The Mirror’s editor-in-chief is stepping down after a more than 25-year career at the publication, owner Reach has announced.

Alison Phillips, who has held the top job at the business since 2018, will leave at the end of January.

She will be replaced on an interim basis by Caroline Waterston, editor-in-chief for Reach magazine titles including OK! Magazine.

The departure comes as Reach, which also owns the Express newspapers, the Daily Star and regional newspapers across the UK, including the Manchester Evening News, has moved to cut hundreds of jobs as part of efforts to reduce costs.

Some 450 job cuts revealed in November were expected to affect around 10% of its 4,500-strong workforce, mostly across its national titles.

It followed about 330 redundancies already made in 2023.

The Mirror is one of the finest news brands on earth with an extraordinary team that I will miss forever

Reach’s chief executive Jim Mullen had said the group needed to adapt to “an increasingly fast-pace, competitive and customer-focused digital world”.

In a statement on Ms Phillips’ exit on Monday, Mr Mullen said: “Alison’s dedication to the Mirror and its audience has seen her lead a very successful period for the title.

“She has been a much respected and valued colleague and we all wish her well in her next steps.”

He said Ms Waterston is “well-placed to take on this important role at this time”, having led the group’s magazines through a “major digital shift”.

Ms Phillips said: “The Mirror is one of the finest news brands on earth with an extraordinary team that I will miss forever.

“I will always be beyond proud to be part of a team which showed each day that great journalism can be done with kindness, and be a voice for the decent, compassionate people of this country.”

The outgoing boss started her career at the company in 1998 as a features writer for the Sunday People.

She edited the Mirror when it published a string of exclusive stories during the pandemic, including the scandal involving Dominic Cummings travelling to Barnard Castle in 2020.