News & Observer seeks innovation and tech reporter

The (Raleigh) News & Observer and The (Durham) Herald-Sun in North Carolina are looking for an outstanding reporter to provide high quality news and feature coverage of the region’s technology, innovation and entrepreneurship sectors.

This is a fellowship reporting position for a duration of up to two years, with the potential for permanent employment. The fellowship is supported through a partnership with Innovate Raleigh, a non-profit charitable organization whose primary focus is to help grow and connect the regional entrepreneurship community.

The goal of the reporting fellowship is to significantly expand reporting on the most consequential innovation, entrepreneurship and technology trends in the Triangle.

The reporter will be based in Raleigh, home to the Research Triangle Park and to several acclaimed research universities including North Carolina State, University of North Carolina and Duke.

The reporter will produce at least two stories per week, providing coverage of people, companies, key issues and trends in Raleigh and across the Triangle; and high-quality news and feature coverage of the region’s innovation and entrepreneurship sectors. Topics will include technology startups and main street businesses, biotechnology, and education issues related to those areas.

Stories may also be published by The Charlotte Observer and other McClatchy publications.

The fellowship reporter will report only to editors at The News & Observer. Along with those editors, he or she will meet quarterly with an Innovate Raleigh advisory board.

Candidates must have a college degree and at least two years of reporting experience that includes innovation, technology, business, entrepreneurship or related topics.

The ideal candidate’s key attributes include:

• Strict ethics and dedication to high-quality journalism
• Ability to organize and prioritize work
• Exceptionally fast and extremely accurate
• Excellent self-editing skills
• Keen instincts in pursuing stories that will resonate with readers
• Solid understanding of audience engagement, metrics and SEO
• Experience using social media both as a reporting and an engagement tool
• A collaborative personality and a track record of working well with editors as well as working independently
• Extensive curiosity about the topics covered in this position
• Experience building sources in a new coverage area
• An aptitude to learn technical skills inside the newsroom such as content management systems and other tools

Key duties include:

• Finding, prioritizing and writing the most significant and the most interesting innovation, technology and entrepreneurship stores of the day
• Building contacts with relevant businesses, government agencies and campus officials
• Obtaining public records and, when needed, filing public records requests expertly and efficiently
• Shooting photos and videos when needed
• Distributing work through social media platforms
• Supplying SEO keywords, headlines and other strategies to boost distribution of each story
• Meeting audience and reporting goals

We’re moving quickly to fill this important position. Deadline for applications (resume and cover letter required) is May 20. (Please note: Applications without cover letters will not be considered.)

To apply, go here.