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Executive Editor
IE Media, Inc. is a leading global digital media publisher reaching millions of readers and over 25 million social media followers with the most important and exciting developments in technology, engineering, and science. From the ground-level engineering of global conflict to the mind-expanding science at the edge of the cosmos, we write for a global audience that geeks out about how things work — the inventors, the engineers, the curious.
IE’s portfolio includes our flagship Interesting Engineering brand and Military Mechanics, a defense-technology vertical. Our fast-paced, international team spans multiple continents and time zones, united by a shared commitment to quality journalism, ethical reporting, and the belief that knowledge is power. As the publishing landscape transforms at speed — with AI reshaping newsrooms, Google Discover rewriting distribution rules, and audiences demanding both speed and depth — we are looking for a next-generation editorial leader who can thrive at the intersection of journalism, technology, and commercial growth.
We are looking for an Executive Editor. You'll be the founding editorial leader of IE+, our paid subscription product, and the operating editor across Interesting Engineering and Military Mechanics. You'll report directly to the CEO and partner with the Product&Growth teams. This is a builder's job, not a custodian's. We're not looking for a polished publishing executive who wants a corner office and a strategy deck. We're looking for an editor-operator with engineering DNA who wants ownership, real upside, and the chance to design what a science-and-engineering subscription product should be in 2026 — alongside a CEO who's in the building, on Slack, and shipping with you.
Today, IE Media is a high-growth digital publisher monetized through advertising, brand partnerships, and video. Tomorrow, we become an indispensable resource that engineers, technologists, and the seriously curious will pay for. That product is IE+, and you'll author the editorial side of it: what we publish, who writes it, what formats it takes, and what makes it worth paying for. You'll partner closely with Product and Growth on the commercial build — paywall, pricing, onboarding, retention mechanics — but the editorial product is yours.
You're not inheriting an editorial strategy for IE+. You're authoring it.
We've already built the audience, the distribution muscle, the brand authority, and the editorial bench across India, Turkey, the UK, and the US. Your job is to convert that into recurring revenue without breaking the things that got us here.
Responsibilities:
Author the editorial product behind IE+: what we publish, who writes it, what formats it takes, what makes it worth paying for. Define the pillars from a blank page. Build the content slate: premium reporting, deep-dive engineering explainers, original analysis, member-only formats. Decide what's in, what's out, what gets killed. Partner closely with Product and Growth on the commercial build: paywall strategy, pricing, onboarding, retention mechanics, member tooling. They run the machine; you make the machine worth using. Use subscriber data — conversion drivers, churn signals, engagement patterns — to inform editorial decisions. You don't carry the subscription number alone, but your content is the primary lever and you're accountable for pulling it. Hire and lead a small premium editorial team: 2–4 senior writers and a dedicated editor, in-house and freelance. Daily output, quality, breaking-news coverage, and editorial calendar. Manage a distributed team across India, Turkey, UK, US — with shift rotations, weekend coverage, and clean escalation paths. Maintain editorial voice and standards across articles, videos, newsletters, and apps. Drive traffic across Google Search, Discover, News, Apple News, MSN, Yahoo, SmartNews, Samsung News, NewsBreak. Operationalize AI across the newsroom — story discovery, drafting, fact-checking, newsletter automation. Own adoption, cost, and measurable output gains. Oversee video production (YouTube long-form, shorts, Military Mechanics). Hold the Head of Video accountable on revenue contribution. Partner with the VP of Sales & Marketing on commercial projects: sponsored content, premium reports, branded video, events. Own the editorial budget — freelancer spend, tooling, headcount — and make the case for investment with data.
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Requirements:
Engineering or hard-science DNA. An engineering or hard-science degree, or a serious editorial track record at a credible tech/science outlet (e.g. The Verge, Ars Technica, IEEE Spectrum, MIT Technology Review, Wired, Quanta, The Information, 404 Media, Semafor Tech, Rest of World). You geek out about reactors, satellites, drones, semiconductors, and aerospace as much as our readers do. Subscription-aware editorial experience. You've built or led the editorial side of a paid product — newsletter, membership, or subscription tier. You understand the funnel and the metrics well enough to make editorial decisions that move them, even if you didn't personally own the P&L. 10+ years in digital editorial, with at least one stint running a high-volume newsroom and at least one stint inside a subscription-driven publication. AI-native editorial thinking. You've deployed AI tools in real workflows and can talk specifics: which tools, which workflows, what worked, what didn't, what it cost, what it gained. Google Discover & SEO fluency. You understand topical authority, E-E-A-T, Discover optimization, and you've led editorial through at least one algorithm update with a recovery story you can walk us through. International team management across time zones. You know how to plan coverage so nothing falls through the cracks at 3 a.m. somewhere. Relentless communicator. You respond to time-critical messages the same day. You over-communicate by default. You escalate the moment you see a problem, not after it explodes. Working hours that overlap meaningfully with both US East Coast and Europe/Asia.
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What Sets You Apart:
You've taken a publisher from zero to paid subscribers and can walk us through how, with numbers. You've built editorial AI workflows from scratch — specified them, tested them, iterated with product teams. You bring a personal network of science and engineering writers, editors, and subject-matter experts. You've led a video editorial operation as a revenue channel, not just a content format. You've operated inside a startup or a founder-led publisher and you know what "all hands on deck" actually means.
Compensation:
Strong base salary benchmarked to senior digital editorial leadership. IE+ growth participation tied to net retained ARR, paid quarterly. You don't carry the number alone, but your editorial work is the primary lever — and you share materially in the upside. Milestone bonuses at defined IE+ subscriber thresholds. Equity. We're hiring an owner. We're paying you like one. Remote-first, with travel for team gatherings and key commercial events.
How We Work:
We're a startup, not a legacy publisher. That means:
Decisions get made fast and adjusted faster. Slack is the nervous system. Asana is the spine. The CEO is reachable and so is everyone else. No moats, no gatekeeping. We hire owners and we trust them. We don't manage by surveillance. We ship, measure, and iterate. We don't write strategy decks to defend bad ideas.
Not For You If…
You need a polished org chart, a fully built team, and a quiet seat above the fray. You measure your seniority by how many people report to you. You haven't personally written or edited a piece in two years. You think AI is a threat to editorial rather than the most important editorial tool of the decade. You want subscription growth to be "someone else's problem." "Founder energy" makes you tired just reading it.
IE is dedicated to supporting its diverse and inclusive editorial staff. IE urges women, people of color, armed forces veterans, people with disabilities, and gender-nonconforming people to apply. IE does not discriminate based on sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, affectional choice, or gender identity. We recognize a person’s unique experiences as points of strength and welcome them as journalists on our team, working in service of the mission to explore and report on engineering, in whatever form it takes.
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