The Ken is a pan-Asian, digital publication headquartered out of Bengaluru, India. Founded in October 2016 by a team of experienced journalists and entrepreneurs, The Ken pioneered subscribers-only online business journalism.

In India and Southeast Asia, we offer our subscribers one original, deeply reported, analytical and well-narrated story every day.

Our subscriber community comprises innovative and successful entrepreneurs and senior executives; venture investors; policy makers; college students; and some of the best known and most innovative companies. We are also funded by a set of stellar investors, including Omidyar Network.

In India, we are headquartered in Bengaluru and have offices in Delhi and Mumbai. In Southeast Asia, our full-time writers report from Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.

About the role

Since 2016, The Ken has been known for its consistently deep and analytical coverage of the most ambitious companies, significant trends and active investors in the internet, e-commerce and tech sectors. A staff writer covering these beats will cover tech companies, large and complex e-commerce platforms and internet startups, at a time when regulators, consumers and sellers are beginning to view their power and ambition with more circumspect eyes. This, even as e-commerce has barely scratched the surface of retail in India. We are looking for driven and experienced reporters who will utilise and form deep connections in leading companies, venture capital firms, and wider ecosystems to source and tell powerful stories about where things are headed, and why. These will include areas like ride sharing, education, wellness and logistics.

Reporters should have the ability to spot the fundamental similarities that define large platforms while being keen enough to know how each vertical has different customer behaviour dynamics.

Understanding and chronicling the leaders, teams and organisational structures that power these businesses will also be an important task.

While The Ken does not chase scoops, it does place an emphasis on original insight and impactful breaking news. That will be especially true of this role.

Experience

At least 3 years of experience, either as a reporter covering tech, e-commerce, Internet and adjacent spaces; an analyst or researcher covering the space; or as a hands-on executive within the sector.

Compensation

One of our tenets is to offer the most competitive salaries and meaningful benefits we can to our colleagues. While we do keep an eye on what our peers or larger media incumbents pay, we are neither limited or guided by them. What this means is that promising candidates can almost always assume they will be compensated well.

Desirable attributes

• Self-driven and ambitious, able to source original stories and insights from their network
• Ability to synthesise multiple reporting perspectives into a compelling, explanatory narrative
• Able to see ahead of news cycles, and see what is likely to happen over a 6-12 month horizon
• Able to stick their neck out with informed opinions when required
• Well-informed about global trends on e-commerce and investments, especially from the US and China
• We are a flat organisation, prioritising speed, honesty, informality, accuracy, transparency, and subscriber-impact. Alignment with these values is a pre-requisite.