About Lookout Santa Cruz

Lookout Santa Cruz has become the primary news medium for the people of Santa Cruz County, reaching about 50% of adults in the county each month. We’ve established ourselves, and our model, as a full-service community newspaper that happens to be digital.

We cover the issues that matter to our readers, from government and education to the environment, health, business, food and the arts. We’ve also established ourselves as a go-to source for breaking news and accountability reporting, increasing our impact year by year. Lookout Santa Cruz won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, and Lookout's fiercely mission-driven, business-driven model is receiving national attention.

Our workplaces are in-person, in-community, collaborative and collegial. We are building a diverse, highly skilled and mission-driven group of journalists, community builders and business people committed to learning, growth and community service.

About the role

The Senior News Editor is the day-to-day editorial leader of Lookout Santa Cruz's newsroom, working closely with the Executive Editor to produce an essential, engaging and ambitious report of news for Santa Cruz County.

This is a hands-on editing and newsroom leadership role for an experienced journalist who loves the daily work of journalism: deciding what matters, helping reporters find the best stories, shaping coverage, editing stories and making sure Lookout delivers a strong report seven days a week.

The Senior News Editor will work with reporters and correspondents across a range of beats to balance breaking and timely news, news readers can use, authoritative beat coverage and more ambitious enterprise, investigative and accountability journalism. The role will help ensure that Lookout is both highly useful to readers today and distinctive enough to earn their trust and membership over time.

Working with the Executive Editor, the Senior News Editor will help translate Lookout's broader editorial priorities into the daily work of the newsroom. The Executive Editor will retain responsibility for overall editorial strategy and direction, while the Senior News Editor will have substantial ownership of the newsroom's daily report, workflow and execution.

The ideal candidate is an excellent editor and news journalist with strong news judgment, a collaborative management style and a genuine interest in helping reporters do their best work. This person should be comfortable moving between a breaking-news story in the morning, a major enterprise project in the afternoon and the next day's coverage plan before the end of the day.

Responsibilities

Daily Newsroom Leadership

• Lead the newsroom's daily editorial operation, working with reporters and editors to determine coverage priorities and assignments.
• Help ensure Lookout produces a strong, timely and relevant report seven days a week.
• Run or help lead daily news meetings and maintain a clear view of what is moving across the newsroom.
• Make smart decisions about when to pursue breaking news, when to follow a developing story and when to give reporters the time and resources needed for deeper reporting.
• Coordinate coverage across beats and help identify opportunities to connect stories and provide greater context.
• Work closely with the Executive Editor on major coverage priorities and significant news events.

Editing & Journalism

• Edit stories with rigor and precision, ensuring accuracy, clarity, fairness, strong reporting and compelling presentation.
• Help reporters sharpen story ideas, strengthen reporting plans and identify the questions a story needs to answer.
• Work with reporters to develop enterprise, investigative and accountability journalism alongside the daily report.
• Identify opportunities to turn breaking news and daily coverage into deeper follow-ups and accountability reporting.
• Help reporters determine the right format and approach for different kinds of journalism, from quick-turn news stories to deeply reported enterprise.
• Write or edit headlines, decks and other story presentation elements with an eye toward both reader service and engagement.
• Maintain high standards for sourcing, reporting depth and editorial clarity.

Reporter Coaching & Development

• Coach reporters and correspondents in reporting, writing, story development and news judgment.
• Provide clear, constructive and timely feedback.
• Help journalists at different stages of their careers develop their skills and take on more ambitious work.
• Foster a newsroom culture that values curiosity, collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Help identify strengths, opportunities and training needs across the newsroom.

Audience & Membership

• Work with the Executive Editor and colleagues to understand what journalism is reaching and serving readers.
• Help balance top-of-funnel journalism that introduces new audiences to Lookout with distinctive, deeply reported journalism that builds trust and encourages membership.
• Use audience and engagement information as one input into coverage decisions while maintaining independent editorial judgment.
• Help ensure that important journalism is presented in ways that are useful, accessible and compelling to readers.

Community-Centered Journalism & Standards

• Work with reporters to identify community questions, concerns and undercovered stories.
• Help ensure Lookout's journalism reflects the breadth and diversity of Santa Cruz County.
• Uphold Lookout's standards for accuracy, fairness, independence and transparency.
• Maintain consistency and quality across the daily report.

Qualifications

• At least 5 years of professional journalism experience, including meaningful experience editing or leading the work of other journalists.
• Demonstrated success as an editor, assignment editor, senior reporter with editing responsibilities or newsroom leader.
• Excellent news judgment and a strong sense of what makes a story important, useful and compelling.
• Strong line-editing and story-editing skills, with the ability to bring clarity, structure and authority to complex stories.
• Experience coaching reporters and helping journalists develop stronger stories.
• Experience working across multiple beats and managing competing daily priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to balance fast-moving daily journalism with longer-term enterprise and accountability reporting.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to keep a newsroom moving in a deadline-driven, seven-day-a-week environment.
• Fluency in digital-first journalism and content management systems (Newspack or similar).
• A collaborative management style and a genuine interest in helping colleagues do their best work.
• Commitment to accurate, fair, independent and community-centered journalism.
• Ability to quickly develop a strong understanding of Santa Cruz County and the communities we serve.
• Comfort working in a small, entrepreneurial newsroom where editors are hands-on and where priorities can change quickly.

Pluses

• Experience with enterprise, investigative or accountability journalism.
• Experience with data journalism.
• Bilingual skills, particularly Spanish.
• Audio, video or other multimedia production experience.
• Experience using audience or engagement data to inform editorial decisions.
• Familiarity with Santa Cruz County or another California local news market.

What We Offer

• Salary of $90,000-110,000, depending on experience.
• Full-time benefits including highly competitive medical, dental and optical benefits, and 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.
• The opportunity to work directly with an experienced newsroom leadership team and help shape the daily journalism of a Pulitzer Prize-winning local news organization.