Executive Editor

Date Posted	January 28, 2026
Industry	Newspapers
Specialty	Not Specified
Required Education	Bachelor's Degree
Job Status	Full-time
Salary	$100,000 to $120,000

Description:

Opportunity Available: Executive Editor

The Daily Catch
Location: Red Hook / Rhinebeck / Clinton, NY in the Hudson Valley of New York State (not Red Hook, Brooklyn)
Position: Full-time

Benefits

• 3 weeks PTO

• 12 paid holidays

• Moving allowance

• Health insurance stipend

Salary Range:

• $100,000-$120,000, commensurate with experience

About The Daily Catch
The Daily Catch is an award-winning, independent, nonprofit digital news site serving Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Clinton, and northern Dutchess County in the Hudson Valley of New York State, about two hours north of New York City. The area is accessible by Amtrak (to Rhinecliff, NY) and Metro-North (to Poughkeepsie). Founded in 2021, the paper has quickly become a trusted source for deeply reported local journalism, with particular strength in local government accountability, education, the environment, arts and culture, and community life.

We currently cover three towns: Rhinebeck, Red Hook, and Clinton. We employ three full-time reporters for these tasks. One of our reporters covers Clinton and also the boards of education of Rhinebeck and Red Hook, as well as the environment and farming. We also have several part-time contractors: a social media editor, an events editor, a production editor, and a videographer.

We are known for deep reporting, thorough training of young journalists, and ambitious growth plans that include new formats, broader geographic reach, and deeper coverage of our towns and the issues faced by our citizens. As the organization enters its next phase of growth, we are seeking a senior editorial leader to help shape our vision and success. We plan that the successful applicant will work under the Editor-in-Chief at the outset and be groomed to take over the editorial helm of the paper.

About Northern Dutchess County
Northern Dutchess County, New York, is a vibrant and richly cultured region that offers an exceptional quality of life. Highlights include the symphonic music offerings at Bard College, thriving community theater groups, the Kaatsbaan dance venue, a rich antiquing scene in Hudson to the north, and the burgeoning music scene in nearby Kingston. The area blends rural charm and scenic beauty with a highly engaged and intellectually curious population. Catskills hiking trails, rolling farmland, historic hamlets, proximity to national historic sites like the Vanderbilt and FDR estates, dining opportunities at local restaurants and the Culinary Institute of America, and access to New York City via Amtrak and MetroNorth further all enrich the area.

The Role: A Leadership Track Position
In the near term, this editor will help run the daily newsroom (a largely remote operation) alongside the founder and editor-in-chief. Over time, this role is designed to grow into full editorial leadership of The Daily Catch. We are seeking someone who not only accepts that trajectory but actively wants it — someone eager to take on increasing responsibility, authority, and vision for the future of the paper.

This is a succession-oriented role. The successful candidate will be mentored, trusted, and gradually empowered to take the reins. Ambition, curiosity, and a desire to build something lasting are essential.

The news site serves Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Clinton. Deep engagement with and interest in the communities we cover is core to the job, and living in or very close to one of the areas we cover is required.

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What You’ll Do

• Serve as a key day-to-day editorial leader of the newsroom (which currently operates remotely with weekly staff lunches)

• Develop story ideas across a range of topics

• Work closely with the staff: 3 full-time reporters, a freelance photographer, a part-time managing editor who top-edits stories.

• Meet with community leaders and develop an informed point of view on the political, arts, and education landscape here.

• Edit and elevate all forms of copy, from breaking news to long-form enterprise.

• Set and enforce high standards for clarity, accuracy, voice, and fairness.

• Help shape editorial priorities and long-term coverage strategies.

• Mentor reporters and interns, with a strong emphasis on writing craft and reportorial tools and techniques.

• Collaborate closely with the editor-in-chief on vision, investigations, and institutional direction.

• Help build newsroom systems that are sustainable, humane, and rigorous.

• Gradually assume greater responsibility for major editorial decisions and public-facing leadership.

• Work with the publisher on supporting business development and integrated projects that cross both editorial operations and revenue generation.

Who You Are

This role is for someone who is:

• An instinctually curious person who, if not a prior reporter, has a deep respect for, an understanding of, the reporting process.

• A superb wordsmith with deep love for language, structure, and clean copy

• A discerning editor who can see both the sentence and the story

• Comfortable making hard editorial calls — and explaining them to young staff

• Energized by coaching reporters and sharpening their work

• Thoughtful about newsroom culture and ethics

• Strategically minded, with ideas about where local journalism must go next

• Excited by the prospect of eventually leading a newsroom, not just supporting one

You should be as happy line-editing a tricky paragraph as you are imagining a multi-story editorial project.

What This Job Is (and Isn’t)
This job is:

• A genuine leadership-track position

• A chance to shape an award-winning newsroom at a pivotal moment

• A role with increasing authority, trust, and responsibility

• A position that is largely work-from-home while you live in the area
  
  

This job is not:

• A purely administrative role

• A short-term stop on the way to something else

How to Apply

Please submit to Emily Sachar (emily@thedailycatch.org):

• a resume

• a cover letter explaining why this role—and its leadership trajectory—appeals to you, and

• An analysis of The Daily Catch that shows you connect with our style, journalism, and mission; we also welcome criticism.

• (strongly encouraged) examples of work you have edited or shaped with explanations of your role.

About the Founder & Editor-in-Chief

The Daily Catch was founded in 2021 by Emily Sachar, an award-winning journalist, editor, and entrepreneur with a long-standing commitment to rigorous reporting and beautifully crafted prose. She launched her career with an internship under Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward before joining Newsday/NY Newsday for 14 years. With Publisher Walter Mullin, Emily has built The Daily Catch from the ground up with the conviction that small communities deserve journalism that is as careful, ambitious, and well-written as that found in much larger markets.

As editor-in-chief, Emily is deeply engaged in both the substance and the craft of journalism. She places a high value on clean copy, strong narrative structure, precision of language, impeccable grammar, and ethical clarity. She is as interested in how a story is told as in why it matters, and she expects journalism that respects readers’ intelligence and time.

Emily is also an entrepreneurial leader who thinks constantly about sustainability, growth, and innovation in local news. She is committed to training young reporters, expanding the paper’s reach and formats, and building a newsroom culture rooted in trust, intellectual honesty, and high standards. The executive editor will work closely with her as a creative partner and, over time, as a successor prepared to lead the organization forward.