Backed by Y Combinator and Founders Fund.
About the role
The Athletic is looking for an entrepreneurial, data-driven, and creatively ambitious Head of Social to lead our audience expansion across social video, YouTube, podcasting, and creator-driven content. This is a senior leadership role for someone who lives at the intersection of audience and creative — someone who understands how audiences move, what makes them follow, and how to build a distinct social voice that cuts through the noise.
What they're looking for
- 7–12 years of experience in digital media
- Proven track record of scaling social media audiences and YouTube channels at significant scale — ideally within sports, entertainment, or news media
- Deep platform fluency across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), and podcast platforms, with a strong understanding of how algorithms, formats, and monetization work on each
- Experience managing or overseeing creator relationships and talent-driven social content
- Comfort owning a P&L and making budget decisions in a growth context
- Strong analytical skills — you use data to make decisions but also know when instinct and creative judgment matter more
More about this role
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 500+ 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.
The Athletic is looking for an entrepreneurial, data-driven, and creatively ambitious Head of Social to lead our audience expansion across social video, YouTube, podcasting, and creator-driven content. This is a senior leadership role for someone who lives at the intersection of audience and creative — someone who understands how audiences move, what makes them follow, and how to build a distinct social voice that cuts through the noise.
You'll own the audience growth strategy and targets across our social and video handles, our creator platforms, and manage a P&L tied to these channels.
You’ll partner closely with our creative leads across podcasting and social video to develop content that grows followers, drives brand awareness for The Athletic,...
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