Content Operations Executive, Multimedia (12-month FTC)

About us

The Independent is an online news publisher that was established in 1986 as a national newspaper independent of party political affiliations or proprietorial influence. In 2016, The Independent became a fully digital publisher, moving away from print in pursuit of sustainability, and to safeguard its values and journalism for the future.

The Independent has always thrived through innovation and change. It was the first British newspaper to add a Saturday magazine; the first to give photography the same prestige as a news copy; the first to challenge the Westminster lobby system of closed briefings; the first broadsheet to move to the more compact ‘tabloid’ format; the first to launch a concise quality compact paper; and the first – and only – major newspaper to pull off a successful transformation to fully digital publishing.

Through The Independent, Independent TV, eCommerce, indy100, subscriptions and other ‘reader revenues’, The Independent plans to continue the work of many decades, bringing much-needed independent journalism to over 100 million unique global visitors a month, make its voice ever louder and more insistent the world over.

We have an international editorial team with our main offices in London and New York.

In 2024 The Independent’s portfolio of brands increased through a new licensing partnership with BuzzFeed Inc. to operate the BuzzFeed brands in the UK - BuzzFeed UK, Tasty, Seasoned and HuffPost UK. The additional brands echo the existing business ethos and allow for increased audiences and a further strategic diversification of revenue streams.

The Licensing and Syndication team

The L&S team is responsible for the sale and republishing of all editorial content from The Independent’s content portfolio, when it appears on brands or platforms outside of those we own and directly control. This includes licensing articles or text feeds to other news brands or other partner platforms; use of our headlines, images, video clips and streaming; and ‘always-on’ digital distribution partnerships to news aggregators. The Team manages multiple high revenue relationships and extended its international reach in September 2020 with the launch of a Spanish language website independentespanol.com. Within the department, the Content Operations Team supports the supply and distribution of all multimedia content to partners and customers through our content API, manages the external distribution feeds of text and images, video clips and streaming. This will involve research and accessing our archives via the internal DAM and some third-party standalone databases and answering enquiries related to published content. The team also provides internal support to the department and the wider business. The team provides the same services to The Standard as an important publisher services partnership.

About you

• Highly technically savvy and astute on managing multiple assets
• Knowledge or experience of syndicating text, video, audio, text and image assets and their onward distribution
• A familiarity with news publishing, multi-channel content distribution and the wider news media ecosystem
• Specific knowledge of managing video content assets and formats and their distribution would be advantageous
• Ability to work accurately under pressure and working in tandem with commercial deadlines
• Organised, unflappable with a logical approach to managing different tasks simultaneously
• Capability to learn quickly and suggest solutions to challenges you see in your everyday work
• Capacity to be clear and communicative with the team and externally when dealing with partner onboarding teams
• Proactive – can spot potential issues and address them before they become problems
• Enthusiasm, flexibility and a natural curiosity are an advantage as our products evolve
• Positive team player able to adapt to a fast-paced news agenda

Job purpose

As a member of the Content Operations Team (within the Licensing & Syndication team), you will be jointly responsible for managing the flow of content to a network of Off Platform channels and partners. You will maintain editorial content in The Independent and The Standard’s digital asset management system (DAM) and support the Department, Editorial teams and the wider businesses by researching and supplying content from The Independent and Evening Standard. You will assist with the supply of multimedia content to a range of partners, monitor use of content and respond to client or reader enquiries (ad hoc).

Key responsibilities

• Provide support for Content Operations to ensure our external partner feeds are functioning consistently correctly
• Monitor and identify issues with existing partner rss and video / mrss feeds and other content transfers
• Communicate directly with partners where necessary when there are delivery issues, or changes to the service
• Assist with setting up feeds for new contracted partners based on specific requirements
• Test tech tickets for bugs and new developments; feedback to Brightsites (external developers), Tech and wider team
• Contribute to daily content promotions and email newsletters for key accounts / partners as required
• Act as first line support for partners to quickly resolve any issues that arise relating to supply and formatting of content
• Maintain the accuracy and integrity of content assets stored in the Digital Asset Management system (DAM)
• Access partner dashboards or moderation platforms to manage content and legal takedowns
• Check and correct published content in the DAM; update assets with legal notices and other changes
• Quality-check work done by others as needed and provide feedback within the team
• Manage the rights and supply of images, stories and video material to allow direct and syndicated licensing of content
• Supply content in response to ad-hoc internal/external enquiries (may involve internal or external archive research)
• Manage logins and provide training for internal and external content databases
• Maintain digital and analogue archived assets; provide support for colleagues seeking to exploit library assets
• Monitor content used by clients: Report on volume and accuracy of use and carry out checks against original content
• Assist with projects to digitise and exploit historical content, including keywording and establishing ownership
• Support Commercial team with picture, text or video research for their projects to deadline
• Regularly provide archived content to Editorial for republication
• Create reports for the Picture Editors and selected agencies to monitor use of agency images
• Other tasks as required to support this busy and fast-moving business area

Skills and experience

• Knowledge of DAM’s, content operations workflows and media asset distribution
• Rigorous and consistent attention to detail and quality
• Solid research skills and knowledge of leveraging archive /back catalogue content
• Demonstrable capability of carrying out repetitive tasks with accuracy
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Ability to work to tight deadlines with a high degree of accuracy
• Strong communication skills; evidence of responding quickly and informatively to emails and phone calls
• Familiarity with a range of DAMS, Information Management, and database software is preferred
• Knowledge of xml, html and mrss feeds is a benefit, as is understanding of API technology
• Good general knowledge and an interest in current affairs
• Understanding of copyright laws and how these apply to editorial content

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. As a growing and global brand, we must have a workforce that’s more representative of our readers, viewers, clients and partners, and a workplace that creates a sense of belonging for everyone.

We are committed to hiring and developing a diverse workforce regardless of background, and we support our people to thrive in their careers here.

The Independent is an equal opportunities employer, if you require any reasonable adjustments to complete your application, please do not hesitate to advise us accordingly.

Our values – you will deliver across all our values

Inclusive: We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. Working as a team, we put transparency and effective communication at the heart of everything we do.

Innovative: From the very beginning, The Independent has been breaking the mould. We take risks and are always looking to try new ideas in pursuit of excellence.

Independent: Nobody tells us what to think; we make up our own minds and aren’t afraid to do things differently. Like our readers, we value honesty and integrity above outside influences.