Commissioning Editor; Content commissioning & strategy)| ET Prime

Position: Commissioning Editor (Content commissioning & strategy)| ET Prime|
About the Business
ET Prime is the premium subscription arm of The Economic Times — India's most influential business media brand. We are building a content engine that serves paying subscribers with high-utility, decision-grade journalism across business, markets, economy, policy, and personal finance.
This is not a traditional editor's chair.

About the Role
The Commissioning Editor will architect and operate an external content ecosystem — identifying, onboarding, and managing a large network of freelance writers, columnists, and domain experts whose work directly drives subscriber acquisition and retention. You will own the end-to-end commissioning pipeline: from sourcing and ideation to editorial quality and commercial ROI.
You will be measured not just on editorial output but on business outcomes. In subscription media, readers vote with their wallets — and your role is to ensure we consistently earn that vote.

What You Will Do

Build and operate the commissioning engine
You will build a robust roster of external contributors across sectors — business, economy, policy, geopolitics, personal finance, commodities, and emerging themes. The expectation is a steady pipeline of high-quality commissioned pieces, scaling up progressively from launch. You will manage contributor relationships, negotiate terms, maintain a healthy bench strength of writers, and ensure continuity so the pipeline never stalls due to dependency on any single contributor.

Drive content-market fit through data
Every commissioned piece carries a cost and must justify its existence through measurable outcomes — subscriber conversions, engagement depth, time spent, and retention signals. You will work closely with analytics and product teams to build a feedback loop: what converts, what retains, what falls flat. You will A/B test headlines, experiment with formats, and make swift editorial calls based on data — not instinct alone.

Own the editorial quality bar
You are the editor. You will shape the brief, guide the angle, sharpen the headline, and ensure every piece clears the bar for ET Prime subscribers — a demanding, business-savvy audience that expects depth, utility, and originality. You will also curate and surface content from global editorial partnerships that ET Prime is building, ensuring relevance and editorial fit for our audience.

Identify white spaces and move fast
When gold surges, when new labour laws land, when tariff policy shifts — you need to spot the opening, commission the right expert, and get the story out while the moment is live. The best commissioning editors think like traders: they read the market, identify demand, and move before the window closes.

Build a mini Prime desk
You will work with the leadership team to build the supporting infrastructure — publishing, headline optimization, storytelling (infographics, newsletters, visual elements), and quality control. This includes identifying what talent is needed on the desk to complement the commissioning function.

Expand the content canvas over time
While written content is the immediate priority, the role will evolve to include commissioning across formats — video, audio, newsletters, and serialized deep-dives. If you have experience or strong instincts across formats, that will be a significant advantage.

What We Are Looking For

Must-haves:
8–12 years of experience in editorial, content commissioning, or content strategy — preferably in digital media, business journalism, or premium/subscription publishing.
A demonstrated ability to build and manage networks of freelance writers and external contributors  should be able to credibly build a roster of 50+ contributors across sectors within the first few months.
Deep comfort with numbers and analytics. You will live in dashboards as much as in editorial briefs. Experience working with content performance data (conversion rates, engagement metrics, A/B testing) is essential.
Strong editorial judgment — the ability to spot a story that will sell, frame it sharply, and commission the right person to write it.
Budget ownership experience. You will manage a commissioning budget with clear ROI accountability.
A genuine…