Deputy Editor, Audience Strategy & Newsletters

The Minnesota Star Tribune is an innovative modern media organization building on an extraordinary 159-year legacy. With seven Pulitzer Prizes and numerous other accolades, we stand as a beacon of journalistic excellence in Minnesota. We are the heart and voice of the North.

Our mission is to build a better Minnesota by connecting us with the people, ideas, and stories that strengthen our communities. We're seeking dynamic leaders who are passionate about journalism and democracy to help shape this future. If you are excited about reinventing one of our state's most trusted institutions and leading us into a new era of growth and excellence, we want to hear from you.

The Deputy Editor, Audience Strategy & Newsletters at our headquarters in Minneapolis MN serves as a critical member of the Audience Team and a strategic partner to newsroom editors. This role oversees the audience team members who are embedded with the Star Tribune's editorial departments and are tasked with ensuring that audience insights, experimentation and performance strategy are thoughtfully integrated into daily newsroom decision-making.

In addition, this role serves as the central strategic owner of the Star Tribune's newsletter portfolio - one of our most important and rapidly evolving audience products. With more than 30 newsletters reaching hundreds of thousands of readers each week, email plays a vital role in reader engagement, subscription value and community connection. This leader will guide the direction, evaluation and evolution of that portfolio while ensuring newsletters reflect the depth, clarity and journalistic standards our readers expect.

This position requires someone who can move comfortably between strategy and execution - someone who understands audience behavior, distribution of content across a variety of digital platforms and performance analytics, and [KH4.1]who also respects the rhythms and values of a modern newsroom. The Deputy Editor, Audience Strategy & Newsletters will help transform strong individual instincts into shared frameworks, sustainable systems, and measurable impact across desks and platforms.

This leader will serve as a senior thought partner to the Head of Audience Strategy, helping translate audience priorities into shared systems, clear expectations and measurable newsroom-wide impact. This is a high-impact role for someone who believes that audience strategy strengthens journalism, and that thoughtful experimentation can expand the reach and influence of independent reporting.

Responsibilities

Audience Strategy

• Lead embedded audience strategy for the Star Tribune's key coverage pillars, including News & Politics, Greater MN, Business, Outdoors, Food & Culture, Sports and Strib Varsity.
• Partner with desk editors to identify audience opportunities, data and research needs, performance goals and experimentation priorities.
• Develop shared audience strategy frameworks that help desks set priorities, evaluate performance and identify opportunities for growth.
• Lead audience messaging strategy across owned channels - including newsletters, push notifications, in-app messaging and other emerging platforms - to create more cohesive reader experiences and audience journeys.
• Partner with product, data and marketing teams to develop and automate audience journeys that deepen habit, engagement, subscription value and reader loyalty.
• Encourage thoughtful experimentation across platforms, including homepage, newsletters, social media and off-platform distribution.
• Help shape story presentation and distribution across platforms to maximize reach, relevance and reader engagement.

Newsletters

• Develop a portfolio-level newsletter strategy that balances audience growth, reader habit, subscription value, editorial priorities and operational sustainability.
• Evaluate new newsletter proposals and guide lifecycle decisions, including launches, iterations and sunsets.
• Lead experimentation in newsletter subject lines, format, cadence and segmentation.
• Maintain quality and consistency across newsletters, in partnership with newsroom editors.
• Develop strong technical fluency in the email platform to troubleshoot issues, support producers and improve newsletter workflows.

Leadership & Team Development

• Help translate Audience Team priorities into clear systems, workflows and expectations.
• Coach embedded Audience Editors in strategic planning, editor partnership, data interpretation and platform decision-making.
• Build consistent planning, testing and post-publication learning practices across embedded audience roles.
• Identify opportunities to improve how the Audience Team collaborates with desks, product, data, social, homepage and newsletter stakeholders.
• Model strong editorial judgment, audience-first thinking and collaborative leadership across the newsroom.

Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree in journalism, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and work-related experience.
• A minimum 5 of years of significant experience in newsletter strategy, audience development, digital strategy, newsroom audience roles, lifecycle marketing or related fields.
• A minimum of 2 years of experience leading or managing teams.
• Strong understanding of audience analytics, performance metrics and methodology in gleaning actionable insight from data.
• Experience conducting audience research to guide editorial and distribution decision.
• Experience working with email service providers (Sailthru or similar platforms preferred).
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, and the ability to build trust with editors and reporters.
• A strong commitment to journalism and public service.
• A commitment to audiences that represent the breadth of Minnesota's diversity.
• Must be currently legally authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status, 0-1, TM, CPT, OPT, etc.). We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a subscription-based media organization.
• Experience managing an email or audience product portfolio.
• Experience running structured testing and experimentation programs.
• Familiarity with homepage curation in a fast-paced newsroom.

Compensation Range

The compensation range for this position is 103,500 - $125,000.

Compensation for the role will depend on several factors, including a candidate's qualifications, skills, competencies and experience and may fall outside of the range shown.

The Minnesota Star Tribune offers a competitive total rewards package, which includes a 401(K) match, healthcare coverage - medical, dental, and vision, life, disability, paid time off, and a broad range of other benefits. Learn more at benefits.startribunecompany.com.

More about The Minnesota Star Tribune

At The Minnesota Star Tribune, we recognize that our employees are our greatest asset, and we are committed to their happiness, growth, and well-being. Here's a snapshot of the exceptional benefits we offer:

• Modern Downtown Office: Enjoy a state-of-the-art workspace with a free fitness center, collaborative center, golf simulator, and a rooftop patio.
• Comprehensive Benefits: Includes commuting subsidy, medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Wellness & Work-Life Balance: Participate in our wellness program with financial incentives, generous paid time off, flexible holidays, one volunteer day, and two wellness days.
• Financial & Family Support: Benefit from a 401(k) with company match, paid parental and caregiving leave, hybrid work arrangements, and tuition reimbursement.
• Additional Perks: Access to an employee assistance program, pet insurance, flexible spending accounts, and health savings accounts.

2025 award winner of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in Media and News and proud recipient of Newsweek's Greatest Midsize Workplaces 2025 recognition.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Even if you dont meet every single requirement for this role, we encourage you to apply. At The Minnesota Star Tribune, we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.