Senior Football Writer - M.E.N

The Manchester Evening News is seeking to recruit a senior Football Writer to join the team to create United and City content that fans want to devour.

This exciting opportunity is an excellent platform to display your work for a website which has in excess of 70 million pages view a month. Everyone covers United and City but not to the comprehensive and authoritative extent we do at the Manchester Evening News.

You will create compelling and engaging pieces. You'll be bursting with ideas which embrace the best of digital journalistic practice and make sure the MEN keeps ahead of our rivals. You will have an excellent contacts book and be able to bring in exclusives, as well as operate in a press box to help lead our match coverage.

We want you to innovate and take our coverage to the next level.

• Create a range of compelling Manchester United and Manchester City content to engage and excite the fans.
• Ensure a very high standard of original football journalism and be prepared to innovate.
• Build and maintain a network of contacts to support in the generation of original articles.
• Use analytics and fan engagement to put the audience at the heart of the pieces you create.
• Help make the Manchester Evening News a destination for powerful football journalism.
• Think beyond what happens on the pitch.
  Be an ambassador for your team and the Manchester Evening News externally and online.
• Have the highest digital content production standards. Understand the importance of headlines, sells and search engine optimisation.
• Deliver content as a full package wherever possible, including video, audio and pictures. Be willing to take part in podcasts or videos.
• Promote the Manchester Evening News' United and City articles through your own social channels.
• Write and share content in a way which meets standards set by the business in terms of quality, consistency, legal accuracy and IPSO compliance.
• Maintain a thorough, up-to-date knowledge of media law and IPSO code.
• Undertake company/editorial projects and any other duties from time to time as reasonably requested by management.
• Maintain the highest personal standards of professionalism and integrity at all times within the framework of current legislation and Reach Plc's editorial and company policies.

• A formidable understanding of Manchester United and Manchester City
• A proven record of strong digital storytelling
• A Reach Plc or equivalent journalist qualification (or relevant time-served experience)
• Good understanding of digital publishing including experience of using web publishing systems, understanding of SEO, digital audience behaviour and analytics
• Great social media understanding
• Understanding of editorial strategy and brand values
• Awareness and understanding of how people use the internet to follow football news
• Comfortable at getting out and about and making contacts
• Ability to shoot and edit video and audio
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Excellent attention to detail
• Ability to take instruction as well as manage own workload efficiently
• Energy, enthusiasm and self-motivation
• Ability to work quickly and effectively under deadline pressure
• Ability to work well as part of a team
• Flexible, creative, innovative
• Up-to-date knowledge of media law and IPSO code
• Full driving licence

In addition to competitive salaries, bonus structures (if applicable) and a contributory pension scheme, Reach plc offer a whole host of voluntary flexible benefits. These include a car scheme, holiday purchase, childcare vouchers, cycle scheme, staff discounts, season tickets & parking loans and an employee assistance programme.

We are committed to equal opportunity for all. We may collect relevant data for monitoring as part of our candidate registration process. We will be reviewing applications as they are received so please don't delay in submitting your application.