Managing Editor

Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Moving allowance

Job summary

Flatwater Free Press is seeking a managing editor to lead editorial operations and strategy for a growing nonprofit newsroom in Nebraska. This senior role works with the News Director and newsroom staff to guide investigations, features and audience engagement across platforms.

You will bring at least three years of newsroom editing or leadership, manage multiple deadlines, and help elevate Flatwater’s standards while mentoring reporters and collaborating with partners statewide.

Qualifications

• Have at least three years of newsroom editing, production or leadership experience.
• Able to manage multiple deadlines and stakeholders under pressure.
• Strong news judgment and commitment to local journalism.
• Familiar with digital publishing, newsletters, and audience strategy.

Responsibilities

• Editorial operations and production: lead the editorial pipeline from ideation to publication while maintaining standards.
• Editing: guide story framing, structure, clarity and impact with reporters.
• Freelance and contributor management: build and manage a strong freelance pipeline and coordinate contracts.
• Partnerships and distribution: coordinate with partner newsrooms and oversee newsletters and audience touchpoints.
• Leadership: hire, supervise and mentor reporters and editorial staff; translate strategy into daily execution.

Skills

Editing leadership

Editorial strategy

Newsroom management

Digital publishing

Audience engagement

Freelance coordination

Job description

The Flatwater Free Press is hiring a managing editor to help lead one of the most ambitious, fastest-growing nonprofit news organizations in the country.

We are building with a clear purpose: to fill the gaps in Nebraska's local news ecosystem wherever they appear. Sometimes that means investigations no one else has the resources to pursue. Sometimes it means enterprise features, smart service journalism or partnerships that get our reporting into communities across the state. Increasingly, it means building the operational and editorial systems that allow us to have outsized impact, and thinking about how best to leverage our assets to best serve Nebraskans border to border.

The Flatwater Free Press operates more like a magazine than a daily publication, seeking to work alongside our journalistic partners to create the most effective news ecosystem Nebraska can muster.

We're looking for an editor who can help.

This is a senior leadership position at Flatwater Free Press and within the Nebraska Journalism Trust, working closely with News Director Matthew Hansen and alongside a growing newsroom that has become an essential source of accountability and enterprise journalism in Nebraska. Our stories spotlight Nebraskans doing amazing things and hold our systems accountable.

What you might own

This role is intentionally broad and will be built in the image of the successful applicant. The right candidate may take on some or all of the following:

Editorial operations and production

• Lead editor on many of the stories inside our quickly growing, award-winning newsroom.
• Manage the editorial pipeline from ideation to assignment to publication
• Oversee a freelance program that routinely tells feature stories that bind Nebraskans together.
• Ensure stories are published accurately, thoughtfully packaged and optimized for digital audiences

Editing

• Edit ambitious journalism with rigor, speed, fairness, kindness and care
• Work with reporters to sharpen story framing, structure, clarity and impact
• Help maintain and elevate Flatwater’s editorial standards

Freelance and contributor management

• Build and manage a strong freelance pipeline
• Source, assign, edit and support contributors across Nebraska
• Handle contracting, workflow and feedback with professionalism and efficiency

Partnerships and distribution

• Serve as a key point of contact for partner newsrooms and collaborators statewide
• Coordinate syndication and content sharing
• Help oversee newsletters and other recurring audience touchpoints, including exploring new opportunities

Leadership

• Help hire, supervise and mentor reporters and other editorial staff
• Translate big-picture strategy into daily execution
• Contribute to newsroom systems, culture and long-term growth

You might be a fit if you…

• Have at least three years of newsroom experience, particularly in editing, production or newsroom leadership
• Can manage multiple deadlines, projects and relationships without losing your cool
• Have strong editing instincts and sharp news judgment
• Understand digital publishing, newsletters and audience strategy
• Love local journalism and care deeply about the role it plays in civic life

Bonus points for product thinking or multimedia experience.

This editor can live anywhere in Nebraska, with a preference for working out of our Lincoln office. Omaha office also acceptable.

• A moving allowance is available.

The salary range for this position is $65,000-$75,000 annually; however, we recognize that exceptional talent comes at a premium and are prepared to exceed this range for candidates who bring outstanding qualifications and experience.

Why Flatwater

The Flatwater Free Press is a nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations, enterprise and feature journalism that matters to Nebraskans.

We're five years old and on rock-solid financial footing, which means there is significant opportunity for growth and added responsibility. The systems are still being built. The culture is still being shaped. The organization is growing fast and exploring new opportunities you can mold.

You'll join a newsroom with momentum, ambition and a willingness to experiment - one that believes local and statewide journalism still matters deeply, but may need to look and operate very differently to succeed.

Flatwater and its parent organization, the Nebraska Journalism Trust, are committed to reflecting the communities we cover. We strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, especially from communities underrepresented in journalism - including women, people of color, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.