Editor-in-Chief, Austin Local Newsroom

Location: Austin, Texas
Job Category: Online | New Media
Job ID: 12371
Employment Type: Full time
Salary:
Posted: 05.10.2025

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Occupations:

Job Description:

A new Austin community newsroom launching in 2025 and supported by The Texas Tribune is hiring an editor-in-chief.

The ideal candidate is an experienced, ambitious journalist with a deep passion for Austin, contextual local news, and community engagement. The EIC must be committed to building and sustaining a new local news organization and growing audiences and trust in multiple formats. They must have a strong track record of building and managing teams that produce impactful journalism. The EIC needs to operate strategically and build partnerships with other news outlets and organizations. The person in this role will represent the newsroom in meetings with community members and public appearances.

The role

The editor-in-chief will start, build and manage an Austin-based newsroom focused on excellent journalism with a community-oriented vision. The ideal candidate embraces a startup environment and solves problems in real time. The EIC will ensure the newsroom identifies areas to uniquely serve Austin with timely and contextual coverage. 

This proven news leader assigns ambitious stories and works with the news editor to oversee the daily editorial functions of the newsroom, including beat reporting, source building, research, line editing, story production and operational partnerships. The EIC has an evolving editorial and product vision to meet the needs of a rapidly growing community and nurtures a newsroom culture that thrives on engaging with Austin residents. The EIC also executes audience and editorial strategies.

The EIC establishes workflows for newsroom staff to deliver must-read, community-focused news. They meet regularly with various members of the Austin community and attend and moderate various events and conversations to build relationships.

The EIC works with our general manager and others to make a case for local support of the newsroom’s mission. The EIC plays an active role in public forums to champion the newsroom’s mission, including by communicating program strategy to current and prospective funders. 

This position reports to the Tribune’s senior managing editor for local news.

The EIC’s salary will depend on experience; the minimum is $100,000.

Responsibilities and priorities

• Develop, execute and evolve an editorial vision and strategy to build a thriving, community-oriented newsroom serving specific needs for Austin and building audience and trust.

• Hire and manage a team of journalists who are dedicated to Austin and serving our mission.

• Collaborate with the general manager and other colleagues to spearhead membership and subscription drives, shape editorial projects for underwriting, and organize events that generate revenue.

• Regularly meet with Austin residents and stakeholders to ensure a two-way conversation in driving decision-making.

• Help lead product discussions and decision-making to ensure we deliver news and information effectively and we are transparent about our progress.

• Analyze metrics around products to ensure the newsroom is building audience and trust and adjusting strategy as needed.

• Create and maintain daily newsroom operations that can produce reliable community-oriented journalism.

• Conduct listening sessions and surveys to understand information gaps and community news preferences.

• Uphold a daily publishing schedule to keep Austin residents regularly informed on various platforms. Work with the news editor on daily production tasks as needed.

• Hold the newsroom to the highest levels of transparency, accountability and consistency.

• Ensure that the newsroom has a collaborative and inclusive environment.

• Serve as an ambassador for the newsroom, including speaking at public events and with potential donors.

• Manage a newsroom budget to ensure expenses are meeting forecasts.

You’re a good fit if …

• You are an entrepreneurial and experienced local newsroom leader with a passion for community-centered journalism that prioritizes news and information in service of the Austin area.

• You are adept at managing ambiguity, crafting editorial processes, defining technology workflows, utilizing iterative methods, and fostering audience growth and trust through new partnerships and media collaborations.

• You are passionate about forging local partnerships that can boost revenue streams, reduce costs or create better avenues for information delivery.

• You are able to maintain your focus — and the focus of your colleagues — on serving the newsroom’s editorial mission.

• You are passionate about mentoring and coaching journalists to research, report, and tell engaging and impactful stories.

• You want your journalists to be responsive to the needs of the communities they serve and are passionate about creating guides and other work that empower communities.

• You embrace project management strategies that prioritize collaboration across teams and organizations.

• You prioritize building an equitable and inclusive organizational culture.

• You have a passion for data in your journalistic work and in assessing the real-world impact of your newsroom’s projects to make decisions in service of your community and audience.

We know there are great candidates who won’t check all of these boxes, and we also know you might bring important skills that we haven’t considered. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

Location

This position is based in Austin, Texas. 

Benefits

This job is full-time and has the following benefits:

• Medical, vision and dental insurance

• A $50-a-month cellphone stipend

• 20 days of paid time off each year

• 12 paid holidays

• Up to 16 weeks of paid family leave, plus four weeks of additional job protection

• 401(k) matching

• Support for professional training and attending industry conferences

• Austin-based with hybrid remote working flexibility

How to Apply

Submit your application here by June 8 with a résumé and cover letter summarizing how you would approach this job, especially your strategies for building an audience and news products for this community newsroom. You may send questions to Senior Managing Editor for Local News Ayan Mittra, amittra@texastribune.org.

The Texas Tribune is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for all, and we encourage applicants of all identities, backgrounds, ages, and abilities to apply. 

We can't wait to hear from you.

About The Texas Tribune

Here’s what you should know about the Tribune. From day one we’ve had disruption, innovation and risk-taking in our DNA. We’re ambitious as all get out but still have the punch-above-your-weight mentality of a scrappy start-up. Fifteen years ago, The Texas Tribune reinvented the business model for public service journalism. We are always looking to expand our boundaries. 

We’re nonprofit because the challenging economic reality for the media obligates us to find a different way, reliable and sustainable, to fund serious journalism. We’re nonpartisan because we want to serve all members in our community.  We’re not here to simply echo what people already believe. Our commitment to nonpartisan journalism doesn’t mean we’re passive or neutral in the face of misinformation or spin. We pursue the truth with rigor, and we call out falsehoods when we see them — because facts matter, and accountability is essential. 

The Texas Tribune wants to ensure that its newsroom and its news coverage reflect Texas communities by including a wide range of perspectives from people of different backgrounds, ideologies and experiences.

Learn more about The Texas Tribune here.

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