Director of Audience
Hearst · Dallas, Texas, United States · hybrid
Director of Audience, The Dallas Morning News
In a growing region of more than 8 million people, The Dallas Morning News is looking for a strategic, innovative leader to power a high-impact audience team and deepen the newsroom’s engagement with the community.
The Dallas Morning News is one of the best regional newsrooms in America, sitting in a growth market powered by real estate, sports, food and faith. This diverse community calls for a Director of Audience who will innovate and experiment with new ways to engage readers and drive digital subscriptions. As part of the newsroom’s senior leadership team, this journalist will be central to executing newsroom priorities, as well as developing key strategic efforts.
Our newsroom is seeking a leader with a clear vision for navigating a rapidly evolving news landscape. Embracing experimentation and developing new strategies for growing our audience on all platforms will be essential in this role.
The Director of Audience will help set and manage audience goals for every team in the newsroom and work closely with Hearst Newspapers’ editorial leadership. This person should be a strong communicator, natural collaborator and willing partner to other senior leaders on projects and initiatives.
This leader will develop strategies for democratizing audience analytics in the newsroom and for providing regular training to our journalists.
A significant track record in growing audience and developing innovative strategies is a must, as is the ability to draw out the best in people you work with. Strong change management skills are essential. We are seeking a leader who is cool under pressure, comfortable with continuous deadlines, organized, enthusiastic, compassionate and creative.
What will you do?
- Develop and implement core strategies and goals for audience engagement
- Democratize audience analytics across the newsroom using training, coaching and mentoring
- Lead efforts to analyze the performance of our journalism, understand our audience and improve engagement
- Help set and manage audience goals for newsroom teams
- Take a hands-on approach to breaking news across digital platforms
- Build strong relationships with staffers and foster their growth and development
- Display exceptional news judgment with the ability to recognize the digital potential of stories that will resonate with our audience
- Work with editors to shape coverage that deepens engagement with our digital audience
- Provide day-to-day leadership and supervision to assigned staff, ensuring operational goals and objectives are met effectively and efficiently
- Handle all aspects of employee management, including recruitment, interviewing, selection, onboarding and retention
- Conduct regular performance evaluations; provide constructive feedback and coaching to support employee development and accountability
- Administer progressive discipline and counseling as needed, in alignment with company policies and procedures
- Oversee scheduling, workload distribution, and delegation of responsibilities to ensure balanced team performance and productivity
What will it take to be successful?
- Bachelor’s degree in journalism or a related field
- 5 years or more of audience engagement experience, including management experience
- Ability to turn audience data into actionable strategies for driving subscriptions and expanding our reach
- Deep understanding of SEO, audience analytics and social media
- Ability to innovate and quickly iterate as we seek to develop new strategies for engaging audiences
- Strong news judgment and a commitment to accuracy
- Track record of adapting quickly and moving at the speed of news
- Strong communication and collaboration skills
About The Dallas Morning News
Since 1885, The Dallas Morning News (www.dallasnews.com) has been North Texas’ trusted source for credible, independent journalism — reporting with accuracy, fairness and integrity. Each week, we reach more than 4 million people across print, digital, and social platforms, covering the stories that shape life in Dallas and across the state. From politics and public policy to business, culture and sports, our mission is to inform, engage and reflect the diverse communities we serve.
Our staff works in the office at least three days a week. The Dallas Morning News believes a collaborative and inclusive work environment is essential to a thriving workplace. We support one another as we produce revelatory work with our community in mind. We are in search of a diverse group of candidates.
About Hearst Newspapers:
With 2,500 employees across the nation, Hearst Newspapers (HNP) represents a network of 28 daily and 50 weekly publications, including the Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, San Francisco Chronicle and Times Union (Albany). Our portfolio also includes several top digital-only news and lifestyle sites such as Chron., CT Insider, MySA and SFGATE, along with marketing services businesses like Medium Giant and entertainment brands such as King Features Syndicate.
At HNP, we’re investing in new and innovative ways to tell stories — growing newsrooms, diversifying tools and evolving platforms — to support the millions of people who trust us each month to help them make decisions, take action and be inspired.
Be a part of something bigger – Your Headline Awaits.
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