Senior Editor, National

Position description

ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. 

We are seeking an investigative editor to help oversee and elevate the accountability journalism produced by reporters on our national staff.

The senior editor will supervise a team of reporters producing revelatory and impactful investigative journalism. The ideal candidate enjoys the challenge of helping reporters envision the most ambitious and creative paths for their projects; deeply understands and embraces ProPublica’s accountability mission; has a facility for high-level story honing and writing as well as investigative reporting; and is dedicated to helping our reporters grow and develop. We’re looking for an experienced journalist with sound news judgment who is equally comfortable and adept at weighing in on what’s working, or not, in a long-form narrative as in a complicated, multipart investigation.

This position involves juggling a variety of high-level projects, weighing in on story selection and direction, guiding the reporting and writing process, handling big-picture editing and line editing, as well as working with staffers from other ProPublica teams, such as data, research, video and audience.

The senior editor will report to a deputy managing editor, national.

What you would be doing:

• Supervising national reporters working on revelatory, important stories and projects.
• Providing support and guidance to ensure projects are conceived of and told as ambitiously and creatively as possible.
• Working with reporters to select stories with the potential for impact and helping them overcome reporting hurdles.
• Editing stories, including identifying and fixing structural and logical issues and elevating writing when necessary.
• Helping reporters collaborate with researchers, data visualization reporters, engagement reporters, audience and visual staffers, and story producers.
• Serving as a champion for accountability journalism.

We’re looking for someone who has:

• At least five years’ experience in accountability reporting and has managed or led complex investigations as a reporter or editor.
• Experience with — and an appetite for — collaborating, both across the newsroom and with external partners. Strong communication skills are key!
• Exceptional organizational skills and the ability to juggle many responsibilities, 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.

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.

The role is full time and includes benefits. Read more about ProPublica’s benefits. We are open to remote candidates for this position.

What you should send us:

1. The most important part by far is your past work. We’d like to see examples of projects that show how you work. Specifically:
   • Send us links to the investigative stories you’ve directly edited that you are most proud of. These should be stories where you worked directly with a reporter to shape and guide the focus of an investigation. Don’t be shy — tell us what worked (numbers and evidence of impact welcome) and how you’d do it differently next time. Editing is about far more than moving around words. Show us how you think.
     
     OR
      
   • If you have not edited any investigations, send us links to the investigative stories you’ve led as a reporter and describe the leadership role you played.
      
2. Your resume.

Finalists for this position should expect to be given an editing test.

We will begin reviewing applications as we receive them, but we will continue to consider candidates as long as the posting remains live on our site.

Questions? Send them to [email protected] or reach out to Managing Editor, National Tracy Weber or Deputy Managing Editor Alexandra Zayas.

We know there are great candidates who may not fit into what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. (Here is a breakdown of our staff.) We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. And we are taking steps to meet that commitment. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age or any other status protected under applicable law. 

Application instructions

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