City Editor: Cape Town

About the role
Time Out South Africa is looking for a creative and experienced city editor to lead and shape our Cape Town content.

We're a fun, edgy, and dynamic travel and food website that celebrates the vibrant diversity of South African cities. We aim to inspire our readers to live their best lives by experiencing the coolest spots, discovering new trends, and enjoying great food and drink offerings.

Key responsibilities

Editorial leadership

• Oversee all editorial content relevant to Cape Town, ensuring it is engaging, high-quality, and on-brand.
• Build and maintain an editorial calendar featuring the best, most important, and most exciting content about Cape Town.
• Manage, mentor, and assign work to a team of freelance writers and contributors.
• Edit and proofread articles for clarity, accuracy, consistency, and voice.

Content strategy and production

• Develop content strategies that reflect current trends, events, and venues relevant to our target audience.
• Collaborate with the editorial and promotions teams to ensure content is optimised for SEO and audience engagement.
• Write, commission, and edit a variety of content types, including travel guides, restaurant and venue reviews, interviews, and lifestyle features.

City expertise

• Use your in-depth knowledge of Cape Town’s food, culture, and lifestyle to create authentic and engaging content.
• Stay up to date with contemporary trends, events, and food and drink happenings to ensure fresh and relevant content.

Collaboration

• Work closely with the content director for South Africa to align content strategy with broader editorial objectives and vision.
• Participate in creative brainstorming for future content ideas.
• Collaborate with marketing, social media, and other departments to amplify content and drive audience growth.

Minimum requirements

• A diploma or degree in journalism or a related field.

Skills and experience

• At least five years of editorial experience in travel, lifestyle, or food journalism, with a strong portfolio.
• Proven ability to manage writers and freelancers while ensuring high-quality content.
• In-depth personal knowledge of Cape Town’s food, culture, and lifestyle; you’re not just familiar – you’re a true local.
• Excellent English skills with an engaging and detail-oriented writing style.
• Strong editorial judgment and experience creating content for digital audiences.
• Organised, deadline-driven, and a collaborative team player.
• Creative, trend-savvy, and adaptable to both remote and office work environments.