1. Background and position purpose
The New Times publishes content across its website, social platforms, newsletters and other digital products. TNT needs a disciplined way to translate fragmented audience, search, content, distribution and market signals into credible recommendations for public-interest journalism, audience development and commercial planning.
The Audience Insights & Strategy Editor will lead this analytical function, combining sound editorial judgment, practical analytics and responsible use of approved AI tools. The role will help editors decide what needs attention, which formats and distribution methods are working, where audience needs are unmet, and which anonymised, defensible audience insights can support advertising and partnerships.
The successful candidate should be able to explain what the data indicates, why it matters, what the newsroom and commercial team should consider doing next, and how the impact of those actions can be evaluated.
2. Strategic objectives
- Improve editorial decisions through timely, reliable evidence while protecting public-interest news judgment.
- Increase understanding of audience reach, engagement, return behaviour and underserved segments across platforms.
- Convert audience and market intelligence into practical, privacy-respecting support for commercial proposals and partnerships.
- Build repeatable measurement, experimentation, knowledge-sharing and responsible-AI practices across teams.
3. Scope of work and responsibilities
3.1 Audience intelligence and platform performance
- Monitor available website, search, newsletter, video, audio, app (where applicable) and social-platform data using consistent definitions and reporting periods.
- Search & Platform Distribution: Expanded search lifecycle management to include Google Discover, Top Stories, evergreen decay tracking, and regional messaging channels (WhatsApp Channels, Telegram, and mobile news aggregators).
- Analyse content by topic, desk, format, source, device, geography, referral route, publication timing and distribution channel where reliable data is available.
- Distinguish reach, attention, engagement, loyalty and conversion indicators; explain changes, caveats, attribution gaps and platform limitations.
- Use Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Search Console and The New Times’ internal editorial tracking dashboards to assess content and audience performance, including traffic sources, search queries and visibility, engagement, returning behaviour and content-level trends, where the data is available.
- Interpret the numbers rather than simply report them: identify meaningful changes, compare performance with relevant baselines and context, investigate plausible causes, flag data-quality or attribution limitations, and turn findings into specific, prioritised editorial or audience-development recommendations.
- Identify underserved needs and opportunities through search trends, referral patterns, comments, enquiries and other lawful, appropriate audience signals.
- Develop transparent, aggregated audience segments and personas; do not infer sensitive characteristics or present unsupported demographic claims.
3.2 Editorial decision support and audience development
- Produce concise daily intelligence briefs with actionable story leads, follow-up opportunities, emerging trends and distribution recommendations.
- Provide rapid analysis during breaking news and major editorial projects, without displacing editorial verification or judgment.
- Work with desk editors and platform teams on headline clarity, formats, internal linking, search discoverability, timing, video/social adaptations and newsletter strategy.
- Lead a weekly performance-and-opportunity discussion, using successes and failures to inform the forward editorial calendar.
- Recommend audience-development and retention interventions, including returning-reader journeys and newsletter improvements, in collaboration with product and platform owners.
3.3 Commercial intelligence, sales and partnership enablement
- Provide Sales & Partnerships with verified, aggregate audience profiles, vertical performance summaries, inventory insights and evidence for proposals/media kits.
- Identify relevant sectors, advertiser categories, themes and partnership opportunities from observed audience interests and external market trends.
- Support campaign planning with realistic audience estimates and post-campaign analysis, clearly separating observed results from projections.
- Collaborate on commercially funded content and activation opportunities with clear labelling, editorial independence and applicable approval processes.
- Maintain an insight-request and recommendation tracker, recording which commercial teams use each insight and the resulting learning.
3.4 Analytics systems, research, experimentation and AI
- Maintain an agreed KPI dictionary, recurring dashboards, report templates, source registers, baseline records and an accessible insights archive.
- Maintain practical working knowledge of GA4, Google Search Console and internal editorial dashboards; understand how their metrics are defined, where the data comes from, how reporting views differ and when a number should not be treated as directly comparable.
- Connect signals across tools—for example, search impressions and clicks, on-site engagement, returning readers and editorial performance—to explain what may be happening and recommend what the newsroom should test, change, continue or investigate next.
- Design small, ethical tests with explicit hypotheses, success measures and documented lessons; distinguish correlation from causation.
- Use approved AI tools only for appropriate tasks such as data organisation, pattern exploration and draft summaries; independently validate calculations, claims and classifications.
- Partner with technology/product colleagues on measurement quality, tagging issues, usability friction and privacy-respecting improvements.
- Coach editors, journalists and relevant commercial colleagues to interpret dashboards and use findings responsibly.
4. Outputs and service expectations
Cadence | Required output / service |
Daily | Editorial Intelligence Brief: previous-day performance, meaningful live signals, 2–3 actionable recommendations and caveats. |
Weekly | Cross-platform Performance & Opportunity Review; editorial test log; short review with editors and agreed actions. |
Monthly | Audience & Content Insights Report plus a Commercial Insights Annex for Sales & Partnerships; KPI trends, segment insights and recommendations. |
Quarterly | Strategic audience review covering progress against targets, topic/format opportunities, commercial learnings and a measurement-quality audit. |
As needed | Rapid briefs for major stories, newsroom questions, proposals, campaigns and post-campaign assessments, subject to priorities agreed with the line manager. |
5. Performance framework (proposed first-cycle KPIs)
Targets are provisional and must be calibrated after a 30-day data-access and baseline audit. Report impact with documented evidence and avoid claiming sole attribution for outcomes managed by other teams.
KPI / measure | Proposed standard | Evidence |
Timely, usable reporting | At least 90% of agreed daily, weekly and monthly outputs delivered on schedule; 100% include a recommended action and relevant caveats | Delivery log and stakeholder feedback |
Insight adoption | At least 8 documented recommendations acted on by Editorial and/or Commercial per quarter, subject to baseline review | Decision / action tracker |
Editorial opportunity generation | At least 4 documented data-informed follow-up or coverage opportunities per month; commissioning remains with editors | Brief archive / editor confirmation |
Commercial enablement | At least 2 substantive audience intelligence packs or proposal-support briefs monthly; usefulness reviewed by commercial lead | Sales request and usage log |
Experimentation and learning | At least 1 properly documented test or evaluation per month, including hypothesis and learning | Test register |
Audience outcome tracking | Agree 2–3 baseline-linked outcome indicators (e.g., engaged sessions, returning users, newsletter click rate); track trends and actions, not unconditional growth promises | GA4/platform data and baseline report |
Analytics interpretation and recommendation quality | For each major performance review, provide evidence-backed explanations of significant changes, relevant comparisons, caveats and prioritised next steps; calibrate expectations after the initial baseline audit. | Reviewed briefs/reports; recommendation tracker; editor and stakeholder feedback |
Trust and data quality | 100% of outward-facing numerical claims source-checked and labelled; no unauthorised sensitive-data disclosure | QA sampling and incident log |
6. Authority, working relationships and safeguards
- The role is advisory: editors retain the final decision on commissioning, framing, publication, corrections and newsroom priorities.
- The Managing Editor sets the role’s overall priorities and conducts appraisal, taking documented input from the commercial lead; disputes over workload are escalated through that line.
- Commercial colleagues own client relationships, pricing, pitches and sales closure. The editor provides evidence and analysis, not guaranteed advertising revenue.
- Sponsored/Featured content and commercial partnerships must be clearly identified, approved through existing governance and separated from independent editorial decision-making.
- Only authorised data and systems may be accessed. Comply with applicable Rwanda data protection requirements and internal confidentiality, retention and access policies.
- AI-assisted outputs require human verification. Do not send confidential, personal, unpublished or sensitive material to unapproved public AI services.
- Report limitations in small samples, missing demographic data, platform changes, consent conditions and attribution; never invent persona percentages or claim access to unavailable data.
7. Qualifications
- Strong editorial judgment and understanding of public-interest journalism, digital publishing and the Rwandan media environment.
- Demonstrable ability to interpret performance data, use spreadsheets and clearly explain findings and recommendations.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, curiosity, sound reasoning and ability to influence colleagues without direct line authority.
- Practical familiarity with digital publishing analytics and reporting tools, with the ability to navigate data independently and explain findings clearly to non-technical colleagues.
- High standards of confidentiality, verification, collaboration, organisation and responsible AI use.
- Substantial relevant professional experience in editorial, digital, audience, product, technology, research or commercial analysis; internal candidates may demonstrate equivalence through portfolio and practical assessment.
- Experience leading editorial initiatives or working at editor/senior specialist level.
- Working knowledge of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Search Console and The New Times’ internal editorial tracking dashboards. Able to interpret reports, investigate performance changes, understand key metrics and limitations, and translate analysis into evidence-based insights and actionable recommendations. Familiarity with social analytics, newsletter tools, dashboarding and experimentation is also expected.
- Experience preparing audience-informed sales materials, partnership research or media kits.
- Relevant qualifications in journalism, communications, business, statistics, research, information systems or another related field; advanced coding is not required.
9. Expression of interest
The New Times invites eligible applicants to express interest in the position.
Application deadline
Friday, 1pm November 6, 2026 – Email: hr@newtimesrwanda.com .
10. Applicants should provide the following:
- A statement of interest (maximum 500 words) describing relevant experience, motivation and a practical vision for the role.
- A practical insight proposal (maximum one page) defining an editorial or commercial question, relevant data sources, validation approach, recommendation and limitations. The proposal may include a short exercise interpreting sample GA4, Google Search Console or internal editorial-dashboard data and explaining the resulting insight and recommended action.
- A brief CV or internal career summary, together with one example of relevant analysis, reporting, editorial planning or cross-team problem-solving (if any).