The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is looking for an innovative, high-metabolism editor to lead Milwaukee Connect, an initiative aimed at growing audience by providing fast-paced, engaging journalism that helps readers navigate their lives, keep on top of local issues and trends, stay safe during public emergencies and connect with the community and world around them.    

The right editor is audience-focused, creative and knows how to help a team of reporters react quickly in times of big breaking news and stay focused in slower times on generating high-interest content, answering reader questions, providing need-to-know, service-oriented news on local topics, controversies, events and things to do that make readers eager to return every day.     

The editor is a player-coach, providing content as well as leading the Connect team. The right candidate must have a deep understanding of what’s important to Wisconsin readers and a proven ability to effectively coach the team through audience-informed analytics on new approaches to coverage and topics.    

The editor must feed off collaboration, be an endless source of ideas and recognize good ones when they’re presented, no matter who presents them. The editor will work closely with local newsroom editors, our audience growth and content strategy teams and our national trending team.    

What do Connect teams do?     

Connect teams take a service journalism, news-you-can-use approach. These teams are intensely connected to community and a key part of reader engagement. The teams publish journalism that helps local newsrooms extend their reach, measured both by in-market readership and subscription growth. They focus on:   

• What’s trending and part of the conversation locally. This includes key questions local readers are asking on search and creating service-journalism content related to local topics in the news.    
• Localizing national trending stories in a service-journalism way to help readers understand the importance of a national issue to a local community.  
• Amplifying breaking news coverage with content that relates to the questions readers are asking about how the development will directly affect their lives.  
• Replicating evergreen, seasonal ideas when local buzz or breaking is lighter. This includes content relevant to reader curiosity and other engagement series.   

Responsibilities:     

• Understand, assign and edit service-oriented journalism, try new storytelling approaches that help our readers, listeners and viewers connect with our journalism and their communities.  
• Possess strong editing, writing and reporting skills, as well as excellent news judgment.
• Display high journalism standards and ethics.  
• Have a commitment to improving the diversity of your team so that we can better serve our audiences and communities.  
• Lead and manage a team of reporters on innovative content and audience strategies based on real-time metrics data and strategic analysis. 
• Be a constant generator of story ideas, and help your team produce content early and often during peak audience periods.  
• Have a knack for headlines and expertise in SEO strategies.  
• Enjoy collaborating with local newsroom leaders, audience growth and content strategy teams and national trending team.  
• Have a track record of experimentation that yields measurable impact on audience.   

Requirements:     

• Bachelor's or master’s degree in communications, journalism, marketing or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.  
• At least 3 years working in a content-related or audience development role in a digitally focused media organization.  
• Strong planning and organizational skills.  
• Understanding of metrics, social media and SEO strategy.   

Application Instructions     

We are eager to learn more about you and how you fit this role. When you apply, don’t limit your upload to a resume; show us what you’ve done. To do so, put together a single document file that includes the following, in this order:     

1. Your resume – one to two pages.  
2. A cover letter outlining how you would approach the role.
3. Links to no more than three published stories, writing samples.    

It is important that these items be assembled into a single document and uploaded in PDF format. Completing these steps will ensure that your application receives the highest consideration. 

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