Managing Editor

Job Description

We are seeking a highly collaborative Managing Editor to build upon our decade of impact. The successful candidate will be a strategic thinker and creative problem-solver who will manage and grow our editorial team, working with reporters, editors, and partner organizations to publish untold stories that explore the biggest issues facing the military and veteran communities.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Managing Editor will lead The War Horse’s editorial strategic planning, as well as the management and professional development of our cadre of journalists, maximizing our impact and forging dynamic partnerships across the news industry. We are a fully remote newsroom, with reporters, editors, and team members in every time zone across the continental United States. 

The following bullets are weighted in order of importance for this role: 

• Editorial Strategy, Impact, and Management

  • Set and oversee ambitious editorial priorities, and departmental resourcing in alignment with TWH’s mission and financial sustainability

  • Plan and edit short- and long-term investigative and feature stories at a regular cadence that influence local and national conversations about military service

  • Identify and assign priority topics, beats, and coverage gaps, ensuring the necessary processes and resources are readily available for staff while ensuring accuracy, ethical standards, and journalistic integrity

  • Oversee editorial resources (i.e. budget, travel, freelance assignments, etc.) and cross-team project management to facilitate story publication, ranging from evaluating pitches to facilitating story production through fact-checking to legal review to layout design

• Network and Resource Building (Reporters and Partners)

  • Grow and oversee a network of regular contributors that will increase the breadth and depth of the topics we publish

  • Foster syndications as well as one-time and recurring partnerships with newsrooms and academic programs, both local and national, that expand our stories’ reach, maximize brand exposure, and help educate civilians about the military

  • Proactively work in close collaboration with development and operations staff to ensure complementary stakeholder engagement efforts

• Product Design and Audience Engagement

  • Monitor, evaluate, and communicate editorial impact with internal and external stakeholders, using data and analytics to guide decision-making (e.g., through board meetings, impact reports, grant reports)

  • Solicit and integrate target audience data/feedback to ensure content is relevant to, easily accessible to, and reflective of our community’s needs and diverse voices and experiences

  • Oversee the management and upkeep of all external-facing editorial products, platforms, and communications (e.g., website, newsletters, social media, branding) through interdepartmental collaboration

  • Partner with journalism and other organizations to design products and curate public engagements that support the long-term strategic growth of the newsroom, and expand our audience

• Mentorship and Story Editing

  • Lead the professional development of our newsroom’s audience engagement and reflections editors, three staff reporters, freelancers, and contracted fact-checkers and copy editors

  • Routinely coach and mentor reporters, and coordinate quarterly online training sessions that hone their journalistic skills and deepen their knowledge of military coverage 

  • Lead strategic planning to migrate the position from an editing-intensive role, to focusing on strategy and oversight of a growing newsroom, expanding editorial staff and resources in line with short and long-term strategic goals

Job Requirements

• A minimum of five years of management experience for a news organization and an established record of leading high-level, innovative investigative projects

• A collaboration-first approach that unites journalists within and from outside the organization to elevate the quality, creativity, and impact of our reporting

• Strong mentorship and communication skills that facilitate clear assignments, detailed processes, and straightforward work routines

• Strong editing skills across versatile platforms—from news sites to newsletters to narrative storytelling to social media—and a vision for fostering new ideas, untangling thickets, and setting and upholding expectations

• Past experience in military or military journalism preferred, but not required.

• Leadership in nonprofit news organizations a plus

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