Business Viability Adviser in IMS’ Europe and Global Response Department

Are you a dedicated media professional with an international development background and interest in promoting public interest media in challenging environments? Does business viability, the strengthening of media’s skills, resilience and organisational capacity excite you? Then this position might be for you. IMS is looking for an experienced business viability adviser for the Europe and Global Response Department.

Who are we?

IMS (International Media Support) supports local independent media and media advocacy groups in countries affected by conflict, political transition and authoritarian rule. Established in 2001, the organisation has since worked with hundreds of local and international partners to support independent journalism, freedom of expression and the safety of journalists.

IMS pushes for quality journalism, challenges repressive laws and keeps media workers of all genders safe, so that they can do their jobs. Through alliances and innovation, we help free, independent media contribute to positive change and better societies. IMS’ goal is to have public interest media that is relevant to and reaches audiences of all groups of society, so that they can discuss, share and act on this content, and to have media and civic groups and organisations – especially women’s and minority organisations – collaborate to bring about this change. In addition, IMS supports the development of inclusive workspaces, free from discrimination and harassment, through inclusive and transformative policies and mechanisms.

Job summary

IMS is seeking a dedicated and experienced business viability adviser to join our dynamic and inclusive team at the Europe and Global Response Department. As an adviser, you will assist the department in the implementation of capacity building to local, regional and community media investigative and organisations delivering public interest news in the EU 27 Member States as well as Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, as part of the EU project Pluralistic Media for Democracy, a follow on from Local Media for Democracy. The anticipated grantees are local and regional media organisations with an annual turnover of less than 1.5M EUR. The project consortium includes Journalismfund.eu and IMS. The aim of the project is to strengthen capacity and sustainability of the grantees, especially to respond in areas identified as “news deserts” or areas experiencing strained media pluralism.

Key functions and key responsibilities

Capacity building expertise

• Coaching and mentoring grantees in positive and innovative way
• Reading and analysing audience data on web and social media platforms. In the areas of gathering, interpreting data analytics and related strategizing via online group presentations, activities and one to one mentoring
• Identifying trends and missed opportunities in content performance
• Strategising based on the audience and content performance data analysis
• Monitoring and evaluation in data analytics for impact measurement purposes
• Monitoring gaps in data (due to big tech limitations) in order to produce synthesised report for advocacy purposes
• Desirable but not essential: SEO/SMO performance evaluation, especially minority language driven 

Project Implementation

• Identification of areas for innovation and agile development of new products or services to answer the challenges identified in the news desert research (CMPF_Uncovering-news-deserts-in-Europe_LM4D-final-report.pdf)
• Hosting webinars on topics of data analysis technical expertise including throgh presentations responding to questions, setting activities etc
• Assisting with managing and monitoring needs and impact assessments 
• Gathering base line and end line analytics including data interpretation in line with reporting requirements from the donor

Managing the community of grantees

• Regular contact with selected media as well as with international partners/media experts and the consortium to support the project implementation
• Regularly follow up on the selected grantees and provide the input needed to ensure timely and effective capacity building support
• Carry out strategic project mentoring and coaching sessions
• Carry out pre- & post-selection technical assessments of selected media to benchmark baseline needs and review planning
• Extract learnings, reflections and reviews of selected media to feed into learning briefs and showcase outputs

Research and communication work

• Analysing progress and writing cases studies and reports to publishable standard 
• Following and scanning global trends
• Gathering, analysis, interpretation and writing of complex information
• Organising logistics and agenda for convening of high-level fora such as EU grantees and multidisciplinary stakeholder festival
• Participate in team meetings and retreats from JHUB to ensure IMS knowledge transfer
• Maintain an up-to-date document repository of programme documents and resources
• Ensure learning from the project is spread across programmes within the Europe and Global Response department, JHUB and to target groups as set out in a communication plan
• Desirable but not essential: Future scoping methodologies

Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree or higher in a field relevant to the position
• Fluency in English is required
• Proven, well-documented experience of providing capacity building to media businesses
• Demonstrated digital data analytics  experience of at least 5 years
• Ability to analyse, interpret and report on audience and content performance data in EU member states
• Strong critical thinking and writing skills; excellent communication and interpersonal skills
  
  Desired:
• Media management experience
• Fluency in additional languages is considered an asset, including languages spoken in EU’s 27 countries, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia & Serbia

 Duration and location

• Expected length of employment: The length of employment is 12 months from 1st of March 2025 – 28th of February 2026, with possibility of extension
• Place of employment: IMS Headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Employment type: Full-time
• Starting date: 1st of March or as early as possible.
• Salary will be commensurate with experience and IMS policies

Organisation

You will refer to the Team Lead for Programme Development and Partner Advisery, work closely with the Programme Manager for Pluralistic Media 4 Democracy, the other Business Viability Adviser, and with Head of Journalism Hub (JHUB).

How to apply

You apply by submitting your resume and application in English through the link to the right no later than 12th of January 2025. 

Please direct questions about the position to Tayfun Kirli at [email protected].

Who can apply

IMS encourages everyone with the required qualifications and skills to apply, regardless of their racial, ethnic, religious and cultural background, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Code of conduct

IMS shows no tolerance to any kind of unwanted behaviour at work, including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct. Therefore, all employments will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks.