Photo Editor

Do you have an eye for artistic and compelling images? Do you know how to cover news events and bring stories to life through a camera lens? Do you know how to identify the right visuals for California stories about politics, the environment, education or health care? Then you may be our next photo editor.

CalMatters is looking for a photo editor who will take photos, manage freelance assignments and lead our visual strategy. You’ll work with reporters and editors to identify the best art for their stories, track sources and licenses for visuals and manage relationships with our media partners and freelance photographers throughout the state. You’ll also supervise an assistant photo editor who will help with daily operations and management of photo libraries and stock subscriptions. 

In our sixth year, CalMatters’ diverse newsroom is the largest covering California policy and politics. We’re a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, and we give our coverage at no cost to more than 200 media outlets in California that feature our reporting, including some of the largest and most influential outlets in the state. 

Responsibilities include:

• Coverage: Work with CalMatters reporters and editors to determine the best ways to illustrate stories. You’ll recruit, assign and guide a diverse group of freelance photographers, source and create striking visuals for articles that do not have a clear photo element, and propose visual stories of your own. 
• Photography: Cover breaking news and shoot for feature stories. 
• Partnerships: Foster relationships with media partners, journalism schools and photojournalism organizations.
• Strategy: Oversee our visual style, ensuring consistency and quality. Work with the product team to implement and improve our display of visuals.

Prerequisites:

• At least three years of related professional experience
• Familiarity with content-management and asset-management systems and photo editing software 

These would be a plus:

• Video shooting and editing skills
• Based in or near Sacramento or in the Bay Area

If you meet some but not all of the qualifications, please apply anyway because we’ll also start with this pool of applicants to identify our new assistant photo editor. We are an expanding and collaborative newsroom, successfully forging a new model for sustainable, intelligent, nonprofit journalism.

We offer excellent health and retirement benefits, including a 401k match, regular workshops and trainings and an annual professional development stipend. We’re committed to diversity and especially encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply.

If you’re interested, please provide a resume, a cover letter that outlines how you would approach the job and links to at least six online samples of your work. Write to [email protected] with the job title in the subject line.