Job Description

O’Rourke Media Group is recruiting for a Publisher to lead and grow our business in the Greater Burlington, Vermont market. The Publisher will be responsible for managing the operation, which includes Sales/Marketing, New Business Development, News/Editorial, Community Relations, Operations and Team/Staff Development. We’re looking for someone that gets digital but also understands the importance and relevance of print.

The Publisher has lots of freedom and autonomy but is expected to work cohesively with our internal digital agency and centralized team of resources in Finance, IT/Process Improvement, News and HR/Payroll to drive business growth and efficiency. Our goal is for this job to feel like it’s your own business or franchise without the headache of owning a company.

We’re looking for an experienced manager in the media industry with a track record of growing revenue, a rising star in the media industry currently working in an Advertising or News capacity and looking for an opportunity to run a business, and or, an experienced manager from outside the media industry that is working in a sales or marketing capacity. 

The Publisher must live or relocate to the Burlington, VT area to be considered for this job opportunity.  

  About the market

The Saint Albans Messenger is a paid twice-weekly newspaper with a vibrant website that covers Franklin County. We serve three communities in Chittenden County–Milton and Colchester are currently online only. The Essex Reporter is a free monthly newspaper that’s distributed through to every household in Essex via the P.O to go along with a growing website audience. We plan to expand with print monthly newspapers and websites in each community in Chittenden County. 

Job Responsibilities

• Develop and manage a sales team while maintaining and growing a book of business. Bottom-line, we’re looking for someone that can lead by example with a very hands-on approach.


• Build relationships and trust with local business owners and decision-makers to help grow the company’s revenue.


• Lead the way with providing creative, omni-channel advertising and marketing solutions that deliver an ROI for advertisers.


• Leverage our established brands in the market to open up business expansion opportunities such as Printing & Design services and IT solutions.


• Work with the editorial team to publish engaging and interesting local news and information. Maximize each channel to grow audience–print, website, newsletters, social media.


• Keep the company’s newspaper and website brands impactful and in the middle of everything going on in the local communities served. Engage with local chambers of commerce, networking groups, schools, nonprofit organizations etc…


• Responsible for overseeing operations as it relates to print, distribution, store/rack collections and other office duties.


• Embrace our company’s zero based expense management discipline where every dollar spent is justified, consistently reviewed and aligned to business growth objectives.


• Work closely and develop people in each functional area while also consistently recruiting to add new talent to the team that can help drive business growth. The Publisher is also expected to back-up each key position. 

Compensation/Benefits

• Competitive compensation package based on experience and the job responsibility. Tremendous upside tied to achieving revenue growth.


• Eligible for medical, dental and vision benefits on the 1 st of the month after 30 days of employment


• Eligible to enroll in the company’s 401 (k) retirement savings on the 1 st of the month after 90 days.


• 16 days of PTO plus 4-5 paid holidays


• Career growth potential

About the Company

O’Rourke Media Group is a fast-growing company that owns and operates hyper-local, community newspapers, websites, niche publications and a full-service digital agency. We are family-owned and mission-driven to save newspapers and local media companies by investing in the people, resources and technology needed to thrive for many years to come. We believe that every community can benefit from a well-run, properly resourced, local newspaper and website. Our News teams produce hyper-local, high interest local news and accurate and trustworthy reporting. Our Sales and Digital Fulfillment teams bring omnichannel advertising solutions to local businesses in the communities we serve.

O’Rourke Media Group now operates in nine states and 38 markets with 51 publications and hyper-local websites. We started from ground zero in December 2018, totally bootstrapped, confident and with an entrepreneurial mindset. We plan to continue to expand O’Rourke Media Group into 100+ markets over the next two to three years, then we will take it from there and probably keep going! We do not have any geographic boundaries; we build around people, trusted brands, established advertising relationships and audience (print, digital, newsletter).

Interested candidates should send their resume and letter of interest to Jim O’Rourke.

Job Tags

Similar Jobs