---
title: 'Head of News & Politics Partnerships at Substack'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-news-politics-partnerships-substack-washington-jpd9ssxkvzpt'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Head of News & Politics Partnerships at Substack

- **Company:** Substack
- **Location:** Washington, DC
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-09-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/substack/774bc12a-b113-419c-9b10-8af4344b9757

## Job description

Substack is building a new economic engine for culture, giving the brightest, most interesting, and most creative people on the internet the power of their own publishing platform. Substack empowers independent writers, artists, videographers, podcasters, and creators of all types to create, share, and make a living off their work through subscriptions, while offering them creative freedom, ownership, and a direct connection to their audiences.

As the Head of News & Politics Partnerships, you will be responsible for growing and managing the News & Politics category on Substack. Your job will be to bring news and politics industry leaders over to Substack, help them make money and create community and continue to expand the market. Success will mean political news, community and cultural moments happen on Substack. In this role, you’ll be a leader on the Partnerships team, overseeing strategy, budget, external relationships, goal execution and team management for your market.

The ideal candidate will be a scrappy, innovative, creative thinker, with a deep interest in supporting creators, shaping culture, as well as deeply connected within news market and politics. They’ll be a self-starter who is ok with shifting priorities and eager to make an impact in a fast-paced, startup environment – able to both set ambitious strategy and goals and also execute those goals. They will be comfortable interfacing with creators, writers, reporters, politicians and industry leaders. They will possess experience managing direct reports, and building and iterating on programs that can scale across markets. This role reports to the Head of Partnerships and is based in Washington DC, New York City, San Fransisco or Los Angeles, or for the right candidate, remote.

## RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Display market leadership in the news and politics creator economy by recruiting and advising top talent on Substack
- Develop strategic programs for the market in service of activating creators and bringing new users to Substack as well as supporting current Substack creators.
- Develop and scale best practices for social media strategy, audience development and digital content
- Partner with internal teams (communications, product + data) to identify promising political creator segments and continuously refine the Substack creator experience
- Work cross-functionally to enhance politics outreach strategies and streamline processes for onboarding and supporting creators effectively
- Support event, brand and marketing initiatives
- Showcase Substack as the home for new media, the platform where creators can connect directly with their biggest fans and build thriving media businesses
- Be a leader on the Partnerships team, working cross-functionally with the communications, product business operations and leadership teams to build and execute programs for the market, and for the Substack brand.
- Travel for team building and strategic meetings

## ABOUT YOU:

- 10 years of professional experience in news, publishing or politics
- Excellent written, verbal, and diplomatic skills, with a sharp attention to detail.
- Rolodex/Connections point
- Experience managing a team.
- Comfortable working with data, and using it to measure impact and develop stronger programs
- A voracious reader and subscriber to Substacks, with a keen sense of the evolving tech and media landscape.
- The ability to work quickly and effectively while managing several projects under deadline.
- Strong people skills, with experience working directly with creators

Substack’s compensation package includes a market-competitive salary, equity for all full-time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation salary range for this role is $190,000 - $250,000. Multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, determine final offer amounts and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Substack is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or transgender status), age, national origin, veteran or disability status. We’re seeking people passionate about enabling independent expression and building a better business model for creators. If you want to see what media, communities, and content can become when unmoored from advertising models, and you have the skills and experience to contribute, we’d love to meet you.

Please see our Privacy Notice for details regarding Substack's collection and use of personal information relating to the application and recruitment process by clicking here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UjmY1acxnd27iIde83PxR7XdecR29aIyfkkmEOwAMGY/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.a0wuzmt3mjmm.

## About Substack

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Substack provides a platform for independent writers, podcasters, and creators to publish, build audiences, and earn revenue directly through paid subscriptions.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA (with a new office in New York City)
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Chris Best (CEO), Jairaj Sethi (CTO), Hamish McKenzie (CWO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Media, Publishing, Creator Economy, SaaS
- Target customers: Individual writers, podcasters, video creators, independent publishers, media companies, experts, and educators (B2C and B2B)
- Mission or purpose statement: "To build a new economic engine for culture — empowering writers, creators, and publishers to own their work, own their audience, and earn directly from their ideas."

## Products & Services
- **Publishing Platform**: A full-featured CMS and writing tool designed for longform content, with support for posts, newsletters, scheduling, and media embedding.
- **Substack App**: A mobile and web app that connects readers with creators, featuring discovery tools like recommendations, Notes, trending topics, and leaderboards.
- **Native Podcasting**: Built-in recording studio and live video capabilities, with automatic distribution to Substack, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, including premium episode options.
- **Payments & Subscription Management**: Handles all billing, subscriber management, and revenue tools (welcome sequences, win-back campaigns, analytics). Creators keep 90% of revenue minus credit card fees.
- **Community Tools**: Subscriber chats, comment threads, and moderation features to turn publications into communities.
- **Substack Defender**: Legal support program providing publishers access to legal fees, advice, and pre-publication review for defamation, trademark, and copyright issues.
- **Network Discovery**: Built-in growth engine where more than half of new subscribers come from within Substack’s network, including recommendations and collaborations.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (last raised $100M in Series C in July 2025)
- **Key Metric**: Over 5 million paid subscriptions across the network; more than 30% of paid subscriptions come from within Substack’s network; tens of millions of posts discovered daily in the app.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz, BOND, The Chernin Group (TCG); part of Y Combinator’s winter 2018 batch.
- **Growth Signals**: Raised $100M Series C in July 2025; team has grown to over 100 people across the US, Canada, and UK; opened a new New York City office; top writers earn millions annually.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Creator-first economic model**: Writers keep 90% of revenue, own their audience and content, and can leave anytime with no platform fees or contracts.
- **Built-in network effects**: More than half of new subscribers come from within the platform’s discovery tools, reducing the need for creators to build audiences from scratch.
- **All-in-one platform**: Combines publishing, payments, growth tools, analytics, podcasting, video, and community management — no technical expertise required.
- **Legal support**: Substack Defender provides unique legal protection that reduces risk for independent publishers.
- **Brand trust and ecosystem**: A recognized leader in the creator economy with a strong network of high-profile writers and millions of paying subscribers.

## Strategic Focus
- Expanding the platform beyond newsletters into a full "media app" for all creator formats (writing, podcasting, video, live content).
- Growing the network effect through recommendations, Notes, and app-driven discovery to reduce customer acquisition costs for creators.
- Scaling the enterprise offering for media companies and full newsrooms.
- Deepening community features to increase subscriber engagement and retention.
- Building out the New York City office to expand talent and presence on the East Coast.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Small but growing team (100+ people) with a strong mission-driven focus on empowering creators and independent culture. Every employee participates in customer support to build empathy with users.
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: Hybrid model; employees can work from San Francisco HQ, the new New York office, or remotely across the US, Canada, and UK.
- **Benefits**: 100% premium coverage for employees and dependents (health care), fully funded HRA plans, generous parental leave, monthly internet/phone stipend, flexible vacation, 12 paid holidays, and a winter office shutdown between Christmas Eve and New Year’s.
- **Engineering Culture**: Pragmatic approach to problem-solving, shipping high-quality products; team works on a platform that directly impacts millions of creators and subscribers.
- **Perks**: Home office customization allowance, internet stipends, and a strong emphasis on work-life balance with flexible time off.

## Sources
1. [substack.com/about](https://substack.com/about)
2. [substack.com/jobs](https://substack.com/jobs)
3. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/substack](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/substack)
4. [builtin.com/company/substack](https://builtin.com/company/substack)
5. [linkedin.com/company/substack](https://www.linkedin.com/company/substack)

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