Colorado Sun Hires Producer To Boost Social Reach

The fluorescent lights of a Denver office hum with a low, electric buzz, the kind that settles into your teeth after an eight-hour shift. It’s a quiet, sterile sound, the backdrop to a job that demands you be loud, creative, and constantly online. The Colorado Sun is looking for an audience engagement producer, a role that sits at the intersection of hard news and the algorithm, with a salary range of $60,320 to $69,160. It’s a hybrid position, meaning you’ll be trading the solitude of your home office for the collaborative chaos of a newsroom that needs its journalism to travel further than the front page.

If you’ve ever scrolled through your feed on a Tuesday evening, wondering why a story about water rights in the San Luis Valley didn’t make it to your screen, this is the job that decides. The outlet’s listing describes a role where 45% of your time is spent on editorial social media content. You aren’t just posting links; you’re adapting reporting into short-form video and shareable cards, translating complex local issues into something that stops a thumb mid-scroll. It’s a job about trust. The posting emphasizes "fact-based, nonpartisan journalism," a phrase that carries weight in a state where political polarization often dictates who gets to speak and who gets ignored.

The role isn’t just about creation; it’s about the messy work of measurement and collaboration. Twenty-five percent of your time is dedicated to metrics, evaluation, and learning. You’ll be tracking audience growth, digging into analytics to find younger and more diverse audiences across the state, and then reporting back on what worked. It’s a cycle of experimentation: pitch an idea, test it, look at the data, and try again. The listing notes that the ideal candidate is comfortable training colleagues, suggesting a newsroom that is still building its muscle for social-first storytelling.

For those of us living on the Western Slope, this role has a ripple effect that extends well beyond Denver. The Colorado Sun covers the entire state, and their ability to reach readers in places like Grand Junction, Montrose, or Gunnison depends on how effectively they can cut through the noise. A producer who understands that a story about wildfire smoke isn’t just a headline but a visual, visceral experience for someone breathing it in is one who can keep the community connected to the news that affects their lungs and their property values.

The job requires candidates to live in Colorado or be willing to relocate, a standard barrier that keeps the talent pool local. It’s a full-time commitment to making journalism accessible, a task that feels increasingly urgent as attention spans shrink and information overload grows. The listing cuts off before detailing the final 15% of responsibilities, but it hints at audience callouts and conversations, a direct line between the newsroom and the people reading it.

There’s a warmth to the idea of a newsroom that wants to talk back, to ask for tips and feedback rather than just broadcasting. It’s a departure from the old model of the ivory tower, where journalists spoke at the public rather than with them. But it also brings a new set of pressures, the need to be constantly available, constantly creative, and constantly aware of what’s trending. It’s a job that asks you to be a journalist, a videographer, an analyst, and a community manager all at once.

The hum of the office lights continues, indifferent to the digital battles being fought on social media feeds across the state. The Colorado Sun is betting that this role will help them stay relevant, a bet that hinges on the ability to turn the complex reality of Colorado life into content that people actually want to watch, share, and discuss. It’s a job for someone who believes that good journalism needs to go where the people are, even if "where they are" is a glowing rectangle in their pocket.