Reuters seeks editor to oversee muni bond coverage

Reuters is seeking a seasoned and enterprising journalist to help lead our team of reporters covering the finances of U.S. state and local governments and the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market which raises cash for everything from road construction to plugging holes in underfunded public worker pension plans.

In the past half decade, the “muni” beat has evolved from sleepy backwater to Crisis Central. The deputy EIC would back-up leadership and coverage on the top stories while steering other important coverage.

Among the key stories this team is tackling are:
– The massive pension fund hole in Illinois and Chicago which threaten that state’s future growth.
– The travails of the impoverished territory of Puerto Rico, with an intractable recession, shrinking population and a $70 billion junk-rated debt load
– The fate of New Jersey, battling pension problems and a floundering economy.
– Drought, fire risk and high speed rail in California, alongside tracking the largest public pension fund, Calpers.
– The staggering and widely underfunded public-employee pension burden that consumes an ever-rising share of state and local government spending
– The muni bond market, long favored by wealthy U.S. investors hankering for tax-free income, which faces structural challenges, including new regulations seeking to change long-standing practices by the banks that service issuers and investors.

And those are just some of the known issues. More importantly, we are looking for someone itching to ensure Reuters is first to identify, break news on and win the coverage of the muni beat’s hidden weak spots.

The team includes half a dozen regional correspondents in five bureaus around the country, so the ability to lead from afar and foster close collaboration despite thousands of miles of distance between colleagues is vital. You also must be conversant in the bond market’s lingua franca and be confident with interpreting and digging out the news from reams of market data on everything from yields and spreads to fund flows and total returns.

To apply, go here.