Salary range: $160,000 – $180,000 annually

Location: Remote – Anywhere (U.S.)

Reports to: Editor in chief

The 19th’s managing editor is responsible for our day-to-day editorial direction and management of news, news production and news planning. This editor will be supervising editors, reporters and producers in news-gathering and reporting efforts to provide timely, high-quality and differentiated coverage across platforms — in service of our audiences. 

This position will directly manage four to five editors and will be responsible for leading them in a collective charge to assign and publish rigorous journalism. This editor will be developing coverage and assigning stories according to our shared editorial priorities. They will be responsible for ensuring that our editorial calendar is filled, organized and set up for short and long-term planning; that our publishing cadence is consistent; and that our production workflows are efficient. They will also be expected to regularly edit, delegate tasks and lead meetings. 

The ideal candidate is a thoughtful and proactive newsroom leader who sees opportunities in exploring what a 19th story is and could be. They closely follow news developments in our major topic areas and start the week brimming with story or coverage ideas they are excited to share with the newsroom — ideas they will bring to life through assignment and collaboration. They see urgency and strategy in breaking news situations and longform alike. They are a thorough editor, familiar with and experienced in daily and enterprise journalism. They can restructure narrative, line edit and copy edit. They’re excited about data visuals, photojournalism and social-first storytelling. And they are comfortable giving feedback to editors, reporters and producers on their work. 

Outside of the daily and weekly management of news production, and with our editorial vision in hand, this editor will think deeply about framing, structure, storytelling, what we’re covering and why. 

Working closely with the editor in chief, the managing editor will help build iterative processes, systems and spaces in order to best bring our editorial vision to life; continue integrating and encouraging collaboration between our various editorial teams; experiment with cross-team workflows, processes and systems with the goals of effective communication and coordination; represent our news operation and its goals and needs in cross-departmental meetings; and be a crucial voice and perspective in the many ways editorial collaborates across the organization. This role may also represent editorial in senior leadership meetings or other spaces in the EIC’s absence. 

The managing editor will be expected to work closely with managers across the organization — including but not limited to events, fellowships and people operations. They must have effective communication skills and the ability to work well cross-functionally with different teams. For example, this editor will be partnering with our fellowships director on our editorial fellowship program, which includes both reporting and audience fellows.

More broadly, this editor will also work with the EIC and other department heads to think strategically about our audience development and growth, our digital presence, or staff and newsroom policies, and our partnerships.

Responsibilities include: 

• Directing the daily and weekly operations of the editorial news team, including assigning and editing stories in coordination with editors
• Ensuring that The 19th’s coverage explores the many intersections of identity and community in our country — specifically gender and race — in topics, sourcing, story framing and more
• Managing and setting goals for the editors and their reporting teams
• Evaluating and iterating existing editorial processes, like our pitch-to-publish workflow, and/or helping to build new ones 
• Owning and managing the newsroom’s editorial calendar in collaboration with editors 
• Leading, directing and managing special coverage, and working with editorial staff on longer-term projects such as election planning, thematic coverage or experiments in storytelling
• Partnering with the director of fellowships on programs and assignments for, and the management of, our reporting and audience fellows
• Managing editorial data in Airtable, our CMS, etc. This could include creating, collating or analyzing surveys for editorial work, or managing other data such as tracking editorial priorities or source audits. 
• Organizing editorial trainings and professional development, and helping to plan annual team or department retreats
• Helping to build a culture of feedback in the newsroom, and leading on collecting and responding to feedback on editorial operations 
• Working with the EIC to ensure mission alignment and cohesion between different editorial teams for a robust and diverse slate of stories and initiatives that are aligned with our editorial vision and The 19th’s mission
• Participating in long-term strategic planning with the EIC, including evaluating and iterating our editorial vision and our editorial priorities; content strategy development; audience development and more

Non-essential functions (as capacity permits)

• Participating in brainstorming and design thinking sessions across the organization.
• Participating in culture building, inclusive decision making and bringing ideas to different parts of our work to help us improve as an organization, such as by helping onboard new team members or participating in our hiring process.
• Participating in team, organizational and individual relationship building, and professional development throughout the year.

Relevant skills include:

• 10+ years in a newsroom with at least five years of full-time experience managing journalists and editing a variety of story formats 
• A strong track record of publishing compelling short-, medium-, and long-form stories and/or complex coverage across a range of news platforms and formats. 
• The ability to think deeply about journalistic projects, uphold editorial standards, and edit and coach journalists through any part of the pitching, reporting, writing, editing or production process.
• Enthusiasm for thinking and working creatively and collaboratively with journalists, both internally (including editors, visual creators, audience specialists, data journalists and reporters) and externally (in the case of collaborations or partnerships with other newsrooms)
• Excellent verbal and written interpersonal communication
• Ability to maintain both empathy and journalistic rigor in fast-paced, distributed environments
• Experience with content management systems; WordPress is a plus
• Ability to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives
• An interest in continuously working to be a better editor and manager
• A desire to teach aforementioned concepts and/or mentor based on individual or team needs
• Reporting experience is a plus. The person in this role would benefit from an understanding of reporting values, methods and challenges.

We know there are great candidates who might not check all these boxes or who possess important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. We also encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities. 

Benefits

• Vacation Time Off (20 days per year)
• Sick Time Off (10 days per year)
• Personal Days (6 days per year)
• Paid Holidays (19 days in 2023)
• Paid Family Leave (100% up to 6 months)
• Caregiver leave (100% up to 4 months)
• 401(k) Plan (up to 3.5% matching on 6% contribution)
• Flexible Spending Plan (for qualifying medical or child care expenses)
• Health Savings Account
• Health, vision, and dental insurance (100% for employee / 60% for dependents)
• Professional Development Stipends
• Wellness & Work From Home reimbursement benefits
• Long Term and Short Term Disability insurance
• Life insurance

How to apply

(Note: We are not accepting résumés or applications via email; apply here.)

Interested candidates should apply here by October 23 at 5 PM CT. Have questions about this position? Contact [email protected].