Deputy Managing Editor, Daily Desk- Nights (Remote)

The Athletic; United States; Remote; USD 95,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

The Athletic seeks a deputy managing editor for its Daily Desk, focusing on prioritizing stories and enhancing the quality of everyday reporting. This remote role requires strong editing skills, news judgment, and collaboration with reporters, particularly during nights and weekends.

Benefits

Competitive medical, dental, and vision insurance

401k retirement savings plan with employer match

Paid time off including sick leave and holidays

Up to 20 weeks of Paid Parental Leave

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience editing news stories.
• Strong copy editing experience.
• Management experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead editor for daily news report, particularly at nights.
• Edit and publish stories from sportswriters.
• Collaborate with sport editors on breaking news.

Skills

News judgment

Coordination skills

Editing skills

Collaboration

Social media familiarity

Tools

WordPress

Job description

About Us

Powered by one of the largest global newsrooms in sports media, The Athletic brings sports fans the most comprehensive stories about the teams, sports and athletes they love. The Athletic’s newsroom of 500+ full-time staff delivers in-depth coverage of hundreds of professional and college teams across more than 47 North American markets and all 20 football clubs in the English Premier League, as well as many Championship clubs.

About the Roles

The Athletic is hiring a deputy managing editor for our newly launched Daily Desk, who will focus on making sure we are prioritizing the right stories at night. The desk works across the newsroom to strengthen the quality of our everyday report and to seize on opportunities throughout the sports world for compelling journalism. The desk is staffed from early in the North America day to late in the North America night, and bridges with our team in London to give us 24/7 coverage.

Successful candidates must have strong news judgment and coordination skills to launch on stories, working with individual sport verticals to assess coverage and with colleagues on the Daily Desk to make sure we are seizing on key moments and swarming toward the most important stories, a challenging prospect on nights when most sporting events are happening. The role requires deft editing skills to lift up stories that are already in motion, even stories assigned elsewhere initially. Successful editors need to work with accuracy, clarity, thoroughness, flexibility and speed, as appropriate. Duties will mainly involve editing but sometimes include writing, depending on news demands, staffing and other factors. The work will heavily focus on collaboration with reporters and editors throughout the newsroom.

The job is remote, for candidates located in either the United States or Canada. It will regularly require work during nights and weekends, in line with the newsroom’s needs and the sports calendar.

Responsibilities

• Regularly serve as a lead editor or point person for the daily news report, particularly at nights.
• Rigorously edit and publish stories from sportswriters of numerous types.
• Collaborate with sport editors to launch coverage around breaking news.
• Ensure sharp quality and standards, especially on difficult stories.
• Manage staff and senior editors, including some scheduling and other needs.
• Maintain strong ties with vertical editors, especially those connected with coordinating news coverage, to help in wider coordination.
• Maintain strong story budgets and communicate during key meetings and handoffs.
• When vertical editors are not working, assign stories to beat and national reporters in breaking news situations.
• Coordinate with the audience team to maximize story promotion and ensure stories are published in peak publishing windows.
• Coordinate with reporters in the field and editors who are contributing to coverage.
• Maintain strong understanding of style and story structure, with the ability to identify mistakes, improve pieces and collaborate about story edits with colleagues.
• Collaborate with sport editors to plan ahead for coverage of key events, to coordinate daily assignments and to strategize on particular areas of coverage.
• Work to draw out the distinctive, compelling and authentic voice we bring to all coverage, particularly for nuanced and difficult stories.
• Regularly lift stories by making sure they are clear and compelling and collaboratively seeking improvements as needed.
• Contribute to the improvement of workflow and best practices for the desk and its wide range of assignments and demands.
• Collaborate with design and photo teams and with other areas of the newsroom as necessary.
• Maintain a strong understanding of search optimization and how to identify coverage opportunities.
• Use real-time metrics to assess performance and adjust.
• At times, write and report spot news and trending stories with accuracy, speed and authority.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience editing news stories of various types, including breaking news.
• Strong copy editing experience, with demonstrated consistency in lifting and strengthening stories as well as communicating about editing with colleagues.
• Editing experience on news stories is strongly preferred.
• Management experience, including direct oversight of editors and/or reporters, is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity and comfort with multiple social media platforms to seek out news.
• An ability and willingness to work nights and weekends.
• Interest and knowledge across a range of different sports.
• Familiarity with WordPress is a bonus, but must have strong comfort working in a content management system for news.
• An ability to work in the United States or Canada.

The annual base salary range for this role is $95,000.00 - $100,000.00 USD. The total compensation offered for this position may vary based on factors such as education, experience, skills, and location. It may also include non-cash rewards and benefits. The base salary range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.

The Athletic offers unique perks and benefits to all full-time employees based on their country of residence. Our comprehensive US benefits package includes:

- Highly competitive, employer-contributed medical, dental, vision, basic life and disability insurance plans.

- Savings accounts for medical, wellness, and childcare expenses.

- 401k retirement savings plan and employer match.

- Paid time off including paid sick leave, 12 paid holidays, 15 days of accrued vacation to start, and up to 20 weeks of Paid Parental Leave.

For international candidates: Our global benefits packages offer similar benefits and perks, competitive to the local market.

The Athletic Media Company is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. The Athletic will consider all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

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