About the roleThe Managing Editor is a central newsroom leader responsible for driving editorial excellence across Lookout Santa Cruz's coverage of Santa Cruz County and, secondarily, the surrounding region. This role requires a proven editor with a track record of elevating ambitious journalism and leading teams of reporters across multiple beats to produce distinctive, high-impact work.
The ideal candidate brings exceptional news judgment, sophisticated story ideation, and rigorous line editing skills - along with a demonstrated ability to coach reporters to do their best work. Just as important, this editor thrives in a fast-paced, digital-first environment and is deeply committed to building a consistently excellent, seven-day-a-week report.
At Lookout, excellence is not occasional - it is expected throughout the day, every day. We serve readers with a mix of investigative and accountability reporting, authoritative beat coverage, breaking news, and service journalism that answers real community questions. The Managing Editor ensures that this work meets a high bar for relevance, clarity, and impact.
We prioritize reporting that connects the dots, explains complex issues, and delivers insight with authority and precision. Whether a story is 500 or 2,500 words, it should be deeply reported, well-sourced, and clearly written. We embrace a range of formats - from narrative and explanatory stories to Q&As, reader-driven formats, and multimedia - always matching the format to the journalism.
Responsibilities- Editorial Leadership & Team Development
- Work with the Executive Editor to set the daily and long-term editorial agenda.
- Lead and manage a team of reporters covering a range of beats, providing clear direction from idea generation through publication.
- Edit stories with rigor and precision, ensuring clarity, depth, fairness, and distinctiveness.
- Coach reporters to elevate their reporting, sharpen their focus, and produce ambitious, high-impact journalism.
- Foster a culture of accountability, creativity, and continuous improvement across the newsroom.
- Story Ideation & Execution
- Drive a strong pipeline of enterprise, investigative, and beat-driven stories.
- Ensure daily coverage is urgent, relevant, and aligned with audience needs.
- Elevate storytelling through structure, framing, and the use of compelling supporting elements (data, visuals, multimedia).
- Maintain high standards for sourcing, reporting depth, and narrative clarity.
- Community-Centered Journalism
- Ensure coverage reflects and engages the full diversity of Santa Cruz County.
- Work with reporters to surface community concerns, questions, and undercovered issues.
- Collaborate on audience engagement efforts, using feedback and insights to inform coverage.
- Standards & Trust
- Uphold the highest standards of accuracy, fairness, and independence.
- Ensure all content is nonpartisan, transparent, and trustworthy.
- Maintain consistency in voice, tone, and editorial quality across the report.
- Innovation & Digital Execution
- Embrace and advance digital-first storytelling, distribution, and audience strategies.
- Work closely with product and audience teams to optimize reach and impact.
- Use modern tools and platforms to enhance reporting, editing, and presentation.
- Experiment thoughtfully with new formats, including video and reader-driven journalism.
Qualifications- At least 7+ years of journalism experience, including 3+ years in a significant editing or newsroom leadership role.
- A proven track record of journalistic excellence, particularly in editing and elevating reporters across multiple beats.
- Demonstrated success leading teams to produce impactful enterprise, investigative, and beat reporting.
- Exceptional news judgment, story sense, and editorial instincts.
- Strong line-editing skills, with the ability to bring clarity, structure, and authority to complex stories.
- Experience managing reporters, providing constructive feedback, and developing talent.
- Deep understanding of - or ability to quickly immerse in - Santa Cruz County and its communities.
- Fluency in digital-first journalism and content management systems (Newspack or similar).
- Ability to balance speed with quality in a deadline-driven environment.
- Commitment to inclusive, community-centered journalism.
- Comfort working in a startup environment that values agility, collaboration, and innovation.
- Strong visual and storytelling instincts, with the ability to collaborate on multimedia presentation.
Pluses:- Bilingual skills
- Experience with data journalism
- Audio/video production experience
What We Offer:- Competitive salary and performance-based incentives.
- Full-time benefits include highly competitive medical, dental, and optical benefits, and 401(k) with matching.
- Good PTO allowances
- Stock options in our growing company
- An opportunity to make a significant impact on and contribute to the revival of local journalism.
- A collaborative and mission-driven work environment.
