Audience Fellow at Eater

August 19, 2021
Remote

As the leading independent modern media company, Vox Media ignites conversations and influences culture. Across digital, podcasts, TV, streaming, live events, and print, we tell stories that affect our audience's daily lives and entertain as much as they inform.

Our portfolio features influential and respected editorial properties including Vox, New York Magazine, The Verge, The Cut, Eater, Vulture, The Strategist, Polygon, SB Nation, Intelligencer, Curbed, Grub Street, and Recode. Off-platform, the Vox Media Podcast Network offers one of the largest collections of popular podcasts, and Vox Media Studios produces and distributes the award-winning nonfiction shows. Powered by innovative technology that scales quality, the Chorus publishing platform and Concert advertising marketplace answer the always-changing needs of modern audiences, creators and marketers.

Vox Media has been named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in Media,” an Inc. “Company of the Year,” Digiday’s “Best Company for Parents,” and one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign.

The Eater network, which includes Eater.com, 25 local Eater sites, an Emmy-award winning YouTube channel, podcasts such as Eater's Digest and Gastropod, and TV shows on Hulu and PBS, is a brand focused on storytelling and service around restaurants and food culture.

We seek to offer guidance, entertainment, and news and to do so fairly, accurately, and with nuance to a diverse and growing audience across multiple platforms. We want to ensure that our staff is made up of talented food obsessives with a variety of experiences and perspectives, from a variety of regions, and from a diverse set of backgrounds. 

Thus, this fall, we’re hiring two fellows to work at two different teams at Eater. The fellowship is a one-year, full-time, salaried position (with benefits).

Eater is looking for an Audience Fellow to join our engagement team, which is responsible for understanding Eater’s audience, guiding our coverage, sharing our content, and telling off-platform stories that connect with wide audiences. We’re looking for someone who is curious, creative, and passionate about adapting content to different platforms. 

The fellowship is an opportunity to learn about how compelling stories are crafted and packaged; do hands-on work writing headlines and copy across multiple social platforms; and grow an understanding of how different audiences connect with different kinds of storytelling. This fellowship is an ideal opportunity for social-savvy storytellers looking to deepen their experiences in journalism. 

The fellowship will be a year-long program to provide extensive training and mentorship along with opportunities above and beyond that of traditional entry-level/intern positions. Aside from intensive feedback from editors, fellows will also have dedicated mentors, exclusive networking opportunities, brown bag sessions featuring management throughout Vox Media, and the chance to attend one professional conference per year, such as NABJ, NAHJ, SRCCON or NICAR.   

You should have: 

  • Strong editorial and news judgment 
  • An excitement for how social media can help stories reach new audiences 
  • Strong writing skills (especially headlines)
  • Passion for the topics we cover at Eater would be great, but we’re even more interested in someone who understands the power of a good story and how it can travel on the internet, how to serve an audience, and how to adapt content on various platforms
  • A commitment to participating in Vox Media’s efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • Some video editing skills (Premiere) are also a plus, but not required

Other responsibilities and opportunities to learn will include:

  • Understanding and implementing the strategies we use to grow our social media accounts and traffic 
  • Learning how to write in the Eater voice 
  • Writing headlines/deks for our sites’ stories 
  • Writing social copy for Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more 
  • Expanding Eater’s social media presence by working with Eater city editors on short videos (reels, TikToks, Instagram stories) that reflect our coverage and connect to local audiences 
  • Working with the Eater engagement team to shape and improve social media posts 
  • Working with Eater city editors and Eater.com writers/editors to shape and improve headlines and angles of stories 
  • Pitching and writing stories for Eater sites (if accepted; no more than one per month)

To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter that includes the following: 

  • Any links to social media or journalism work you’re especially proud of (can be anything from a tweet, to a video, to a headline, or an article you’ve written)
  • Where you would be based throughout the year

Our next class of fellows begins in October.

About working at Vox Media:

This is a full-time temporary position with excellent benefits—including flexible hours and generous parental leave. Vox Media strives to provide comprehensive healthcare options for our employees and to ensure that our healthcare and other benefits are LGBTQ-inclusive. You'll be joining a group of focused, hard-working, creative people who are passionate about doing work that's challenging and fun—and who strive to maintain a healthy work/life balance.

Vox Media is committed to building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and everyone is encouraged to apply. Vox Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, disability, national origin, protected veteran status, age, or any other status protected by applicable national, federal, state, or local law.

For more information, or to apply, click here.