Senior Editor, Local Reporting Network

Job Description

ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network is helping local and regional news organizations produce accountability reporting that is vital to our democracy. In 2024, we announced our 50 State Initiative, in which we committed to partnering with local news organizations in all 50 states over five years. 

We are hiring a senior editor to oversee four to five Local Reporting Network projects annually. The selected editor will guide and edit the work of our local reporting partners and will collaborate with editors in partners’ newsrooms to envision multipart projects. As with all our work at ProPublica, the job is ultimately to create compelling investigations that spur change.

The collaborative projects with our Local Reporting Network partners have garnered the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the George Polk Award, the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting, National Magazine Awards and top prizes from organizations such as Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Online News Association, the Society of Environmental Journalists and the Association of Health Care Journalists.

What You Would Be Doing

• Editing four to five reporters pursuing yearlong projects, each at a different newsroom.
• Working in collaboration with partner newsrooms to execute stories that can take a variety of forms, from newspaper-style takeouts to magazine, audio and video pieces.
• Coordinating with a team at ProPublica that includes research, data, news applications, engagement, audience development and design to elevate your projects.
• Coaching journalists who range in experience from veteran investigative reporters who have tackled big subjects to newer journalists working on their first large-scale investigations.
• Working with reporters and editors around the country to develop proposals for future partnerships and taking part in our selection process.
• Organizing occasional trainings for partners and their newsrooms.

We’re Looking for Someone Who Has

• At least five years’ experience managing or leading complex investigations as a reporter or editor.
• Experience reporting or editing collaborative projects with communication and diplomacy skills that center building consensus and meeting the different needs of different audiences. 
• Experience juggling multiple projects and many responsibilities at once. Strong organizational skills are a must.
• The ability to meet deadlines and handle pressure while remaining calm.
• The editing range to handle and think creatively about different types of investigative storytelling, including rolling investigations, traditional investigative projects, narratives and multimedia formats.
• The bedside manner to help reporters land what is often the most challenging work of their career.
• Interest in and experience teaching reporters about fact-checking, organization, interviewing and other journalism skills.
• The ability to travel, as needed, to visit partner newsrooms, for team meetings and trainings. 

This job is full time and includes benefits. ProPublica is based in New York, but we’re open to remote candidates anywhere in the U.S. We have offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Chicago; Austin, Texas; Phoenix; and Berkeley, California. Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S. 

The expected salary range for this position is $150,000 to $195,000. 

This is a good-faith estimate of what we expect to pay for this position. The final salary figure will take into account a person’s experience, accomplishment and location. ProPublica is committed to paying its staff equitably, and these ranges should not be considered career salary limits or caps.

What You Should Send Us

• Two links to your best stuff and tell us the backstory. The most important part of your application is your past work. We’re specifically interested in how your editing shaped and improved the stories; any challenges you navigated in the reporting or editing of the story/project and what you learned from the experience. Editing is about far more than moving around words: Show us how you think and interact with reporting and reporters. You don’t have to summarize the story itself; we’re interested in the role you played in it.
• A third link to a story you worked on that involved local reporting and share what that experience told you about how local reporting differs from national stories.
• A few paragraphs recounting a time when your reporter was really stuck and how you were able to help them move forward.
• Your reflections on what, in your role as editor, you identify as your superpower and as your Achilles’ heel.
• Your resume.

We will begin reviewing applications as we receive them and will continue to consider candidates as long as the posting remains live on our site, through at least Dec. 8.

Questions? Send an email to talent@propublica.org. 

No phone calls, please.

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