Senior Editor

Senior Editor

Inside Climate News is seeking to hire an inspired senior editor with a proven track record in editing short- and long-form journalism, managing teams of reporters and working collaboratively with partner newsrooms. Ideal candidates for this position would be able to elevate both quicker-turn stories and complex explanatory, narrative and investigative projects. A deep interest in, and commitment to, covering climate change, the environment and environmental justice is essential, with extensive subject matter expertise in those areas an important additional qualification, though not an absolute prerequisite. As a leader and manager, the successful candidate will have distinguished themselves as caring and collegial with staff, with a strong interest in mentoring fellows and other rising journalists. Inside Climate News is committed to building a diverse newsroom to deepen our capability to cover the global community we serve.

Job Description

On any given day, the person selected for this senior editing position might be called on to lead a staff news meeting, schedule and budget stories, brainstorm with staff, confer with reporters on story approaches, liaise with partner newsrooms and, most importantly, edit daily stories, takeouts, think pieces, series and other sprawling works of enterprise journalism with great craft, care, precision and collaboration. The overarching focus of this position is story editing and day-to-day management of a reporting team of four to six members. 

Qualifications

The successful applicant must have the ability and ambition to help elevate the work and performance of one of the country’s most experienced and respected climate and environment newsrooms, covering the planet’s most important story, and be aligned with ICN’s core values of kindness, courtesy, collaboration and diversity, in order to help foster personal and professional growth, and keep ICN a great place to work. 

The following qualifications, or their equivalents, are also essential: 

• A minimum of seven to 10 years’ work experience as both a writer and an editor;
• A body of work that includes deadline writing and editing, and both writing and editing significant long-form narrative, investigative or explanatory journalism, preferably all three. 
• A demonstrated ability to nurture, support and challenge reporters to produce journalism of the highest quality and ambition. 
• A deep curiosity that drives reporting and a passion for journalism and storytelling.
• Finally, a deep personal embrace of the importance and urgency of covering the climate crisis in all the myriad ways it is affecting life and society, in the United States and across the planet. 

Living in and/or expertise in the American West would be a bonus, as this editor will likely work with journalists covering the region, but neither is required. And we’d welcome an editor with some newsletter expertise, but that is also not required.

Our News Organization

• Founded in 2007, Inside Climate News is an independent, nonprofit, non-partisan news organization covering the most important story in human history. With roughly 40 full-time staff members, it is one of the largest environmental newsrooms in the country.
• As part of its work in the public interest, ICN has established a collaborative local reporting network and works to strengthen the practice of climate and environmental justice journalism and train the next generation of journalists.
• We have a nucleus in New York and staff working across the United States as well as internationally. Good ideas propel the operation, wherever they originate.
• We have earned national recognition for our work and many of the most prestigious awards in journalism, including the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (2013) and recognition as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service (2016).
• For more about ICN, please see our About page.

Inside Climate News is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and welcomes applications from candidates of any background or identity. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

To Apply

Please send resume, work samples and cover letter to View email address on click.appcast.io, or send an email directly to Executive Editor Vernon Loeb (View email address on click.appcast.io), and Managing Editor Jamie Smith Hopkins (View email address on click.appcast.io).