Senior Editor, Business

We are seeking an investigative editor to help launch, oversee and elevate a new team on ProPublica’s national staff that will focus exclusively on digging out revelatory accountability journalism in the world of business.

The need for deep scrutiny of the machinations of the world’s richest and most powerful individuals and companies has almost never been more critical as new industries soar unfettered by regulatory bumpers. This senior editor will marshal a team of reporters to tackle accountability stories involving money, finance and business, finding and developing fresh lanes of reporting from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, with a focus on large companies, new technologies, wealthy people and powerful entities. 

The ideal candidate enjoys the challenge of helping reporters envision the most ambitious and creative paths for their projects, whether its high-metabolism, scoop-driven coverage, a massive document leak or deep beat reporting. They understand and embrace ProPublica’s accountability mission. The editor should be skilled at high-level story honing and writing as well as investigative reporting; not only do you know how to hold stories to the highest levels of rigor, you know how to grab busy people’s attention.

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 project or rolling investigation.

The senior editor will report to an assistant managing editor.

What You Would Be Doing

• Supervising five 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 and audience and visual staffers.
• Serving as a champion for accountability journalism.

We’re Looking for Someone Who Has

• Experience editing accountability reporting; you should have managed or led complex investigations and supervised employees.
• 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 ability to travel, as needed, for team meetings, trainings and other events.

This job is full time and includes benefits. ProPublica is based in New York, but we have offices across the country and will consider remote applicants. Candidates in the New York City metro area are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S.

The expected salary range for this position is $175,000 to $215,000.

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.

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.
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 talent@propublica.org. 

No phone calls, please.