Senior Editor, Higher Education

Posting Summary:
The Hechinger Report is looking for a senior editor for our growing, award-winning news organization focused on innovation and inequality in education

Job Summary/Basic Function:
The Hechinger Report, an award-winning news organization focused on innovation and inequality in education, is seeking an experienced editor to oversee our higher education coverage. The editor will lead a small team of staff reporters and many freelance contributors, assigning and editing stories that meet Hechinger’s high bar for in-depth investigative, feature and explanatory journalism.

The editor will help identify story ideas, make assignments, guide reporters and line-edit stories. This position also involves shaping our strategy for covering higher education, and for working closely with other editors, as well as web and data staffers, on ideas for new and innovative storytelling techniques and products. The editor will collaborate with our existing partner outlets, such as The Washington Post, NPR and the Los Angeles Times, and help us develop and maintain new partnerships.

Hechinger is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Building a diverse and inclusive newsroom is integral to Hechinger’s mission. Just as we seek to elevate diverse perspectives through our journalism, we also strive to ensure that the writers and editors telling those stories come from diverse backgrounds.

CHARACTERISTIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Oversee a team of 2-3 staff reporters, helping with story planning, prioritization and career development
• Assign and line-edit stories, including features, analyses and investigations, primarily on higher education; assist with second reads as needed
• Work with freelance reporters to assign and edit their journalism, and assist in recruiting new freelance contributors
• Help manage our higher education budget
• Communicate and collaborate with our partner publications and help develop new collaborations and partnerships
• Conceptualize and coordinate projects with other editors
• Travel a few times a year, to our annual staff gathering and potentially to higher education and/or journalism events; occasionally meet with sources and represent Hechinger at conferences
• Assign and edit stories on higher education
• Supervise staff writers to help with story planning, prioritization, and career development
• Oversee freelance writers, setting expectations and deadlines to maintain high quality
• Conceptualize and coordinate projects with other editors
• Communicate and collaborate with partner publications, working on creative storytelling techniques and innovative journalism content with staff and partners
• Other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent professional experience
• 7 to 10 years of professional experience in journalism, with at least 3 years supervising reporters
• Superior line-editing skills
• Experience in editing explanatory and features journalism
• Experience and interest in the education beat
• Ability to generate ambitious feature story ideas
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with experience motivating and supporting colleagues
• Familiarity with audience engagement tools and strategies

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in project management and organizational development
• 5 years of editing experience at a major news organization or at local and national outlets
• 5 years on the education beat
• Experience assessing, guiding and editing investigative
• Experience assessing, guiding and editing investigative reporting projects

Salary Range:

$100,000 - $107,000

Work Modality:

Remote

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range reflects the College’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the compensation for the position at the time of the job posting. Salary decisions are dependent on several factors including but not limited to market and organizational considerations, experience, and qualifications of a selected candidate as well as internal and external equity.

Our benefits contribute significantly to the total compensation package that includes medical, dental, vision, and supplemental insurance plans; flexible and hybrid work schedules; tuition remission; life insurance; short and long-term disability insurance; an exceptional employer retirement matching program; health savings accounts (HSA), flexible spending accounts (FSA), Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility, and a robust Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

Application Instructions

In addition to completing the application on this site, please also complete this supplemental questionnaire. It asks about which news outlets you’ve worked for and in what roles, and has instructions for o cover letter. You may want to click the link now so it is waiting for you in a new window.