Audience Engagement Editor

Radio Free Asia•Washington DC, WA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Audience Engagement Editor is an editorial role at the intersection of journalism, analytics, and distribution. The role connects Radio Free Asia’s journalism with audiences in contested information environments, treating reach as a core editorial function while exercising judgment about when audience optimization serves the mission and when it could compromise it. The editor owns day-to-day distribution across web, social, newsletters, and push notifications; works with Innovation, Tech Op, and language desks on shortwave and circumvention channels; and treats each channel as an audience with distinct behaviors and limits. The editor optimizes headlines, packaging, and formats for search and AI answer engines in markets where conventional analytics and platforms may be contested or unreliable. The role adapts desk reporting into platform-native formats without compromising accuracy, leads distribution strategy during breaking news and major coverage events, and partners with desks to identify audience interests and underreported topics. It also develops and tests distribution tactics, advises desks using analytics while communicating measurement limitations, monitors platform changes and state-directed interference, and trains newsroom staff to incorporate audience thinking into their workflows. Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with editorial and operational bureaus in Taipei, Bangkok, and Seoul. It is a congressionally funded grantee of the U.S. Agency for Global Media and operates with full editorial independence. RFA provides accurate, uncensored news and information to people in countries where a free press does not exist, broadcasting in nine languages and dialects and reaching audiences through shortwave, satellite, and the internet. This full-time, exempt position is based in Washington, DC, and follows a hybrid schedule of three days in the office and two days remote. Some flexibility in work hours is required to accommodate international time zones. The position is ineligible for company sponsorship for work authorization; applicants must already possess work authorization.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Communications, Political Science, International Relations, or a related field.
At least 7 years of experience in digital journalism, newsroom audience development, editorial distribution, or a similar newsroom role, with demonstrated ownership of multi-channel distribution across web, social, newsletters, and push.
Strong news judgment and ability to adapt journalism for platform-native formats.
Working proficiency in SEO and AEO principles, including headline optimization, structured data, and content discoverability in AI-assisted search environments.
Fluency with analytics tools and ability to critically interpret audience analytics, including understanding data that is missing or misleading in restricted-access markets.
Strong editing and packaging skills across formats and platforms.
High comfort level with web CMS platforms, social scheduling and analytics tools, and newsletter platforms.
Demonstrated experience with A/B testing, push notification strategy, and newsletter optimization.
Excellent writing ability and skill in translating data insights into plain-language editorial recommendations for non-technical colleagues.
Proven ability to work with reporters, editors, technologists, and researchers, and to influence colleagues who do not report to the role.
Must possess existing work authorization; the company does not sponsor work authorization for this position.

Nice To Haves

Experience reaching news audiences in censored, throttled, or firewalled information environments, such as China and other authoritarian countries.
Experience with circumvention tools and alternative distribution channels, such as mirror sites, app distribution, and peer-to-peer, in the context of blocked or throttled media.
Working knowledge of one or more RFA languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Tibetan, Uyghur, Burmese, Khmer, Vietnamese, Lao, or Korean.
Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across multilingual, multicultural teams.
Experience building and delivering workshops, guides, or onboarding that change newsroom habits.

Responsibilities

Own day-to-day distribution across web, social, newsletters, and push notifications.
Work with Innovation, Tech Op, and language desks on shortwave and circumvention channels, treating each channel as a distinct audience with its own behavior and limits.
Optimize headlines, packaging, and formats for search and AI answer engines (SEO and AEO), including in markets where conventional analytics and platforms are contested or unreliable.
Adapt and edit desk reporting into platform-native article, vertical video, social, and audio formats without compromising accuracy.
Lead audience strategy during breaking news and major coverage events, coordinating distribution timing, format, and platform sequencing across desks in real time.
Partner with desks to identify audience interest, surface underreported topics, and find relevant angles, including safe ways for audiences to contribute to and engage with RFA journalism.
Develop, test, and iterate on distribution tactics, including headline variants, push timing, format experiments, and circumvention channel deployment, using structured testing where possible.
Use daily analytics and the Director of Audience and Research’s findings to advise desks on stories, formats, and timing, while explaining the limits of measurement in blocked and surveilled environments.
Monitor platform policy, algorithmic changes, and state-directed interference patterns affecting RFA’s reach, and escalate significant changes to the Managing Editor and TechOps.
Build and deliver training that embeds audience thinking into desk workflows, including story selection, headline writing, format choices, and source safety.