Employment

The Forward is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, citizenship status, color, race, national origin, disability, disability status, gender, pregnancy status or lactation accommodations, gender identity, sexual orientation, domestic violence victim status, marital, partnership or familial status, religion, creed, prior arrest or conviction record according to applicable law, veteran or military status, or genetic characteristics.

The Forward has a commitment to diversity both in the workplace and in its reporting and is looking for employees and perspectives from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences.

Audience Manager
JOC Fellow
Contributing Opinion Columnists
Internship Opportunity: Digital Reporting and Writing
Freelance pitches
About the Forward

Audience Manager

Starting Salary range: $75,000 to $85,000
Reports to the General Manager
Location: NYC-prefered, but remote is possible

The Audience Manager will lead the Forward’s growth and engagement efforts, developing strategies that maximize our reach across platforms while growing our newsletters’ list size and engagement. The role will occupy a unique position within the organization, working with the newsroom to leverage our journalism and collaborating with business team members on offers tied to membership. The Audience Manager will develop a measurement and reporting strategy to educate stakeholders across editorial, product and business teams about our current and prospective users. This position will also work closely with News Revenue Hub, a nonprofit that supports news organizations, on goals, analytics, reports and more.

Responsibilities:

Goal-setting and metrics

Establish and own KPIs for growth and engagement for newsletters, social, SEO, and other channels
Develop strategies to build reader habits
Overseeing our analytics, including gathering and reporting of insights from across platforms to inform daily and strategic decisions
Track, target, and grow loyal reader segments
Collaborate with business and marketing team members on converting readers to members
Measure the impact of tactics/experiments

Newsletters

Owns and executes newsletter list growth strategy using tools such as search, social, site and other creative means
Own newsletter engagement KPIs and reports regularly on progress

You have:

3 plus years of full-time experience in an audience function (preferably in a newsroom environment) and a desire to innovate, problem-solve, and launch new initiatives
Google Analytics (GA4) expertise
Experience managing professional social accounts, and ideally established brands
A finger on the pulse of social media trends
Search engine optimization experience
Experience running newsletters; knowledge of Mailchimp preferred
Excellent verbal communication, collaboration and presentation skills

The Forward is an independent, reader-supported nonprofit committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in our coverage, staffing and culture.

The Forward’s office is located in New York City. Local applicants are preferred, however, remote options are available.

We know there are great candidates who might not check all these boxes, or who possess important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. We also encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.

About the Forward
The Forward is a legendary name in American journalism and a revered institution in American Jewish life. Our outstanding reporting on cultural, social and political issues inspires readers of all ages and animates conversation across generations and different segments of our community. Our English and Yiddish platforms build on a century-old legacy maintained in our archives and lead to a deeper understanding of what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century. While we are deeply engaged in the business of creating a financially stable and successful media outlet, amidst the challenges in journalism today, the Forward has always been a not-for-profit association and is supported by the contributions of its readers.

To Apply
Please send your resume and cover letter to [email protected].

Jews of Color Fellow

The Forward has opened two positions within its fellowship program, both aimed at diversifying the pipeline of individuals who work in Jewish media. These year-long fellowships, supported by the Jews of Color Initiative (JoCI) and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, are full-time roles in the newsroom or on the business side at the nation’s leading Jewish journalism outlet. Specific responsibilities will be determined based on matches between applicants’ skills and interests and organizational needs. Our fellowship program includes professional development and mentoring by leaders in the field.

Jews of color are underrepresented in Jewish and secular media organizations. We aim with these fellowships to help broaden and strengthen a pipeline for Jews of color into Jewish media to better reflect the full diversity of the American Jewish population in media coverage, community conversations and decision-making.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for opportunities within the fellowship program.

We like to think of the Forward as a 125-year-old startup. Founded as a Yiddish, socialist broadsheet in 1897, it taught generations of Jewish immigrants how to be American. The publication has been fully digital since 2019 and reaches 1.5 million people each month across platforms, with news, culture, opinion, podcasts, and social media committed to exploring the full range of American Jewish experiences and perspectives.

Applicants should specify what area of journalism or nonprofit media they would most like to work on and cite relevant qualifications. Some possibilities include:

In the newsroom:

Reporting and writing news and/or culture stories
Multimedia storytelling
Working directly with the editor-in-chief on strategic projects and her column
Audience engagement, analytics, and social media
Commissioning, editing, and creating opinion pieces
Copy editing
Data reporting and visualization

On the business side:

Marketing, public relations, and events
Stakeholder engagement and fundraising
Product/Tech/Project management

Fellows will work alongside members of the Forward staff in one or more of the above areas and will own/lead at least one major project during the year. Each fellow will be assigned a buddy/mentor who is not their direct supervisor to help them integrate into the Forward and the industry. They will also have regular workshops and meetings with the fellowship coordinator, Talya Zax, herself a former Forward fellow, and participate in staff meetings and professional development seminars.

Successful applicants will be fundamentally curious about our diverse Jewish communities and have some relevant experience in media, nonprofits, or both. Strong communication and analytical skills, entrepreneurial spirit and a team-orientation are a must; multimedia, data, coding, and social-media fluency are pluses.

Fellows who live in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area will be expected to work in-person at our office in Lower Manhattan twice a week. Candidates from elsewhere who can work remotely are welcome to apply.

Each fellowship lasts 12 months, with an annual salary of $46,000. Fellowships are News Guild positions and receive generous health benefits, paid time off for national and Jewish holidays, and other perks. Flexible start date, ideally between July 1 and October 1, 2023. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

To apply: Send a resume and cover letter that outlines your specific area(s) of interest, plus three to five samples of journalism-related work for those interested in the newsroom, to [email protected], subject line: JoC fellowship.

The policy of the Forward is not to discriminate against any applicant or employee based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, age (40 and over),
disability, military status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. The Forward also prohibits harassment of applicants or employees based on any of these protected categories.

Contributing Opinion Columnists

The Forward is looking for new columnists to regularly contribute to our Opinion report, where we bring together diverse voices from every corner of the Jewish world to engage in productive, civil conversation.

The ideal Forward contributing columnists are driven by ideas, not orthodoxies or ideologies, and are passionate about engaging with others. Their work is relevant to the American Jewish present while also bringing fresh ideas and perspectives rooted in their individual expertise.

As a digital outlet, we welcome Opinion pieces in all forms and for all platforms — photo, video, illustration or other multimedia approaches as well as more traditional columns, personal essays and analysis.

Contributing columnists work on a freelance basis, producing 1-2 pieces per month, and give the Forward the right of first refusal on Jewish-related pieces. Columnists may be asked to join Forward events, podcasts or social-media shows on occasion.

To apply, please send an email — with the subject line “COLUMNIST APPLICATION” to [email protected] with the following:

a 300-word proposal introducing yourself and describing, in broad strokes, what your column would bring to the Forward and its readers
3 examples of your work (written or multimedia, depending on the proposal)

The Forward, founded in 1897 as a daily Yiddish broadsheet, is the nation’s leading Jewish journalism outlet, now publishing in English and Yiddish at forward.com. It is an independent, reader-supported nonprofit, run by the Forward Association, and committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in coverage, staffing and culture.

The Forward is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals regardless of their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability or genetic information or any other status protected by law.

Internship Opportunity: Digital Reporting and Writing

The Forward is seeking one or more beginning journalists passionate about digital and audience — and the Jewish world — for paid internships reporting and writing news items. The interns will work up to 29 hours a week for $15 an hour. The initial term is 10 weeks but the internship may be extended for up to a year. We accept rolling applications for this position, but are currently seeking a candidate to start immediately.

This is a fast-paced, reader-facing job in which interns will report, write and publish frequently on a broad range of subjects. We need people with experience at campus or other publications who know how to navigate the Internet and social media; have great story instincts and editorial judgment; move quickly and write clearly, with solid grasp of style and grammar rules; can juggle (projects, not projectiles); and work well in groups.

The intern will:

Report and write stories across sections, including breaking news on politics, culture and more
Scour the Jewish internet for news, conversation, opportunities and ideas
Support colleagues reporting and writing stories
Quickly source appropriate photos or other art
Use social-media and other platforms to develop a robust readership for items
Use audience tools and analyze traffic patterns to help optimize story selection and framing to meet reader needs

The ideal candidates will be equally interested in news from Israel and Hollywood; about politics and antisemitism. They will have a keen eye for what makes a story resonate for Jewish readers and know how to apply a sophisticated — or sometimes sassy — Jewish lens to the world. The interns should have sufficient Jewish background to be able to give stories proper context, but curiosity and commitment can go a long way to fill any gaps. They must work well under pressure and in collaboration with colleagues, and be eager to grow and be responsive to editors’ feedback. The goals are to file consistently clean copy; to be creative and flexible about format, medium and approach; to channel the Forward’s brand while developing individual voice; and to use audience tools like SEO to maximize impact of each piece.

Successful interns frequently graduate into yearlong fellowships and staff positions; we seek people who are pro-active, committed equally to our mission and to their own development.

To apply, please send a resume, five clips, a one-pager explaining why you want the gig, plus contact information for at least two references to [email protected]. Subject line: Digital reporting and writing internship.

Freelance Pitches

About The Forward:

The Forward is American Jewry’s essential, independent news organization, delivering incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews with rigorous, unbiased reporting and balanced, thoughtful commentary on news, politics, arts and culture that are acclaimed in the news industry. The Forward produces enlightening and entertaining multimedia content in English and Yiddish through a variety of newspapers, websites, blogs, videos, podcasts, e-books and apps.

Founded in 1897, the Forward has the entrepreneurial spirit of a startup. It occupies a unique position of independence as a nonprofit news organization, beholden to no institution, denomination or political faction.

Seeking Freelance Pitches:

We will consider trend stories, series, multimedia and video projects. Feel free to pitch profiles if the subject has agreed to give you excellent access. Do look in the news section of our website to see what we’re interested in, but don’t be limited by that. We’re eager to see proposals from communities of color as well as from Sephardi, Mizrahi, Russian and Bukharin communities.

We are looking for news and news features; not analysis, background, interpretation or explainers. We will consider historical pieces only if the story is brand-new and really compelling.

Compensation:

Compensation will be highly competitive for the right pitch. The Forward is an equal opportunity employer. All individuals are entitled to equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, disability, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, ancestry, genetic information, medical condition, veteran status, or any other class protected under federal, state, or local laws.

To apply:

To apply, please send detailed proposals including a list of sources to be interviewed, length range, proposed fee and deadline to [email protected].

The Forward Association, Inc., is an equal opportunity employer.

About the Forward

The Forward delivers incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews. Its rigorous reporting and balanced commentary on politics, arts and culture have won numerous awards year after year, including repeated recognition by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily, the Forward soon became the most widely read Jewish newspaper anywhere, with a larger circulation in the 1920s than the New York Times. It chronicled the events that affected a population of immigrants eager to take their place in American life, and published regional editions around the country before any other newspaper.

The English Forward was launched as a weekly in 1990. Its perspective on world and national news, and its unparalleled coverage of Jewish arts and culture, have made it the most influential nationwide Jewish media outlet today. Millions of readers visit forward.com each month for award-winning news, thoughtful commentary, and captivating videos. And close to 100,000 Facebook friends and subscribers receive e-newsletters that highlight the latest stories in news and culture, food and feminism, as well as the best in Jewish opinion.

The Forward has always been a not-for-profit association and is supported by the contributions of its readers.