Head of News & Politics Partnerships

Substack is building a new economic engine for culture, giving the brightest, most interesting, and most creative people on the internet the power of their own publishing platform. Substack empowers independent writers, artists, videographers, podcasters, and creators of all types to create, share, and make a living off their work through subscriptions, while offering them creative freedom, ownership, and a direct connection to their audiences.

As the Head of News & Politics Partnerships, you will be responsible for growing and managing the News & Politics category on Substack. Your job will be to bring news and politics industry leaders over to Substack, help them make money and create community and continue to expand the market. Success will mean political news, community and cultural moments happen on Substack. In this role, you’ll be a leader on the Partnerships team, overseeing strategy, budget, external relationships, goal execution and team management for your market.

The ideal candidate will be a scrappy, innovative, creative thinker, with a deep interest in supporting creators, shaping culture, as well as deeply connected within news market and politics. They’ll be a self-starter who is ok with shifting priorities and eager to make an impact in a fast-paced, startup environment – able to both set ambitious strategy and goals and also execute those goals. They will be comfortable interfacing with creators, writers, reporters, politicians and industry leaders. They will possess experience managing direct reports, and building and iterating on programs that can scale across markets. This role reports to the Head of Partnerships and is based in Washington DC, New York City, San Francisco or Los Angeles, or for the right candidate, remote.

Responsibilities:

• Display market leadership in the news and politics creator economy by recruiting and advising top talent on Substack
• Develop strategic programs for the market in service of activating creators and bringing new users to Substack as well as supporting current Substack creators.
• Develop and scale best practices for social media strategy, audience development and digital content
• Partner with internal teams (communications, product + data) to identify promising political creator segments and continuously refine the Substack creator experience
• Work cross-functionally to enhance politics outreach strategies and streamline processes for onboarding and supporting creators effectively
• Support event, brand and marketing initiatives
• Showcase Substack as the home for new media, the platform where creators can connect directly with their biggest fans and build thriving media businesses
• Be a leader on the Partnerships team, working cross-functionally with the communications, product business operations and leadership teams to build and execute programs for the market, and for the Substack brand.
• Travel for team building and strategic meetings

About You:

• 10 years of professional experience in news, publishing or politics
• Excellent written, verbal, and diplomatic skills, with a sharp attention to detail.
• Rolodex/Connections point
• Experience managing a team.
• Comfortable working with data, and using it to measure impact and develop stronger programs
• A voracious reader and subscriber to Substacks, with a keen sense of the evolving tech and media landscape.
• The ability to work quickly and effectively while managing several projects under deadline.
• Strong people skills, with experience working directly with creators