod leads act on live analytics and audience insights.
• Leadership of the Compass operating model
• Lead and oversee the full Audience & Digital Production structure: digital content pillar team owners, platform owners, and central desk, under one unified model.
• Maintain a cohesive view of the entire portfolio and resolve conflicts or prioritization questions between pillars, platforms, and central desk.
• Serve as key advisor to executive leadership on audience strategy and digital production capacity.
• Planning, tentpoles, and live coverage
• Own the daily and look-ahead planning calendar, including tentpole events, live moments, and major initiatives.
• Ensure the central desk and pods execute against agreed strategies in fast-moving scenarios (breaking news, major sporting events, large entertainment initiatives).
• Cross‑functional partnership and prioritization
• Partner cross-departmentally and cross-divisionally (News, Entertainment, Sports, Opinion, Product, Sales, Brand, Local, Content Strategy, Content Monetization) to align audience priorities with business objectives.
• Participate in and help lead the Audience Growth Council with platform owners and pillar leads.
• Standards, brand voice, and editorial quality
• Monitor site content and editorial standards from an audience perspective, ensuring brand voice and platform strategies are coherent and consistent.
• Maintain clear decision rights so pods own creation, platform editors own how each platform wins, and central desk executes in real time.
• Workflow, innovation, and AI integration
• Champion the integration of AI and innovation tools (SEO drafts, content tagging, briefings, social copy) into production workflows, in collaboration with platform owners and Content AI teams. Ensure the team’s structure supports scaling, pivoting, and experimentation across emerging platforms and formats.
• People leadership and structure optimization
• Hire, manage, and develop senior editors (Central Desk & Operations, Platforms, Pods) and ensure clear reporting lines and responsibilities across the 23–30 person model.
• Adjust staffing assumptions, meeting cadence, decision rights, and role scopes based on operating experience, with regular reviews and model refinements.

Key deliverables:

• A functioning hybrid team (pods + platforms + central desk) that delivers 24/7 digital publishing, clear ownership by pillar, and expert platform stewardship.
• Documented audience strategies per pillar and platform, tied to measurable KPIs and reviewed quarterly.
• A central desk and platform owner layer that reliably execute homepage, alerts, newsletters, social and search strategies under pressure.
• Integrated AI and innovation workflows that measurably improve speed, depth, and scalability of digital production.

Requirements:

• Significant leadership experience in digital newsrooms or audience/production teams, preferably at national scale.
• Proven track record driving audience growth across multiple platforms (site, app, newsletters, social, video, search, aggregators).
• Strong fluency in audience analytics and the ability to translate data into clear editorial and distribution decisions.
• Experience managing cross-functional stakeholders and complex, multi-team operating models.
• Comfort leading change, including reorganization, workflow design, and adoption of new tools (especially AI and automation in production).

Application Instructions

We are eager to learn more about you and how you fit this role. When you apply, don’t limit your upload to a resume; show us what you’ve done. To do so, please submit:

1. Your resume – one to two pages.
2. A cover letter that outlines how you would approach the role.

Completing these steps will ensure that your application receives the highest consideration.

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The annualized base salary for this role will range between $163,000 and $175,000. Base compensation is reflective of many factors, including, but not limited to, the market in which one lives/works, individual education level, skills, certifications and experience. Note: variable compensation is not reflected in these figures and based on the role, may be applicable.