Position Summary
The Georgia Trust for Local News’ Director of Publishing is the creative architect and distribution strategist behind how GTLN's journalism reaches its audiences. This is a builder's role, that will create a new function, and establish the systems and standards that govern how our content looks, feels, and travels across every surface we publish on: print, digital, newsletters, social, and beyond.
This is a network-level leadership role with direct responsibility for pagination and layout design, audience growth, newsletter strategy, social distribution, and SEO across all five GTLN hubs The Director works in close partnership with the Editor & Publishers, who own the editorial content, and with the Director of Sales, whose advertising products live within the platforms this role shapes. They sit at the intersection of journalism, design, and technology — ensuring that great reporting reaches the right people, in the right format, on the right platform.
This person carries a deep commitment to GTLN’s mission of strengthening community newspapers, fostering local engagement, and building stronger, more connected communities. They understand that in today’s media environment, how journalism is presented and distributed is inseparable from whether it achieves impact. They bring the creative vision, technical fluency, and leadership drive to build a publishing function that makes GTLN’s journalism unmissable.
Responsibilities and Priorities
Publishing Strategy & Architecture
- Own the strategy for how GTLN content is presented, published and distributed across all platforms, including print, digital, newsletters, social media, and emerging channels.
- Build and maintain a consistent, high-quality visual and editorial identity across all markets, balancing network-wide standards with local market personality.
- Develop and enforce design and layout standards for print pagination and digital presentation that reflect GTLN’s commitment to quality journalism.
- Partner with NTLN portfolio leadership to align publishing strategies with network-wide technology investments and shared tools.
- Stay ahead of platform trends (algorithm changes, emerging formats, new distribution channels), bringing forward-looking platform recommendations to the Executive Director.
Design & Layout Leadership
- Build and lead a team of designers, internal and external, responsible for print pagination, digital distribution, and visual storytelling across the GTLN network.
- Set design standards and workflows that allow teams, both internal and external, to produce visually compelling journalism efficiently and at scale.
- Own the visual identity of GTLN’s publications across print and digital, ensuring consistency, accessibility, and audience appeal.
- Collaborate with Editor & Publishers on special editions, high-impact storytelling projects, and community-facing products that require elevated visual presentation.
Audience Growth & Digital Distribution
- Own audience growth metrics across the GTLN network, with accountability for expanding the number of readers who regularly engage with our journalism.
- Develop and execute SEO and AI discovery strategy across all hub markets, ensuring GTLN journalism is discoverable by the communities it serves.
- Build and grow newsletter products across the network, from daily briefings to market-specific newsletters, with a focus on subscriber acquisition and retention.
- Own GTLN’s social media distribution strategy, establishing platform-by-platform approaches that drive reach, engagement, and audience conversion.
- Use data and analytics to understand how audiences find, consume, and share GTLN journalism — and use those insights to continuously improve platform performance.
- Collaborate with the Revenue Lead to ensure advertising and sponsorship products are seamlessly integrated into publishing designs without compromising the reader experience.
Technology & Tools
- Serve as GTLN’s internal expert on publishing technology, content management systems, and distribution tools.
- Partner with NTLN on the evaluation, adoption, and optimization of technology that supports digital-first workflows across hub markets.
- Build and maintain publishing documentation, training materials, and workflow standards that empower hub teams to execute consistently without centralized bottlenecks.
- Identify and test emerging tools — including responsible AI applications — that can improve content presentation, distribution efficiency, or audience reach.
Team Building
- Develop and mentor team members, creating clear growth paths and a high-performance environment.
- Work collaboratively with Editor & Publishers across all five major markets, serving as a resource and partner rather than a top-down mandate.
- Foster a culture of experimentation and learning — testing new approaches, measuring results, and sharing what works across the network.
Minimum Qualifications
- At least 5 years of experience in digital media, publishing, or content strategy, with demonstrated leadership in a publishing, audience, or product role.
- Proven ability to build teams and functions from scratch, with strong hiring instincts and a track record of developing creative talent.
- Deep fluency across digital platforms (web, app, newsletter, social) and a strong working knowledge of SEO, audience analytics, and content distribution.
- Deep experience with print publication design and layout, including pagination workflows and design systems. We’re talking on-time and mistake-free.
- Strong visual and editorial sensibility. Our ideal candidate cares deeply about how journalism looks and reads, not just where it lives.
- Comfort with publishing technology stacks, CMS platforms, and data tools.
- A builder’s mindset: energized by creating something new, comfortable with ambiguity, and skilled at turning vision into operational reality.
- Strong collaborator who can work across editorial, revenue, and operations functions without losing focus on the audience.
- Commitment to equitable, inclusive leadership and design practices that reflect the diversity of the communities GTLN serves.
- Belief in the power of local journalism and the conviction that how it reaches people matters as much as what it says.
Pay: $90,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
