Managing Editor

We’re looking for an experienced leader and journalist to guide one of the nation’s largest nonprofit political newsrooms through the 2024 election.

PolitiFact is best known as a political fact-checking website and Pulitzer Prize winner. PolitiFact is also a public policy and political watchdog website, supported by dogged reporting and built on a vision to help voters make more informed choices by scrutinizing the claims their political leaders make.

The managing editor sets the tone for all of the journalism you see on politifact.com. This editor will help decide what stories we pursue, drive the coverage of major political events such as the conventions, debates and breaking political news, and help coordinate our coverage with an array of state affiliate websites managed by local news organizations around the country.

PolitiFact is a newsroom of more than 30 full-timers and freelance journalists working from offices in Washington, D.C., and St. Petersburg, Florida, and remote locations. The managing editor is expected to work from one of our offices two days per week as part of our hybrid work schedule.

You’ll supervise a mix of editors and reporters, and report to PolitiFact’s editor-in-chief. PolitiFact is part of the Poynter Institute, which means you’ll have the opportunity to learn from some of journalism’s best trainers, and if you are inclined, teach journalists yourself.

Interested candidates with 5+ years of experience should send a resume and a cover letter explaining their interest and describing their vision for the role to hiring2@poynter.org.

An ideal candidate will have the following qualities:

Experience managing journalists, including supervising coverage of U.S. politics, local and/or federal government or a closely related policy beat.

Willingness to work a hybrid schedule from our bureau in Washington, D.C., or from the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. Most of our reporters are based at an office.
Exceptional managerial, organization and communication skills.
Technical proficiencies in products such as Zoom, Slack and Google Suite.
Data reporting or deep research skills.
Excels in high-stress, deadline environments.

Candidates with the following skills or traits are particularly invited to apply:

Fluency in Spanish (relevant for our PolitiFact En Español project).
Unique backgrounds or perspectives.
Demonstrated skills using or covering artificial intelligence.

Daily job responsibilities

Running a morning editorial huddle.
Providing front-end direction on daily and long-term work.
Editing a range of stories: quick hits, meaty explainers and longer-term features and investigations.
Coaching reporters and editors and helping them chart a career path.
Working with partner newsrooms to ensure fact-check quality and publishing consistency.
Participating in multiple video calls per day to determine coverage, decide Truth-O-Meter ratings and provide regular feedback to reports.

Benefits of working at Poynter

Two weeks of holiday leave at the end of the year, plus eight paid holidays.
Dedicated personal development time per month.
A generous parental leave policy that allows for up to 24 weeks of compensated leave for birth parents and up to 16 weeks of compensated leave for spouses, partners and adoptive parents.
A hybrid schedule with two to three days per week in the office.
Competitive medical with employer-funded health reimbursement account/dental/vision insurance.
Surgery Plus benefit for eligible nonemergency/planned surgical procedures.
403(b) retirement plan with 1% employer contribution of eligible compensation.

We will begin considering candidates as soon as applications are received.