Senior Editor, News

Description:

The award-winning Phoenix New Times is looking for an experienced, digitally focused Senior Editor, News to lead and manage its reporting team as well as be a local leader of the newsroom.

For more than 50 years, Phoenix New Times has brought the heat to its hard news beats and coverage of the city’s vibrant culture and food scenes. We’ve earned a reputation for publishing compelling stories that major media often miss — but make no mistake: this senior editor position will be expected to land scoops, guide unflinching exposés, and be first to high-impact stories in our endlessly fascinating city of 5 million people.

The most successful candidate for this role will have the skills, values, vision and passion needed to steer a best-in-class news vertical. This editor will report to the Voice Media Group national editor, and be among the leaders of our Phoenix newsroom, where this hybrid position is based. Remote candidates won’t be considered.

Phoenix New Times is published weekly in print, and daily online. Always free.

Key responsibilities

• Manage two full-time news reporters, along with freelance reporters and photographers, to produce a dozen or more weekly stories of varying speed and depth. Lead daily news meetings.

• Edit stories to a high sheen, with impeccable structure, flow and clarity. Ensure that headlines, photography, and data visualization capture the reader’s attention. Make sure stories adhere to our style, SEO best practices and social media strategies.

• Manage the editorial workflow for the news vertical, assigning stories to reporters and freelancers, monitoring deadlines, and ensuring a regular cadence of story output and balance.

• Plan news coverage.

• Manage a freelance budget.

• Write news stories as needed.

• Create and collaborate on vertical videos that bring our reporting and voice to audiences on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

• Recruit and manage freelancers. 

• Coach reporters and freelancers through pitching, reporting, writing, and editing.

• Build broad and diverse relationships so that sources, story ideas, research and reporting reflect the eclectic communities of Phoenix.

• Participate in our annual Best of Phoenix issue and other special issues or projects during the year.

• Work collaboratively with the Voice Media Group audience strategist on trending news and SEO best practices, and with the membership director on our membership program.

Who you are / what you bring

• A journalist with five-plus years in a newsroom and at least three years of full-time experience managing journalists and editing breaking, daily and enterprise stories.

• An organized, resourceful and proactive self-starter committed to accuracy and meeting deadlines.

• A proven ability to lead and inspire reporters, and to analyze data and analytics to understand our audiences.

• A working knowledge of — or eagerness to immerse yourself in — the character, people, politics and culture of Phoenix.

• Well-defined strategies to stay atop such coverage areas as politics, public health, criminal justice, cannabis, government, the environment and labor.

• A track record of breaking stories.

• Past work that displays crisp writing and a knack for magnetic, stylish storytelling.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

• Experience with open records requests.

Benefits

• Compensation range of $70,000 to $80,000.

• 401(k) with company match.

• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance.

• 10 paid holidays, five paid sick days, and 14 paid days off per year.

• Hybrid work policy based in our downtown Phoenix office.

Phoenix New Times believes our journalism best serves our communities when we have a culturally diverse staff and freelancers with a range of voices. We are committed to creating and sustaining an environment of inclusion, diversity, empowerment and equality. We are at our strongest when all our team members are respected and included regardless of race, age, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation and national origin. Women, veterans, people with disabilities, people of color and gender-nonconforming candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

Think you’ve got what it takes? Email a cover letter, resume and links for three to five stories you reported or edited, along with a few sentences explaining the backstory of each piece and your role, to PHX-news-editor@voicemediagroup.com. Please put Senior Editor, News in the subject line.