Managing Editor

MLK50: Justice Through Journalism is an award-winning nonprofit digital news site in Memphis, Tennessee. Our work focuses on the intersection of poverty, power and policy. We examine the systems that make it hard for workers to make ends meet and interrogate those who profit from the status quo. Our goal is to help Memphians — especially workers — have enough resources to thrive and demand that public and private policy support their success. We strive for our newsroom culture to reflect the values we prize: community, accountability, courage and justice.

That’s because we believe a collaborative and caring environment will help ensure our reporters do great work. So, we’re looking for a managing editor who will work each day to bring those values to life. This person will have a central responsibility in shepherding the heart of our organization: the journalism. That means they must make a true commitment to changing policies and practices that keep people poor, establishing MLK50 as a trusted community source that people use to hold power to account, and shifting the local news and civic ecosystem in Memphis toward justice.

Our managing editor must, through lived experience or deep listening and learning, understand the toll and harms of inequity. They’d be familiar with the historic levers of systemic oppression broadly and be curious enough to want to learn more.

They’ll model giving feedback that serves the work and the organization’s goals and, through evaluations and routine conversations, ensure staff development is continuous and robust. The managing editor will guide our staff of writers from idea conception to final story polish, ensuring that ideas for community and audience engagement are inherent to the work. They’ll be a clear communicator and a strong and detail-oriented line editor — one who can help craft a story structure where each paragraph builds off the next, one who can tighten a flabby sentence, one who claims grammar rules as gospel, one who understands there is no story without a nut graph, one who can help identify a strong beginning and a powerful last line.

They’ll hone processes for a smooth production cycle and a steady publication cadence, maintaining the editorial flow through Notion. As a newsroom with specific goals for our community’s growth, the managing editor will guide with MLK50’s impact metrics in mind. Story meetings will be an opportunity for creation, staff exchange and camaraderie. With the executive editor, they’ll develop annual editorial goals.

This position supervises reporters and works closely with the visuals editor, digital editor and audience engagement manager. They’ll report to the executive editor.

Salary starts at $85,000 and can increase based on experience.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES

Foster a culture of safety, collaboration, excellence, creativity and innovation within the editorial team.
Manage a team of reporters and other editorial contributors with care, providing editorial guidance and feedback.
Edit, review and oversee editorial content, ensuring it meets MLK50’s framework and high journalistic standards for accuracy and clarity.
Coordinate editorial workflows, deadlines and assignments to produce efficient and timely content; manage publishing cadence.
Collaborate with reporters to identify and prioritize key topics and stories.
Lead ambitious and impactful cross-newsroom special projects, including investigations and series.
In collaboration with the executive editor, help provide strategic direction and vision for the editorial team in alignment with the organization’s mission and goals.
In collaboration with the digital editor and the audience engagement manager, develop and execute content strategies that are revelatory, engaging and support the nonprofit mission.
Work with the audience engagement manager to help package editorial content for online platforms and social media.
Participate in outreach efforts to build and maintain relationships with readers and supporters.
Collaborate with the chief strategy officer and development director to support grant applications and donor relations, as needed.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE IS:

Experienced: You have at least eight years in journalism and four years of managerial experience, ideally managing a team of reporters
Knowledgeable: About equity and systemic issues, white supremacy and Black history
Patient: With a good sense of humor
Flexible: Nimble and able to pivot when priorities shift. Bring a can-do attitude to work
Memphis-loving: A working knowledge of (or eagerness to immerse yourself in) the character, people, relationships and ways of Memphis
Curious: An eagerness to learn about the topics and MLK50 coverage areas; you stay current on Memphis and national news topics related to our coverage areas
Mission-focused: You frame work through the lens of the most vulnerable, with a focus on poverty, power and policy.
Committed: You keep abreast of social, racial and economic justice movements locally and nationally; you demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the cultural competency that matches MLK50’s mission
Organized: All staff are expected to prioritize and balance multiple projects simultaneously
Courageous: You’re willing to disrupt narratives of suffering and interrupt the status quo

BENEFITS

$3,000 hiring bonus
At least 30 paid days off per year, including: At least two weeks’ paid vacation, 10 paid holidays per year: Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Two “dark” weeks, one in the spring and the other the week leading up to Labor Day
$1,000 annual professional development stipend
Company credit card
100% employer-paid health insurance for the employee, 75% for dependents
Company-supplied computer
Life insurance, long and short-term disability insurance
$50 monthly tech stipend
4% employer 401K match
Annual cost of living raise