The L.A. Local News Initiative is seeking a founding Head of Audience and Membership to help launch this ambitious new nonprofit newsroom serving Los Angeles with the timely, factual, and relevant news residents need to participate and thrive in their communities.

The successful candidate will be a strategic and innovative leader, passionate about connecting local audiences with trusted, independent journalism as an essential public service. They will bring a collaborative spirit, a results-oriented mindset, and a deep commitment to fostering inclusive and impactful relationships with audiences. Energized by problem-solving and experimentation, this individual will thrive in the dynamic environment of a start-up.

The Head of Audience and Membership will develop and implement audience-first strategies to grow, engage, and sustain a vibrant community of readers and supporters. Partnering closely with the newsroom and other organizational leaders, they will design data-informed approaches to enhance audience engagement, optimize distribution across platforms, and drive membership growth and retention. They will explore innovative tools and techniques to deepen the connection between the newsroom and the diverse communities it serves, ensuring local journalism remains relevant, impactful, and accessible.

This leader will also play a key role in shaping the organization’s broader strategies to achieve financial sustainability and independence. As a founding member of the team, they will help build the infrastructure and culture necessary to support fast-paced growth while staying rooted in the values of inclusivity, equity, and service to the public.

This is a unique opportunity for someone who believes deeply in the power of local journalism to foster civic engagement and community resilience. With the support of the American Journalism Project’s business team and Startup Studio, the Head of Audience and Membership will join the forefront of a growing movement to revitalize local news in Los Angeles for underserved audiences.

Founded in 2024, the L.A. Local News Initiative is a coalition of organizations and philanthropists that have come together to support local news in L.A.. Guided by a community listening effort that included input from nearly 900 L.A. residents, this coalition represents a groundbreaking effort by philanthropy, media, and community organizations in L.A. to work together to fill information gaps, strengthen local democracy and make L.A. work better for Angelenos.

With over $17 million raised so far, the new initiative will take a multi-pronged ecosystem approach to ensure all L.A. communities have free access to the information they need to be more civically engaged, to thrive and to hold decision makers accountable:

• It is investing in expansion of a community-centered, hyperlocal model developed by Boyle Heights Beat, a trusted newsroom serving Boyle Heights and East L.A., so that more communities in L.A. can get quality, independent news relevant to their neighborhoods, produced by people who are rooted in their communities.
• It will facilitate investments to add reporting resources in the region through investments in regionwide beats and state government reporting from the perspective of Los Angeles at LAist and CalMatters, made available to ecosystem partners, and continue to rally philanthropy to advance local news as a mechanism for civic engagement
• It will foster collaboration among ecosystem partners, by coordinating content sharing, and providing shared resources that will help existing news outlets in L.A. do more reporting and bring more journalism to more people

These strategies were formed following extensive research and community listening done in partnership between local civic leaders and the American Journalism Project, which included input from nearly 900 Angelenos spanning a wide range of ages, genders, races, ethnicities, incomes, professions, and neighborhoods.

• Free, Independent Local Press: We believe all Angelenos deserve to have a source of unbiased information that equips them to thrive in their daily lives. Our work will meet high journalism standards, be independent, non-partisan, and free to access. We’ll prioritize reaching as many Angelenos as possible, in the most effective ways possible.
• Community-first: We center the needs of local communities, with an ultimate goal to strengthen communities and make LA work better for Angelenos. Journalism should be focused on serving people most affected by the subject matter, and equipping them to take action.
• Equity & Inclusion: We need a representative, equitable, and inclusive local press. Newsrooms should be representative of the communities they cover, shift narratives to be centered on community perspectives, and provide pathways into newsgathering for residents.

Trust: We believe that building trust must be a core principle of our journalism. As a baseline, the journalism we support must be accurate, independent, unbiased, non-partisan, and a trusted source of shared facts by the communities we serve.

Goal-setting and metrics:

• Establishes and owns key performance indicators (KPIs) for growth and engagement for newsletters, social, search engine optimization (SEO), and other channels, as well as membership
• Develop strategies to understand reader and community engagement habits; track, target, and grow loyal reader engagement and participation in our events and programming
• Builds insightful and actionable community engagement reports and recommends actions based on insights
• Uses audience data, in consultation with audience consultants, to ensure  understanding across the organization and support strategic adjustments for engagement with the newsrooms 
• Provides key recommendations and actions that further the newsroom’s goal of serving target audiences and ensuring strong civic engagement

Audience growth and engagement:

• Creates and executes search and social strategies to grow audience
• Optimizes newsroom social media copy on a timely and strategic basis; works with social producer(s) and writes and posts stories to social platforms as needed
• Ensures proper execution of SEO workflows for the newsroom, including training, documentation, and support
• Acts as newsroom point person for optimizing headlines for article pages, social media, and SEO
• Monitors search trends and local happenings to help inform coverage, making use of the organization’s social networks and tools such as Google Search Console
• Provide coaching to staff about best practices on digital/social platforms
• Seeks out and manages potential third-party channels for growth, such as Apple News, Flipboard, Pocket, etc.

Newsletters:

• Owns newsletter strategy; works with social producer and editors to manage the production and execution of our editorial newsletter portfolio and targeted campaigns
• Oversees email list growth and develops strategies to grow it
• Owns newsletter engagement KPIs and reports regularly on progress

Membership growth and engagement:

• Develops and executes strategies (targeted campaigns, consistent stewardship) to grow membership in partnership, with support from membership consultancy
• Develops effective messaging for small donor campaigns, and manages onsite and newsletter calls-to-action
• Experiments with product and messaging strategies that convert loyal readers into members and one-time donors into recurring members
• Measures and reports on metrics key to conversion and retention success, and develop strategies to increase effectiveness

you have:

• Strong full-time experience in a digital newsroom
• A desire to innovate, problem-solve, and launch new initiatives
• Strong editorial judgment
• Deep familiarity with social media platform usage, functions, and trends, particularly in Los Angeles
• Experience managing professional social accounts, and ideally established brands
• Ability/experience to work in partnership with journalists
• A basic understanding of search engine optimization
• Experience running newsletters and knowledge of Active Campaign and similar email service providers and customer relationship management tools a plus

The salary range for this role is $125,000 - $140,000 with a generous benefits package.

We’re committed to building an inclusive organization that represents the people and communities we serve. We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, Black, Latinx, Asian American, and Indigenous people, veterans, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. The Los Angeles Local News Initiative is dedicated to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. We encourage people of all races, colors, national origins, ancestries, creeds, religions, genders, ages, disabilities, veteran status, sexual orientations, and marital statuses to apply.

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What to expect in the hiring process:

‍We hope to fill this role as soon as possible, though the hiring process can typically take from a few weeks to several months. We will do our best to communicate with you about timing expectations throughout the process. Candidates who advance to later rounds of this process can expect to be asked to complete a written assignment designed to help us understand your thinking and approach to the role, and you will be offered an optional prep session to ask any questions that will help you put your best foot forward in this process. We aim to truly get to know you, to help you fully understand the role you’re applying for.