Senior Social Media Manager - Off The Ball

About The Role Off The Ball is looking for a Senior Social Media Manager to lead the next phase of growth for one of Ireland’s most distinctive sports media brands. This is a strategic and creative role for someone who understands how social media drives audience growth, brand relevance and commercial impact. You will lead the social strategy for Off The Ball across all key platforms, with a particular focus on video-led content, platform-native storytelling and building engaged sports communities around the biggest moments, conversations and personalities in sport. Working closely with editorial, video, broadcast, marketing and commercial teams, you will ensure Off The Ball shows up with authority, personality and consistency wherever sports audiences are watching, listening, sharing and engaging. You will lead and develop team members, champion best practice, identify new opportunities and ensure the brand continues to evolve in a fast-moving digital landscape. This role would suit a confident social media leader with strong editorial judgement, proven people-management experience, a deep understanding of video and platform behaviour, and a track record of growing audiences through creative, data-informed social strategy. What You’ll Do: Social Media Strategy Develop and implement a clear social media strategy for Off The Ball, aligned with brand, editorial, audience growth and commercial business objectives. Define the role of each social platform within the overall Off The Ball ecosystem, ensuring content is tailored to audience behaviour, platform dynamics and brand objectives. Ensure consistency of brand tone of voice, identity and content approach across all social channels, while allowing for platform-specific creativity and innovation. Establish and maintain social media guidelines, workflows and standards that protect the reputation, credibility and editorial integrity of Off The Ball. Define, monitor and report on KPIs across key metrics Provide regular performance reporting and actionable recommendations to support future audience growth, content development and commercial success. Leverage audience data, analytics and platform insights to optimise content performance, inform channel strategy and drive audience growth Video & Platform Development Lead the social strategy for video-led content, ensuring Off The Ball makes the most of short-form, long-form, live, reactive and platform-native video opportunities. Work closely with video, editorial, production and broadcast teams to identify how stories, interviews, debates, analysis and live moments can be developed into compelling social-first content. Champion best practice in the creation, packaging and distribution of social video content, with a strong understanding of how ideas are developed, captured, edited and optimised to maximise audience engagement and platform performance. Develop content pillars and publishing approaches that support Off The Ball’s authority and personality across sport, while ensuring content remains timely, relevant and engaging. Audience Growth & Engagement Lead the development of audience-first social strategies designed to grow reach, engagement, views, community interaction and brand loyalty. Identify opportunities to attract new audiences while deepening relationships with existing Off The Ball communities. Work closely with presenters, producers and contributors to maximise the impact of talent-led content across social platforms. Ensure social content reflects the interests, behaviours and expectations of sports audiences across Ireland and beyond. Lead social coverage plans around major sporting events, ensuring Off The Ball delivers timely, relevant and engaging content before, during and after live moments. Build approaches that encourage meaningful audience interaction, conversation and participation around Off The Ball content. Ensure the brand remains culturally relevant, responsive and distinctive across key sporting moments, live events, breaking news and major conversations. People Leadership Manage, mentor and inspire team members, setting clear expectations and supporting high performance across planning, creativity, execution and reporting. Build a culture of creative ambition, accountability, experimentation and continuous improvement. Encourage the team to test new formats, tools, workflows and approaches that improve content quality and audience performance. Support career development and capability building within the social media function, ensuring the team is equipped to operate effectively in a fast-moving digital media environment. Promote strong collaboration between social, video, editorial, marketing, commercial and production teams. Commercial & Cross-Functional Collaboration Collaborate with marketing, video, content, editorial, commercial and production teams to ensure social media strategy supports wider business objectives and KPIs. Lead social responses to commercial briefs, ensuring branded content, sponsorship activity and partner integrations are audience-relevant, platform-appropriate and editorially credible. Work with commercial and marketing colleagues to identify social-led revenue opportunities and integrated campaign ideas. Develop and oversee paid social media activity in line with brand and commercial goals, ensuring effective budget management, audience targeting, campaign optimisation and reporting. Ensure social media supports key brand campaigns, events, partnerships, podcasts, live broadcasts and commercial initiatives. Contribute to the development of new digital products, audience engagement ideas and content formats that extend the reach and value of Off The Ball. Innovation & Trends Stay ahead of emerging social media trends, technologies, tools, algorithms and audience behaviours, identifying their impact on the Off The Ball social ecosystem. Assess the relevance of new platforms, formats and technologies, including developments in video, creator tools, live social content, AI-assisted workflows and community engagement. Ensure the team is equipped with the tools, skills and processes needed to execute quickly and effectively across social platforms. Proactively identify and manage potential brand, reputational or editorial risks on social media. Respond to issues with speed, judgement and professionalism, working with relevant internal stakeholders where required. Champion innovation while maintaining the editorial standards, credibility and trust associated with Off The Ball. What You'll Have: 4-5 years in a senior social media role, with a track record of success in strategy development, content creation, and people management Experience of social media analytics and reporting tools (e.g. Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Google Analytics, Meta Business Suite) Solid understanding of social media platforms, algorithms, and trends and practical experience of paid social media campaigns Proven and demonstrable experience delivering digital audiences Experiencing leading, guiding and developing team members and colleagues Strong communication and interpersonal skills Solutions focused professional with strong project management skills A genuine interest in sport, audiences, media innovation and the future of digital sports content. Who You Are: A creative and innovative thinker with a genuine interest in emerging social media and digital trends Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities Results-driven, focused on clear and measurable outcomes Comfortable in a fast-paced and ever evolving environment What You'll Get: Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Factors taken into account in determining an appropriate scale include the candidate’s knowledge, skills, experience and qualifications relevant to the job. Bauer Media Audio Ireland operates the following benefits for its employees: 23 days annual leave including Good Friday & Christmas Eve (25 in total) Enhanced maternity and paternity pay Contributory pension scheme to support your long-term financial wellbeing Life cover (4 times your salary) Paid sick leave - up to 20 days Free access to a Group account with Webdoctor ( www.webdoctor.ie ) Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) A wide range of learning opportunities to support your career development, with access to Bauer Academy and Learning Waves ( www.learningwaves.ie ) Flexible and hybrid working (for relevant roles) Group discount on Laya Healthcare HSF Healthcare – we fund a health cashback plan for your day-to-day medical expenses Bike to Work Scheme and Annual Tax Saver Scheme The closing date for applications is 07 August 2026. Bauer Media Audio Ireland is an Equal Opportunities Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, disability, age, gender expression or sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic or national origin, marital or civil partnership status or culture. Bauer Media Audio Ireland is committed, where possible, to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To discuss the requirements of the role, the location of the role or any reasonable accommodation you might require, please contact a member of the HR team via [email protected] All documentation received by Bauer Media Audio Ireland will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR; 2018). The information will only be used by BMAI in the processing of job applications and for ongoing administrative purposes with job candidates. If you have any feedback regarding our recruitment process, please email [email protected] we would love to hear from you. Find out more about Bauer Media Audio Ireland Home - Bauer Media Audio Ireland Find out more about Bauer Media Group, our Culture, Mission, Vision and Values Bauer Media Group - Bauer Media Date Job Posting Last Updated: 23 Jul 2026 Location: Req ID: 3798