American Chemical Society is looking for an enthusiastic and high-performing science communicator to support the engagement and growth of its flagship publication, C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News). C&EN produces authoritative, award-winning journalism about the world of chemistry, including coverage of recent advances in research, education, industry, funding, and regulatory policy. It is published by the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society dedicated to a single discipline, and is widely considered one of the major benefits of membership. C&EN’s weekly magazine reaches more than 173,000 individuals in our global membership community and over 8 million readers online.
The audience engagement editor will be a key stakeholder in driving strategic conversations and direction for C&EN’s editorial team, and will be responsible for increasing audience engagement, building upon membership/reader growth and retention strategies, as well as managing the content strategy of key products. You will work cross-functionally across editorial, production, art, operations, and marketing to deliver, monitor and communicate progress towards goals. The role comes with a competitive base salary and bonus potential.
Here’s what you’ll be doing:
Collaborate with the newsroom to identify stories that will resonate with C&EN’s audiences across social, newsletters, and through in person events.
Develop clean, creative, engaging copy that resonates with a sophisticated scientific audience. Create accompanying art where appropriate, utilizing assets from C&EN’s creative team, Canva, and other resources.
Analyze data, comments, and other engagement metrics to gain a sense for what types of stories C&EN’s audiences will want to share, how best to frame them, and which platforms to share them on to shape our newsroom strategies.
Create, produce, and manage C&EN’s presence on social media and other platforms, serving as the voice of C&EN on a daily basis and encouraging readers to engage with our journalism.
Collaborate with colleagues across the American Chemical Society to incorporate C&EN’s content via as many society platforms and campaigns as appropriate.
Champion social media as an engagement tool in the newsroom by coaching and advising reporters on how to engage readers via their personal handles and how to harness new tools made available by social platforms.
Use existing C&EN and broader ACS resources to measure and analyze reader engagement and use that data to refine our audience engagement strategies. Jointly define, monitor, and manage outcomes, key performance indicators, and measures of success.
Partner with the newsroom and C&EN marketing to maintain email newsletter products and to create new vibrant, engaging ones supported by audience development strategies and/or advertising and/or sponsorship models.
Identify opportunities and channels to expose new audiences from around the world to C&EN’s journalism. Working with the newsroom and relevant stakeholders, develop content strategy and operational processes to expand C&EN’s international outreach.
Desired Skills, Education, & Experience:
A college degree in chemistry or closely related scientific field is required; experience in journalism is desirable.
5+ years' experience in journalism, social media management, marketing, or communications is required.
Experience using data and metrics to drive improvements and report on the outcome.
Experience working in a busy environment, demonstrating the ability to effectively prioritize and meet deadlines.
A self-starter with the ability to work well within a team to achieve business goals.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Experience with project management tools like Asana.
Knowledge of social media (organic and paid) marketing strategies.
Experience with Eloqua email/marketing automation platform or similar system, Google and/or Adobe Analytics, and PowerPoint/multimedia presentation development.
Strong decision-making and problem-solving skills.
How to apply:
Along with a resume, please submit 1-2 samples of your work: For example, send us a link to an online presence blog, a Twitter stream, marketing campaign, newsletter, etc. that you’re proud of creating. Or show us how you used social media storytelling to engage with your community. Finally, tell us in a cover letter what you can bring to the organization. Send all materials to Sharon Chua (s_chua@acs.org) after submitting the resume below.
About working at C&EN:
ACS believes in the strength of diversity in all its forms because inclusion of and respect for diverse people, experiences, and ideas lead to superior solutions to world challenges and advance chemistry as a global, multidisciplinary science. In turn, C&EN believes that to meet its mission to be the world’s go-to source of news about chemistry, our reporting and our newsroom must include diverse perspectives. Therefore, we strongly encourage people of color, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and members of other historically marginalized communities in the chemical sciences to apply.
Job Location:
Position is based in Washington, DC. Remote work will be considered for the right candidate.
This position will be primarily based in the Washington D.C. office. ACS employees work a hybrid work schedule, consisting of working onsite, three days per week. ACS employees are in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday with the third in-office day scheduled in consultation with the manager. While always welcome to work in the office, employees may work the other two days of the week from a location of their choice. New employees are immediately eligible for this hybrid work arrangement. ACS offers relocation assistance, if applicable.
Founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress, we are one of the world’s largest scientific organizations with membership of over 151,000 in 140 countries. Our mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. Our vision is to improve people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry.
