Gear Editor/Writer – Paddling Magazine & Kayak Angler

About The Company

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apid Media is the world’s leading paddlesports media company. We produce Paddling Magazine, including our special annual 300+ page Paddling Buyer’s Guide and 200+ page Paddling Trip Guide travel issues.

We also produce Kayak Angler, the world’s leading kayak fishing magazine. Both our Paddling Magazine and Kayak Angler brands have significant digital assets, including industry-leading websites, flipbook and app editions, and the world’s most sophisticated online paddling buyer’s guides.

Rapid Media produces the international Paddling Film Festival World Tour and, now thanks to COVID, also the new Virtual Tour.

Over the last 21 years, we’ve worked hard to become North America’s most trusted paddlesports authority.

The Job — Gear Editor/Writer – Paddling Magazine & Kayak Angler

As the Paddling Magazine and Kayak Angler gear editor/writer, you will be responsible for producing boat, board, gear, apparel and gadget service-oriented and entertaining editorial content. 

The goal is to provide exceptional, essential, engaging, informative, honest and credible news and reviews more paddlers are searching for. It’s the stuff our readers need, want and enjoy, extending our reach and creating more loyal fans who turn to Paddling Magazine and Kayak Angler for every gear purchase decision they make. 

Responsibilities include researching, planning, coordinating, assigning, writing, photographing, filming, editing and publishing while meeting deadlines and following guidelines. 

You’ll collaborate and coordinate with the editorial and marketing teams to develop efficient and synergistic plans to maximize value and reach.

Expect to work in a variety of digital publishing and distribution platforms as well as with photography, video and social media. 

You should have an understanding and voice of authority when writing about paddling—including whitewater, canoeing, kayak touring, standup paddleboarding and kayak fishing—and the paddling industry. Our readers are paddling and fishing enthusiasts. You don’t work at Car & Driver because you own a minivan; you must be a car nut. In our case, you must really know paddling and all the stuff we use to do. 

The position is in-house, full-time and year-round. Being the Paddling Magazine and Kayak Angler gear editor/writer is dream job, but it’s a real job! 

You will:

• Lead the creation of a data-backed content production plan, including quotas against new SEO topics as well as updates to existing potentially high-ranking content
• Ideate, write, edit, photograph, video, commission and promote SEO-friendly, shareable, helpful, relatable and entertaining boat, board and gear roundups, guides, reviews and stories measured as ranking high for SERP rank
• Develop a repeatable process that turns SEO insights into audience growth and revenue success based on our digital content flywheel business model
• Identify and propose new content categories, with high SEO growth opportunity
• Continuously optimize post metadata for SEO best practices and social engagement, including  clickable and eye-catching titles, feature-rich snippets and share cards
• Track and analyze your posts’ audience engagement, site performance and revenue analytics
• Experiment with how our content is presented on platforms, analyze results, and give actionable feedback and take action
• Give feedback on and improve content production, promotion and revenue generation workflows
• Source a reliable freelance network of category expert contributors
• Manage the consistent production and performance of category expert contributor base
• Research products and experiences in various categories and price points of interest to the Rapid Media target audience
• Work with management and content teams to identify and grow new audiences
• Develop innovative editorial formats, series, original projects and cross-team collaborations
• Collaborate on cross-department production assignments 
• Collaborate with management and content teams to help with day-to-day tasks
• Attend brainstorms and contribute to team and business goals
• Attend international trade shows, work weekends and late-night hours when necessary

Qualifications/Requirements

• Must live, breathe, write, understand, and be authoritative on all things paddlesports gear
• Ability to cover a wide range of topics, including boats, boards, gear, apparel and gadgets. And do so in an objective, honest, mature and professional manner
• Ability to write and present technical information in a fun, conversational voice that sounds like someone talking to their best friend over drinks
• Education in journalism, professional writing, photography, filmmaking, marketing, publishing and/or digital media would be great (our publisher doesn’t, but everyone else does)
• Ability to highlight the best qualities of products through images and video. This includes liaising with brands, sourcing props, choosing locations and arranging delivering and return of products 
• Ability to script, record, edit and publish video gear reviews and interviews. Must be comfortable behind and in front of cameras
• Proven experience as a contributing writer, editor and digital content creator, ideally with a focus on product news and reviews
• Previous experience/internship writing for an enthusiast magazine or website (or exemplary blogging/writing experience)
• Knowledge of the WordPress platform ecosystems and current best practices as well as savvy Adobe Suite skills and experience
• Must be proficient in the following applications: Google Analytics, Google Search Console and Google Drive
• Understanding and love of the digital media landscape with a deep familiarity of both inbound and outbound marketing strategies
• Timely, reliable and able to manage multiple priorities and overlapping deadlines
• Strong attention to detail and flawless spelling, grammar and usage in your writing (can you find the errors we planted in this posting?)
• A positive, curious, playful disposition with a sense of humor
• Affiliate marketing experience a big plus
• Loving the SCRUM project management system a bonus
• Ability to travel to trade shows, client meetings and editorial assignments, i.e., destination stories and gear testing
• Strong desire to live outside the city and an aversion to shopping malls

Sure it’s a long list, but we believe the right candidate will already know the skills and experience he or she will need to excel at all this. 

Salary to commensurate with experience, of course.

The Offices: Cottage or Chalet

Headquarters is located in Palmer Rapids, which is a small rural community with a big heart. The cottagey office is on the river-right bank of the Madawaska River, five minutes downstream from class II-III+ Palmer Rapids, less than an hour from the mighty Ottawa River, and right in the middle between Algonquin Park and Calabogie Peaks ski resort. It’s only two hours to Ottawa and three hours to Toronto. Here we paddle, fish, ride bikes and ski regularly. And we go swimming from the dock at lunchtime… in the summer.

Or you can work out of the new Revelstoke office tucked between the Monashee and Selkirk Mountain Ranges of southeastern British Columbia. Our desks here are 1.8 kilometres from Revelstoke Mountain Resort, where we ski and ride mountain bikes. We canoe and kayak on Lake Revelstoke and the Columbia River and chase river levels of the Illecillewaet, Jordan and Clearwater, to name-drop a few classics.

Our Team

The Rapid Media team consists of publisher, director of marketing, media sales, advertising and sponsorship coordinator, magazine and web editors, graphic designers, film festival tour coordinator and finance and circulation managers. Most of us wear flip-flops every day and have never been caught wearing ties at our desks. Creep us at: paddlingmag.com/staff.

Apply Now

This is not a telecommuting position; only candidates who can work at the riverside Palmer Rapids office or Revelstoke mountain office will be considered. 

Sound like the perfect combination of work and play? 

• Send your CV to [email protected]. Please include the job title in the subject line. 
• Please include a nice letter with a little about you. Like, why you’ll be an awesome fit for this position and our team. 
• Let us know what your first five important tasks will be.
• Tell us why you prefer flywheels or funnels. 
• Include links to any other relevant previous work, successes, achievements, or portfolios.
• Please include a list of relevant growth, tracking and analytics tools you’re a master of and suggest we use, if we’re not already.

If you think this job is amazing but not the perfect fit for you right now, see our other career opportunities here paddlingmag.com/careers/, or please forward this posting along. Thanks for doing so. Learn more about Rapid Media at: paddlingmag.com, kayakanglermag.com, paddlingfilmfestival.com.