Website Editor

Location: Westminster, London

Salary: Competitive

Reporting to: Executive Editor

The Role

Reform UK is seeking an outstanding Website Editor to lead its new, enlarged digital newsroom from the party's Westminster headquarters. This is a senior editorial role with responsibility for building the website into a significant national publishing operation in the build-up to the next general election and beyond.

The Website Editor will own the daily website agenda, homepage, newsroom standards and audience performance, leading a seven-day team producing breaking news, original reporting, explainers, policy and profile coverage, video-led stories and authoritative evergreen content. The role combines strong editorial judgement with native digital skills, operational discipline and a relentless focus on measurable growth.

What you'll do

• Lead the newsroom and set the daily agenda
• Lead, inspire and develop the News & Website team, setting clear priorities, standards, responsibilities and ambitious performance expectations.
• Own the daily editorial agenda, homepage and publishing rhythm, ensuring Reform UK reacts quickly to breaking news while also originating distinctive journalism and useful evergreen content.
• Run an effective seven-day rota with clear shift leadership, handovers, weekend planning and resilience around major political events and campaign periods.

Key Responsibilities

• Build a serious national publishing operation
• Commission and publish a strong mix of breaking news, original reporting, interviews, explainers, policy coverage, profile pages, live/event packages and video-led stories.
• Build named topic ownership across the newsroom so priority areas are covered with continuity, authority and speed rather than only through reactive posts.
• Establish clear standards for sourcing, verification, headlines, corrections, bylines, embeds, transcripts, polls and live blogs.
• Grow audience, search visibility and authority
• Use advanced SEO expertise to expand non-branded discovery, improve search performance and build durable authority around Reform UK's priority topics, policies and public figures.
• Develop the website as an authoritative destination rather than a static campaign site, with strong recirculation, internal linking, related content and reasons for users to return.
• Stay ahead of search, AI-driven discovery, changing audience behaviour and CMS/product developments, turning relevant changes into practical editorial advantage.
• Work with the Executive Editor, product and data colleagues to improve News, Watch and Email Updates journeys and convert more website attention into repeat audience relationships.
• Make performance part of everyday editorial decision-making
• Set ambitious but credible KPIs for output, reach, depth, search, repeat use and conversion, and hold the team accountable for them.
• Use analytics, dashboards and real-time performance signals to adjust commissioning, headlines, homepage treatment, recirculation and resource allocation throughout the day.
• Turn raw numbers into clear editorial insight: identify what is working, understand why, scale repeatable success and stop or change weak activity quickly.
• Connect the website to the wider digital operation
• Work closely with Video & Live and Brand Social Media so original journalism, interviews and events are planned as joined-up packages rather than separate channel outputs.
• Ensure stories are prepared in ways that can feed email, ReformGo, social platforms and other direct audience journeys without weakening the quality of the core website product.
• Build strong working relationships with Communications, Campaigns, Policy, Operations, Data and other internal stakeholders while protecting clear editorial ownership and efficient decision-making.

Performance and Leadership

• Recruit, coach and develop journalists and editors, setting clear expectations, giving useful feedback and creating opportunities for greater ownership.
• Plan rotas, leave and shift cover so the website can operate reliably across seven days without lowering standards or depending on constant senior intervention.
• Communicate priorities and performance clearly to the Executive Editor and senior stakeholders, surfacing risks early and taking responsibility for delivery.
• Maintain a comprehensive understanding of media law, copyright, defamation, contempt, privacy, election-period requirements and relevant compliance processes, escalating appropriately when needed.
• Ensure CMS access, publishing permissions and editorial workflows are organised, secure and documented, with clear ownership and recovery procedures.

THE PERSON

We are looking for a highly capable digital editor who combines national-level newsroom experience with strong leadership, native digital expertise and an unusually high level of comfort with data and performance.

Essential experience and capabilities

• Substantial experience running or helping run a busy digital newsroom for a national publication, broadcaster, publisher or comparable high-output organisation.
• Proven management experience, including developing staff, managing performance, building rotas and creating a positive, accountable team culture.
• Excellent editorial judgement and news sense, with the ability to balance multiple priorities and make fast, proportionate decisions under pressure.
• Strong native digital skills and extensive hands-on experience with modern CMS platforms, publishing workflows and digital newsroom tools.
• Significant SEO expertise, including search demand, on-page optimisation, internal linking, evergreen authority and performance analysis.
• Advanced understanding of analytics and data, with a proven ability to turn numbers into actionable editorial and audience-growth decisions.
• Outstanding communication and stakeholder-management skills, including confidence dealing with senior colleagues, political figures, specialists and external partners.
• Strong understanding of media law, editorial compliance, copyright, privacy and the legal risks associated with fast-moving political publishing.
• Highly organised, flexible and capable of running a seven-day operation while maintaining standards, pace and team morale.
• A proactive mindset: full of ideas, highly reactive to new opportunities and motivated by ambitious KPIs and measurable results.
• A strong interest in British politics and current affairs, with the judgement and professionalism required to work effectively inside a mission-led political organisation.
• Willingness to work full-time from Reform UK's Westminster HQ and flex around breaking news, major events and campaign periods, including early, late and weekend work where required. This is not a conventional 9-to-5 role.

Highly desirable

• Experience building, launching or significantly growing a website or digital publication at national scale.
• Experience developing evergreen topic, policy or profile pages designed to build search and AI/discovery authority.
• Strong understanding of audience journeys, email capture, recirculation, conversion and direct/owned audience development.
• Experience working closely with video, social, product and data teams in an integrated newsroom or publishing operation.
• Experience leading through organisational change, including new structures, systems, workflows or performance cultures.

Why join Reform UK?

This is an opportunity to build a major national publishing operation from inside one of Britain's fastest-growing political organisations. The Website Editor will have real scope to shape the newsroom, standards, agenda, workflows and audience strategy rather than simply inherit an established system.