The Managing Editor will be a critical part of the newsroom’s leadership team, reporting to the Editor in Chief. They will help shape the daily report and overall direction of the newsroom, ensuring a steady stream of ambitious, impactful and deeply resonant journalism.
The managing editor will work with the Editor in Chief to set editorial priorities and manage the editorial calendar to ensure a robust publishing schedule that includes several pieces of content at varying lengths each day.
They will be responsible for building and developing a team of beat reporters of varying levels of experience, who will collectively be expected to produce daily accountability coverage across key beats, starting with higher education, and city and state government, ensuring the coverage is impactful, proactive, rigorous and responsive to the needs of Indianapolis residents.
The Managing Editor will work in close partnership with the Community Journalism Director so that community input and priorities are integral to the overall strategy of this newsroom, and with newsroom leadership to ensure content is produced in formats that are maximally accessible to the newsroom’s audiences.
They will also work with media partners of the initiative to enhance overall coverage and fill information gaps in Indiana. Along with the Editor in Chief and Audience editor, they will shape the overall audience strategy to ensure our report is reaching a growing number of Indianapolis residents, particularly in underserved communities.
Responsibilities & Priorities:
- Lead a team of reporters and editors to produce multiple stories every day of all lengths and formats that make the newsroom a primary source of critical news and information about Indianapolis.
- Produce a regular cadence of high-impact local accountability stories, and develop individualized publication plans that ensure this content is accessible and drawing a diverse audience.
- Manage the editorial calendar to meet an ambitious publishing schedule, and collaborate with the Editor in Chief and Audience Development Director to ensure the content is reaching a growing audience, especially in underserved communities.
- Work with the Editor in Chief to develop the overall editorial strategy for a built-from-scratch news team that will inform the newsroom’s staffing plan, story formats and publishing cadence.
- Recruit and supervise a news team including several beat reporters.
- Coach less experienced reporters and mentor more experienced journalists to help the reporting staff reach its full potential.
- Work closely with the Community Journalism Director, who oversees a community reporting program that partners directly with residents to help inform coverage priorities, and a service journalism reporter who will be producing explainers in multiple formats, including multilingual formats.
- Develop a voice for our journalism that is solutions-focused, and inclusive of all formats needed to make information accessible to all residents.
Supervision:
- Manage the work of staff and/or independent contractors and interns and others as assigned
- Work with the Editor-in-Chief and Community Journalism Director to build an inclusive workplace with a culture that values all voices and offers regular training and professional development opportunities.
Consider applying if you have some of these skill sets:
- Demonstrated commitment to local, public service journalism with a track record of producing and/or leading impactful reporting
- Experience leading a team of reporters to produce their best work
- Strong understanding and knowledge of Indianapolis neighborhoods and communities and respect for the knowledge community members can bring to the newsroom
- 5+ years experience in daily, local newsrooms
- Stellar news judgment, editorial skills, and editing and copy editing skills
- Strong communication and writing skills
- Ability to work under deadline and prioritize work
- Adept at problem solving, detail-oriented with excellent organizational skills
- Experience with and/or strong understanding of building digital audiences
- Entrepreneurial spirit—you can thrive in a startup environment where you are expected to learn as you go, think outside the box and build things from scratch
- Ability to work evenings as needed
- Interpersonal/communications skills – willing to negotiate and talk through issues in an honest and clear manner
- Ability to interact effectively with a diverse group of individuals internal and external to the newsroom
- Team player – help others and is supportive
Salary minimum: Starting $100,000, commensurate with experience
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