US Sports Writer

talkSPORT is the world’s biggest sports radio station, attracting millions of listeners on radio, and millions more online and across our growing social media platforms. From World Cups and European Championships to the Premier League and the Champions League, through to Test cricket and world class boxing, the talkSPORT network is at the heart of the world’s major sporting events - delivering exclusive commentaries, interviews, breaking sports news, unique insight and opinion.

Your role:
talkSPORT.com, one of the leading sports news websites, is seeking a talented and passionate digital journalist to join a newly-created US Sports team that will deliver unique and compelling content targeted to an American audience. You will be responsible for researching and writing engaging articles, features and analysis on a wide range of sports, including but not limited to American football, basketball, boxing, golf, mixed martial arts and soccer. You will be based in our offices in London Bridge and will report to the US Sports editor.

Day to day you will:

• Write quality, engaging, and accurate articles covering a wide variety of sports for talkSPORT.com
• Collaborate with the US Sports Editor and wider editorial team to ensure timely delivery of content
• Keep up-to-date with the latest trends and news in US sports and generate creative and original story ideas 
• Monitor trends and analytics and utilise insights from SEO and audience team to inform story selection
• Conduct interviews with sports men and women and key figures in the world of US sports
• Coordinate with editorial, programming and social teams to promote and optimise content across various platforms
• Contribute to brainstorming sessions and editorial planning calendar and offer creative input for new content initiatives

What we’re looking for from you: 

• Proven digital journalism experience, preferably with a focus on US sports
• Strong knowledge of and passion for sport
• Excellent communication skills, positive attitude and a good team player
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and meet deadlines
• Good understanding of SEO best practices and how to optimise content for search engines
• Knowledge of wordpress content management system or similar
• Flexibility to work at unsociable times to cover major sports events live in the US

To apply for the position of US Sports Editor, please submit the following:

• An updated CV
• A brief cover letter explaining your interest in the role
• Any examples you have demonstrating your journalism experience and/or sporting knowledge

We are News Broadcasting: Driving digital innovation, our people create award-winning national and local radio and podcasts which are must-listens for millions across the UK, Ireland and beyond. Life sounds good with Virgin Radio - home to Chris Evans at Breakfast and Graham Norton at the weekend. talkSPORT, the world’s biggest sports radio station, delivers the very best live sport and analysis and is truly powered by its millions of fans. Launched in June 2020 Times Radio brings together the peerless journalistic expertise of The Times and The Sunday Times with world-class broadcast talent including John Pienaar, Aasmah Mir and Michael Portillo. In 2022 we launched TalkTV, a major new TV channel available to everyone across the UK, delivering a schedule of news, current affairs, entertainment and sport, with Piers Morgan in a primetime evening show.

Life at News: At News UK our people are our heartbeat - they are the driving force behind our brands and we want to enable people to thrive.  Some of us work flexibly, in many different ways. We encourage you to talk to us about the flexibility you would like.  Many of us work in a hybrid way between one of the News UK & Ireland offices and remotely.  

We champion diversity and inclusion, we strive to maximise and encourage every individual’s potential and ensure everyone feels valued. We support this through our Diversity Board, D&I  strategy & training, creating more diverse content and our intern and apprenticeship programmes.  We also have 11 employee-led networks. 

We take pride in looking after our amazing talent at News UK supporting the Health and Wellbeing of our staff. Some of what we offer includes: 

• A generous pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5%;
• 25 days holiday and up to 4 volunteering days per year;
• Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary & paternity leave up to 2 weeks;
• Wide range of training available, plus full LinkedIn Learning access.
• Private medical insurance covering pre-existing conditions
• Discounted gym memberships, ClassPass at Home, weekly virtual HIIT, yoga and run club classes
• ‘Bikes for Work’ scheme
• Access to wellbeing benefits such as physio/massage and counselling 

We want to ensure that everyone we meet has the opportunity to perform to their best when interviewing. Please let us know, at any stage, whether you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, and we will do our best to accommodate.  

News UK is an official partner of the Journalism Diversity Fund, founder of the Journalism and Disability Forum, and proud member of the Valuable 500. At News UK, we will continue to promote an inclusive and diverse workplace, to help people with visible and non visible disabilities create careers in media and aim to make our content accessible to all.