Audio Journalist

THE ROLE

The Ken is looking for a talented Audio Journalist. 

The Ken’s Podcast Team is behind some of the most innovative and successful podcasts covering India’s business, technology and startup sectors. These include Daybreak, our flagship daily news show; The First Two Years, a weekly careers podcast for 20-25 year olds; and Two by Two, a premium podcast that asks – and tries to answer – some of the most pressing questions from the world of business. 

And we have more original shows planned.

Our audio journalists are the souls of our podcasts. They are also reporters and storytellers. They are also the first and last true believers in their shows. They obsess over its every detail, every promise, and every feedback till they are satisfied.  

WHO YOU ARE

You are a journalist who has covered one or more business sectors (ideally, careers, education, tech or startups) for at least 2 years. This means you are familiar with working in a newsroom or journalistic setting. We believe this would have given you the journalistic foundation on which to build audio-based stories, or podcasts. 

This has helped you develop the very vital skill of telling true stories – stories that are based on facts, sources, research and reporting, while still retaining the essence of being stories. You are able to hold conversations on a range of topics with people, regardless of their age, experience or knowledge, because curiosity and interest constantly drive you.  

You know how to find and make sources, and how to get them on your show. Even then, you are still always on the lookout to meet new people to enrich your pool of potential sources and guests. 

You enjoy working with teams, drawing on the complementary skills of your colleagues to take simple ideas to tightly produced narratives.  

YOUR TEAM

You will be part of The Ken’s talented Podcasts team, which comprises podcast hosts, researchers, writers and audio engineers. Your most important relationship within this team will be with your producer. You will team up with them to own all aspects of a show, from ideation and scripting to scheduling, production and publishing. 

The Ken is fundamentally a teams-first organization, so your success will depend on your ability to collaborate and form deep and meaningful workplace relationships with your team. 

In addition to the Podcasts team, you will work closely with colleagues in Editorial, Marketing and the Business team to continually elevate the value of podcasts to subscribers and listeners alike. 

WHO YOU WILL REPORT TO

Snigdha Sharma, Head of Podcasts

YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR

You will be responsible across five broad heads: 

• Story pipeline: The quality of ideas and pitches that make it as episodes
• Sourcing: the quality of reporting, including the sources and guests 
• Storytelling: the way each episode is told as a compelling story from a listener’s point of view. You are an excellent writer who understands what writing for the ear means.
• Production: working behind the scenes with the producer to ensure that final episodes are of world-class quality 
• Growth: working with the team to find various ways to promote your show and increase engagement

SKILLS

• High standards of excellence, both at a personal and team level. Blended with leading-edge thinking, this creates a virtuous cycle of innovation and improvement for others too. 
• A feedback mentality, backed by the belief and practice of faster and better feedback loops in ideas, processes, and relationships 
• High energy and drive, because the host embodies the spirit and personality of the show
• High integrity and journalistic ethics in everything you do, thus earning the unqualified trust of your colleagues.
• Adaptability in the face of evolving goals and changing subscriber patterns. And tenacity and perseverance with respect to goals, metrics and plans.  Affability and likability that puts sources and guests at ease, and gets them to hold meaningful and candid conversations on critical topics with you  
• Active listening, which means being able to hold a conversation while also truly listening to points being made with curiosity and empathy
• Strong personal ambition translating into clear career goals

WHAT YOU’LL GET

One of our tenets is to offer the most competitive salaries and meaningful benefits we can to our colleagues.

1. Competitive salaries & benefits

2. Apple MacBook laptops

3. A flat, non-hierarchical and open culture

4. A universal ESOP plan

5. Health insurance for you and your family

6. Cutting-edge learning opportunities, whether it be on journalism or subscriptions products

7. Unlimited leaves