ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

Around the world, independent media – an essential pillar of democracy – face extinction due to market and political forces working against them remaining financially viable. Media business models have changed profoundly in recent decades as search and social media capture most of the world’s advertising revenues, and generative AI makes it easier for bad actors to create and monetize harmful content.

Internews’ Ads for News initiative is a unique and strategic program for Internews that supplies country-based lists of fact-based, local news media that brands and agencies can target in their advertising campaigns, bringing increased advertising revenue to those media. Ads for News currently covers more than 15 thousand news websites in 57 countries.

Propelled by impactful results in Asia and Latin America, Ads for News is now evolving. As part of our Media Business Unit and reporting to the Senior Director of Media Business, the Ads for News Director will lead Ads for News’ ongoing product and business development, outreach to the advertising industry, and thought leadership.

LOGISTICS

Internews has offices in Arcata, CA, Washington, DC and London, UK which support a hybrid workforce with staff working remotely, fully in-office, or partially remote. This is a remote-based role and candidates based anywhere in the United States or United Kingdom will be considered.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so candidates are encouraged to apply soon.

This is a limited-duration position, with an expected term of 12 months.

OUR COMMITMENT TO FOSTERING A CULTURE OF BELONGING

We are an organization of dynamic, mission-driven individuals who are passionate about our core values and about supporting positive change in the world. We pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and flexibility. We believe that diverse teams are strong teams and work to support an ethic of belonging, dignity, and justice for all people. Our current team includes a mix of genders, parents and non-parents, and people of multiple races, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We are an EEO employer and encourage candidates of all races, genders, ages, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply, and welcome those with alternative backgrounds and experiences.

DAY-TO-DAY TASKS will include:

Product Development

Expand the number of countries and media outlets covered by Ads for News by:

• Leading the effort to identify candidate websites using our automated scraper, along with the Media Business Unit’s Head of Technology.
• Managing our external contractor to refine Large Language Models (LLMs) that identify content characteristics of target websites (e.g., thematic focus, content type, content depth, information / disinformation, and being “Made for Advertising” (MFA)).
• Recruiting, training, and supervising a large cadre of researchers (in collaboration with our regional program teams) who index news websites that have passed initial analysis and LLM stages.)

Innovate on Ads for News’ indexing methodology on an ongoing basis to meet the demands of brands and agencies, so they can generate lists of media that meet their specific needs (e.g., climate coverage). Work with our Media Viability Accelerator (MVA) teams to integrate Ads for News into this new, online platform so that:

• Public information on indexed websites – such as content volume, page load speed, and advertising density – on independent media indexed by Ads for News is used to create performance benchmarks for MVA users.
• Indexed websites, for which an email address is collected during scraping, are offered access to the MVA.
• Brands and agencies can find relevant independent media to advertise on, according to trust signals from Ads for News and other sources.
• Independent media can view any issues discovered by Ads for News (e.g., too much advertising on page) that would prevent them maximizing their programmatic advertising revenues.

Outreach & Representation

• Cultivate and maintain high-level relationships with advertising agency partners, funders, supporters, and policy makers around the world, with the goal of growing our network of partners and supporters and guiding Product Development priorities (e.g., determining which countries to index).
• Conduct briefings with senior leaders within and outside Internews.
• Raise Internews’ profile in the advertising industry through representation at conferences, funder meetings, and other opportunities.
• Work with External Affairs to increase the visibility of this work.
• Author blog posts and updates for the Ads for News website.
• Build the capacity of Internews staff to incorporate Ads for News related efforts into their work.
• Provide capacity building for Internews’ partners to improve their viability from advertising and other sources of revenue.

Fundraising

• Lead efforts to generate new funding opportunities for Ads for News and related programmatic innovations.
• Coordinate proposal activity related to Ads for News, along with the Global Development team.
• Contribute Ads for News content to any Internews proposal for which it’s relevant.

Other

• Lead the development and implementation of Ads for News’ operating plans, work plans and strategies, together with the Senior Director of Media Business and our MVA program team.
• Collaborate on the development of other related workplans and strategies.
• Any other tasks as agreed.
• In all duties, uphold Internews’ Core Values and demonstrate commitment to fostering a culture of belonging.

QUALIFICATIONS WE’RE LOOKING FOR

Required

• University degree or equivalent lived/professional experience
• At least 10 years of experience in the media and/or digital advertising sectors
• In-depth knowledge of working with news media
• In-depth knowledge of programmatic advertising
• Ability to cultivate high-level relationships with senior advertising executives in partner organizations
• Experience working with multi-stakeholder groups, working groups and coalitions
• Remote management of consultants, and collaboration with colleagues, globally
• Track record of planning, goal setting, and achieving major results to deadlines with minimal oversight
• Proven ability to prioritize and handle a multitude of complex ongoing assignments to deadlines
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of an international and diverse team in a flexible, dynamic environment across multiple time zones and working divisions
• Professional fluency in English
• Excellent communication skills: speaking, presenting, writing, and listening
• Ability to work both independently and as an effective team member
• Ability and willingness to travel as needed globally in support of programs and initiatives

Preferred

Note: Candidates who do not have this preferred qualification, but who are interested and willing to learn, are encouraged to apply.

• Professional proficiency in additional languages strongly preferred

The annual salary range for this position is US $103,600 – US $134,700.