We’re hiring! Apply to be our Membership Manager

About the Bureau

The Bureau is the UK’s largest independent non-profit investigative journalism organisation. In the last year, our investigations were published in more than 100 countries across local, national, international, specialist, TV and digital platforms – and sparked change around the world. Our four global investigative teams work with reporters around the world on priority cross-border issues – environment, health, corruption and big tech.

In addition, our UK-focused Bureau Local team uses an innovative community-led approach to cover issues like insecure work, migrant rights and family courts, amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities. Founded in 2010, we’ve grown from a small group of journalists to a diverse team delivering hard-hitting investigations that have prompted inquiries, sparked legal challenges and informed policy change in the UK and across the world.

Our Membership

Could you inspire our readers to support our newsroom financially? Do you have creative ideas to show them the impact of their contributions? Imagine finding fresh ways to make our members feel deeply connected to our journalism. We’re looking for someone with a talent for creating innovative and engaging supporter journeys, improving member acquisition and retention, and boosting reader revenue. If you’ve got the vision to grow and strengthen our community, we’d love to hear from you!

We launched Bureau Insiders, our membership community, 12 months ago. Today, more than 300 dedicated Insiders support our investigations each month because they believe in the power of investigative journalism to uphold democracy, expose injustice and spark change. We’re ready to take this community to the next level, and we need someone who can help us expand our reach, engage our audience and secure unrestricted, sustainable funding.

Reporting to our Development Director, the Membership Manager will lead our membership strategy, focusing on growth in individual giving and creating opportunities for our supporters to see the impact of their contributions. While experience in journalism is a plus, what matters most is your ability to build a robust individual giving programme. So, if you’re passionate about connecting people to a mission they believe in, please consider applying – even if you’re new to the news industry.

Role and Responsibilities

• Create compelling narratives encouraging our audience to become Bureau Insiders, and highlighting the impact of their support. This includes editorial campaigns, evergreen mailers, and time-limited membership drives.

• Develop and lead campaigns to boost reader revenue, including through crowdfunders.

• Manage all aspects of effective and inspiring supporter journeys, such as newsletter and membership onboarding, upsells, and cancellation flows, with a focus on engagement, conversion, and retention.

• Refine our stewardship process, identifying potential membership perks that will retain and grow membership.

• Manage the Bureau Insiders community and pipeline, responding to/directing queries and identifying members with potential to increase their giving.

• Collaborate closely with the audience, editorial and production teams. Joint priorities include managing membership CTAs across all our platforms (newsletter, social, website), and experimenting with new formats to attract new members and help Insiders feel closer to our journalism, such as our TBIJ Live events series.

• Tracking key performance metrics, and producing regular progress reports and updates for the broader team.

• Designing and administering surveys and focus groups, interpreting audience data for audience segments and audience needs.

• Act as our voice on membership within the Bureau and the wider industry

In addition to sharing our values – just, honest, courageous, inclusive and collaborative – you would be a good fit for this role if you have:

• A deep understanding of the power of individual giving to support the work of mission-driven organisations.

• A passion for journalism that makes a difference, and a commitment to putting audiences at the heart of that journalism.

• Strong communication and organisational skills, with an ability to work with colleagues across a number of teams, including audience, editorial, and production.

• Knowledge of membership/subscription models, and best practices for driving acquisition and retention.

• Experience in:

  • Digital marketing practices including email marketing (using MailChimp or similar tools to create, schedule and tailor campaigns for a variety of people and purposes.)

  • Database management (using Stripe or other payment processing systems to manage individual giving)

  • Community management (fostering two-way conversations with audiences/supporters)

  • Events planning experience would be a bonus

We envisage this as a full-time, primarily hybrid working role, working from our London office two/three times a week.

Salary and contract

Salary: £40-46k per annum
Contract: Permanent
Location: London (hybrid working)
Reporting to: Development Director

Benefits - what we offer

• 25 days annual leave

• Additional gifted leave during Christmas festive break

• Flexible working arrangements

• Hybrid working

• EAP - Employee assistance programme

• Enhanced sick pay

• Enhanced maternity and paternity pay after 12 months’ service

• Learning and development opportunities

• Cycle to work scheme

How to apply

The Bureau is committed to being an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a welcoming, diverse, inclusive and adaptable environment where people are encouraged and supported to achieve their best. We welcome applications from those belonging to groups traditionally under-represented in the media. You don’t need to tick every box in this ad – we are committed to hiring people with potential. If you feel like you lack some specific experience but have the necessary drive and passion, please don’t be deterred from applying or getting in touch with any questions.

Potential candidates should send a CV and cover letter to [email protected].

If you need support with your application, such as reasonable adjustments, or want to ask any questions about the job before submitting an application, please also contact [email protected].

You will need to have the right to live and work in the UK.

The deadline for application is 20 November 2024 and we aim to schedule interviews for the week commencing 25 November 2024.

Please also fill out our anonymous equality monitoring form here, so we can better track who we are reaching.

Our values

• Just: We are committed to pursuing what is right. We act with integrity and fairness to bring injustice to light.
• Honest: We deal plainly and truthfully with each other and what we uncover. We reveal the truth even when it is uncomfortable.
• Courageous: We aim to break new ground. We are ambitious, tenacious and innovative.
• Inclusive: We seek to build equity. We embrace diversity, different experiences and perspectives.
• Collaborative: We believe people are stronger when they work together. We take a collective approach to how we tackle problems, share skills and enable change.