Managing Editor (Santa Cruz)

Lookout Local • Santa Cruz, CA

14d • Onsite

About The Position

The 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.

Requirements

• 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.

Nice To Haves

• Bilingual skills
• Experience with data journalism
• Audio/video production experience

Responsibilities

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and performance-based incentives.
• Highly competitive medical, dental, and optical benefits.
• 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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed