About MedShadow
MedShadow is an independent, nonprofit foundation that focuses on the often overlooked side effects of over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription (Rx) medications. We are dedicated to empowering people and reforming processes to ensure that we are all better protected. Our mission is to provide accurate, independent, evidence-based service and investigative journalism that people can trust.
Our editorial team is a small but mighty group of mission-aligned journalists and marketers who strongly believe in the power of quality investigative and service content that can educate consumers, influence policy, and improve people’s health.
Job Description
The Newsletter Editor, a newly created position, will report to our Head of Content and oversee our weekly flagship newsletter as well as lead the launch of additional, targeted newsletters. Your job will be to boost audience engagement, grow our email subscriber list, communicate MedShadow’s unique value, and drive donations. You will also be a part of idea generation for investigative and service driven stories for our website, working closely with our Head of Content and our stable of writers.
You are a good fit for this role if you are an experienced health or science journalist who is comfortable working on content that cites clinical trials and drug research and that will be medically reviewed by doctors. Ideally you have experience covering RX and OTC medication side effects or the business or consumer side of pharmaceuticals. Equally important, you should be experienced in content strategy for newsletter products and familiar with competitive health and medical newsletters.
Our team is made up of people who believe in what we do and work hard to achieve the organization’s goals. You are a good fit for this role if you have a roll-up-your-sleeves attitude, value a “we are all in this together” mentality, and thrive in a mission-based workplace.
You must live in the NYC metro area. While the role is mostly remote, it will require NYC metro area residency for once-a-week in-person meetings in Manhattan.
The salary for this position is $75-90K and comes with paid time off, health insurance, and IRA contribution.
What You’ll Do:
Newsletter strategy and development
- Build a comprehensive strategic newsletter launch project plan for our current newsletter and for at least two new newsletters per fiscal year, including proposed writers, a clear scope, tone, format, and style guide as well as KPI and ROI tracking.
- Improve the performance and boost metrics for our current flagship newsletter with learnings based on A/B testing, content formats, and visuals and ensure it’s fully optimized for mobile.
- Stay current on competitive newsletter offerings and evolving newsletter best practices.
Content creation and management
- Curate, package, and edit all newsletter content; write entertaining and engaging display copy; and enter all relevant metadata.
- Identify and recruit compelling experts and writers, including medical and medication thought leaders and advocates as authors.
- Manage the newsletter content workflow, its budget, and ensure it is delivered on time.
- Incorporate fundraising messaging into newsletters, where appropriate, in collaboration with the marketing team’s call-to-action campaigns.
- Occasionally write and update stories for the website and newsletter as needed or desired.
Newsletter growth, performance, and audience insights
- Grow and manage our email subscriber list to ensure it represents an active and engaged audience.
- Analyze newsletter metrics and provide regular updates to the team interpreting them, including open rates and CTR, as well as insights from A/B testing and in-newsletter audience surveys.
- Suggest effective ways to promote the newsletter on the site and in social media in collaboration with the marketing team.
- Work closely with marketing design and IT to facilitate visual and technical integration.
- Build strategic partnerships within the health and medical sector to expand our newsletter audience through cross-promotion.
About You:
- You have a strong fluency in audience and newsletter metrics; ideally you have built new successful newsletter products from scratch.
- You are a strategic thinker who is bullish on the role of newsletters in creating reader engagement.
- You are as creative and entrepreneurial as you are strategic and systematic.
- You are comfortable working collaboratively with a compact, agile team.
- You are passionate about health journalism and improving people’s lives.
Qualifications:
- At least 4 years in content strategy, with at least 2 of those years working in newsletters; a longer tenure is also welcome
- Experience working in health/medical/science editorial or content marketing for a media brand, nonprofit, or corporation.
- Proficiency in analytics and metrics and SEO related to newsletter growth and retention
- Proficiency with Google suite and WordPress (or other similar CMS); and newsletter production and analytics tools such as MailChimp.
- Commitment to and respect for the MedShadow mission.
- A degree in journalism or communication, or relevant field; a focus on science, medicine or health is a big plus
The Talent Fairy is handling this search. To apply, please submit a cover letter along with your resume to Chandra Turner at The Talent Fairy via apply@thetalentfairy.com explaining why you are a unique fit for this position. In the letter please also include links to newsletters you’ve worked on.