Assistant News Editor

If you’re an experienced editor who moves seamlessly from daily news stories to long-term projects and gets the best out of experienced journalists while coaching newer ones, you might be the next Assistant News Editor at CalMatters. 

Why you? You know the intricacies of policy and politics coverage and how to make important topics accessible for the people they affect. You help reporters own their beats. You have excellent writing and editing and analytical skills. You bring in-depth stories to life with text, photos, graphics, data visualization, audio and video. And you’re known for integrity, high energy, a can-do attitude, flexibility and unflappability. 

In seven years, CalMatters has become the largest newsroom covering California policy and politics. We’re a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, and we give our coverage at no cost to more than 180 media outlets in California. With you on the team, we’ll build on that success with deeper coverage and impactful projects. 

Most of our team is in Sacramento, so that’s the ideal place for this editor, but we can be flexible for the right person. This job requires at least five years of editing experience.

Responsibilities include: 

• Work with reporters to brainstorm, develop and produce lively coverage—from timely briefs to rigorously reported projects—that tells Californians what’s going on in state government and how it affects their lives.
• Encourage and exemplify a culture of innovation in storytelling.
• Produce editorial packages in our WordPress publishing system.
• Be part of the newsroom management team, developing story plans, maintaining calendars, coordinating with other staffers and freelancers, setting and evaluating goals, and managing expenses
• Prepare content for distribution to dozens of media partners and communicate and coordinate with those partners

CalMatters, launched seven years ago, is an award-winning nonprofit, nonpartisan news venture dedicated to explaining the policy and politics of America’s biggest state and the world’s fifth largest economy. We produce vivid, original journalism and data-driven news analyses and watchdog reporting that’s distributed to more than 250 media partners on calmatters.org and NPR partners statewide. 

Compensation and Benefits

The base salary for this position is $100,000 per year; higher compensation may be available for someone with advanced skills and/or experience. 

CalMatters offers a complete benefits package with medical, dental and vision insurance – we cover 90% of the cost for employees and 70% for dependents – from a range of HMO and PPO providers. We’ll match contributions of up to 4% of your salary to our 401(k) program, provide life insurance at no cost, and give you an allowance for personal use of your cell phone and a budget for professional development opportunities like classes and conferences.

We are an expanding and collaborative newsroom, successfully forging a new model for sustainable, intelligent, nonprofit journalism. We’re committed to reflecting the people of the state we serve and especially encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply.

If you’re interested, please provide a resume and a cover letter that outlines how you would approach the job. Apply on our website at CalMatters.org