Audience writer

Start date – ASAP

Salary – £28,000 - £33,000 DOE

Location – hybrid, based Bristol or London

Write and optimise digital stories for major platforms like MSN and Google Discover, using data to drive audience growth.

SWNS is the UK’s biggest independent news agency. Every day, hundreds of stories, images and videos from SWNS are published and broadcast across the national and international media. Our clients are the biggest news publishers in the world – Reach, DMGT, News UK, LADbible, The Times, The Telegraph, BBC, ITN, Yahoo! and the New York Post to name a few.

We cover everything from breaking news and amazing human interest stories to consumer issues, scientific breakthroughs, and breathtaking images and viral videos. Our proprietary news wire platform is the gold standard for popular agency journalism – original, verified and fully rights-managed. But our storytelling now extends far beyond the news wire; we supply global aggregator platforms like MSN and Yahoo, publish our own social formats, and co-produce documentaries for global streamers.

SWNS has an unrivalled track record in producing the journalism stars of tomorrow and is very proud to count several serving editors, news editors and digital chiefs among our alumni. Our parent company, the SWNS Media Group, is embarking on a period of substantial investment that will expand our storytelling into exciting new formats and markets. The SWNS brand will be at the forefront of this - so it’s an exciting time to get on board!

The role

We have had phenomenal growth in aggregator publishing in the last year and want to build on this success with a dedicated Audience Writer.

The role is focused on driving engagement on MSN and Google Discover; primarily producing your own content from scratch, but also lending your knowledge to boost the performance of our wire content on these platforms.

This role is central to our growth strategy and will directly influence both our daily newsroom operations and long‑term direction.

The core responsibilities of the position are:

• Monitor platform data to identify daily trending topics and longer-term emerging themes.
• Respond by producing original articles that meet audience demand and build a library of evergreen content.
• Optimise hooks, headlines, and story structure to ensure best SEO performance.
• Identify engagement opportunities for SWNS’ extensive and rich archive of stories and case studies.
• Translate performance data into actionable insights for the wider editorial team, helping shape day-to-day decisions.
• Use performance data to shape ongoing editorial strategy on target platforms and adjust output accordingly.

Requirements

We are looking for a vibrant self-starter who shares our passion for high-quality popular journalism and the camaraderie of a busy and evolving newsroom. The ideal candidate will have:

• At least two years’ experience producing digital content for a news publisher, with a proven track record of hitting output targets and growing audience.
• A good knowledge of SEO best practice and the ability to craft headlines and intros that fly with audiences.
• Experience using analytics tools to identify trends and respond to audience demand.
• A self-starting mentality. You will not be micromanaged, but you will be expected to run your own production schedule and hit key targets.
• The ability to change and adapt as this growing part of our business rapidly evolves.

Why Join SWNS?

At SWNS, you'll be part of a supportive and driven team that values originality and integrity in storytelling. We do not curate, scrape or aggregate material - we source and create stories from scratch, or syndicate original material from our partners or copyright owners.

We offer flexible working arrangements and the opportunity to see your work published across a range of high-profile platforms globally.

Our collaborative environment encourages continuous learning and professional growth. We are a small ish team - about 70 in the UK - so your voice will be heard in the editorial and strategic direction of the business.

Benefits and extra details

SWNS is a national living wage employer.

SWNS is an inclusive employer that values diversity in its workforce. Recent studies show most UK journalism industry professionals come from white ethnic groups (92%) and from professional or upper-class backgrounds (80%). We want to continue to do our part to change this and welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and experiences.

SWNS also has a generous and growing list of employee benefits, including:

• Employee Assistance Programme
• Health and Wellbeing Support Service
• Holiday Entitlement: 25 days (+ Bank Holidays) per year
• Company Pension Scheme with Employer Contribution
• Hybrid Working
• Enhanced Maternity Pay
• Enhanced Paternity Leave
• Life Assurance
• Company-wide Summer Event and Christmas Party
• Paid Bereavement / Compassionate Leave
• Railcard reimbursement for regular travellers for work
• Sick Pay
• Your birthday off
• Subscription to Furthr
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• EV Car Scheme
• Health Cash Plan – reimbursement on a number of health services
• Gym Discounts
• GP Anytime
• Additional time off for long service
• Holiday purchase and buyback scheme

Please send your CV with the job title Audience Writer referenced in the subject box.

Please include:

• A covering letter explaining how you fit the criteria above and why you want to work at SWNS – we are unlikely to consider you without one!
• Examples of your relevant work in this field.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to apply for this position and for your interest in joining our team. Whilst we do our utmost to reply individually to all applicants, this may not always be possible due to a high volume of applications we often receive. If you’ve not heard from us within two weeks after the closing date for this advert, please presume your application has, unfortunately, not been successful on this occasion. Once again, we appreciate your interest in SWNS.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.