Content Operations Associate (Contract)

About Us

Powered by one of the largest global newsrooms in sports media, The Athletic brings sports fans the most comprehensive stories about the teams, sports and athletes they love. The Athletic’s newsroom of 450+ full-time staff delivers in-depth coverage of hundreds of professional and college teams across more than 47 North American markets and all 20 football clubs in the English Premier League, as well as many Championship clubs.

About This Role 

Working on Content Operations, you will be joining a highly successful content production team. You will work under the Senior Video Growth Manager as part of a team working on content programming, editorial operations, video operations & editing, and social video strategy & implementation. 

You will utilize your experience to execute video distribution across platforms, primarily videos featuring league highlights and footage. You will work as part of initiatives to improve our programming based on best practice, such as optimizing video titles, descriptions, hashtags, use of platform features, and community engagement efforts, use/creation of thumbnails, use of callouts, and more. 

You will utilize your experience in video editing to optimize video for all social platforms. This role will cover a breadth of our video work including support on paid social, reviewing video clips for any editorial or visual errors, working closely with our Global Shows and Series team to support their video output goals and with our reporter video and highlights teams for getting our content live on relevant platforms. 

The ideal candidate would have a flair for understanding how the YouTube algorithm works, as well as other social platform algorithms (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook), and how content needs

to be edited and published in order for it to go viral. The ideal candidate would also have a good understanding of social analytics, and be able explain why a video did or didn’t perform well. 

The ideal candidate would also be passionate about sports, and particularly have a strong grasp of the language and news cycle of NFL, NBA and NHL. Journalism experience or training is a positive but not a requirement. 

This is a unique position and we welcome candidates from all backgrounds who have a passion for social media, story-telling and video content. 

This role is on a fixed term engagement that will run through 14/9/2026.

• Work as part of a team focused on leveraging video content to drive subscriptions, views and engagement. 
• Edit existing video footage into appropriate social formats. 
• Write social copy, design and create thumbnails, and schedule and publish content.
• Work with your line manager to report on analytics across social platforms.
• Feedback to the creative team with suggestions for improving or changing content.
• Create and post organic, original content to social platforms. 
• Maintain the community management of each social platform. 
• Filing and organizing all content created by the team. 

• 2+ years of relevant work experience; media owner, publisher, platform or agency. Sports media is preferred but not required. 
• Advanced social video editing skills, with good understanding of how a video should perform on social, and what editing is required to maximize the chance of the video going viral. 
• Good understanding of social analytics and video platform algorithms.
• Great communicator and team player. 
• Ability to work under supervision with some latitude for independent judgment.
• The position is based in North America. The ideal candidate would be on West Coast time to ensure we have round the clock support on social video.

The Athletic offers unique perks and benefits to all full-time employees based on their country of residence. Our UK benefits packages offer benefits and perks, competitive to the local market.

The Athletic Media Company is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. The Athletic will consider all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

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