Managing Editor; Fully Remote

About the role

Science Alert is the leading independent science news title in the United States and one of the top 50 publishers in the country. With more than 30 million readers every month across the globe, we've built something rare: a science brand that people genuinely love, trust, and come back to. This is an extraordinary moment to join us.

This role is about what comes next. We're looking for a Managing Editor who knows how to turn market leadership into an unassailable position: deeper reader relationships, broader distribution, new formats, and a brand that becomes genuinely hard to compete with.

You'll own the editorial vision and the growth strategy. That means thinking beyond traffic, into loyalty, habit, community, and the new surfaces where audiences are forming. You'll work closely with the CEO to set the agenda for the next phase of Science Alert's growth, and lead the editorial team that delivers it.

• Set and protect Science Alert's editorial voice: rigorous, accessible, and genuinely curious, never sensationalist, never condescending
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of editors and science journalists across multiple time zones
• Make final calls on editorial standards, story selection, and major coverage decisions
• Develop franchise content and recurring editorial formats that build habit and deepen loyalty among existing readers

• Identify the next frontiers for Science Alert's US reach: new platforms, formats, and audience segments where we're underpenetrated relative to our brand strength
• Build and deepen distribution partnerships: syndication, licensing, newsletter cross‑promotion, podcast collaborations, and platform content deals
• Develop Science Alert's direct audience assets as a foundation for sustainable growth
• Pursue opportunities in audio, video, and social formats that extend our editorial reach and are explicitly designed to open new commercial revenue streams, whether through sponsorship, platform monetisation, or audience products, without diluting our standards
• Forge relationships with US science institutions, universities, and research bodies to maintain our edge as the most trusted and well‑sourced title in the space

• Set growth targets across subscribers, engagement depth, return visits, and brand recall across multiple platforms
• Work with data and product teams to understand reader behaviour and make fast, well‑informed editorial decisions
• Represent Science Alert publicly at events, with media partners, and with the broader US science and journalism community

• Senior editorial leadership experience at a major digital publisher, with a clear track record of audience growth
• Deep fluency in the US media landscape: how audiences discover, share, and develop loyalty to content brands
• Experience scaling a publication's footprint through distribution partnerships, format expansion, or platform strategy, not just editorial output
• A leader who can develop editorial talent and maintain high standards while pushing for growth
• Comfortable with data, able to read performance signals and translate them into editorial decisions without chasing metrics for their own sake

• Background in science, health, or technology journalism, with an understanding of the editorial responsibilities that come with covering research
• Experience leading editorial at a globally distributed publication across time zones and editorial cultures
• A strong existing network across US media, science institutions, and platform partnerships
• Hands‑on experience with newsletter strategy, community building, or expanding into audio or video formats

• Location: Remote, US, UK or Australia preferred (Supported relocation to East Coast Australia required ultimately, for time‑zone alignment with the daily editorial desk).
• Reports to: CEO
• Ownership: Privately held, independently run

Science Alert was founded in 2004 with a belief that good science should be accessible to everyone. We're independently owned, ad‑supported, and free to read, which means our only obligation is to our readers. Loved by science enthusiasts across the globe, we've grown into the most widely read independent science news title in the United States, and we intend to make that position impossible to challenge.

If you want to lead that work, we'd like to talk.