Job Abstract

SFGATE Contributing News Editor

Your Impact:

Under the direction of SFGATE’s Deputy Managing Editor, the Contributing News Editor (20 hours per week) will be a versatile journalist with a deep understanding of California and enough intellectual curiosity to want to help our journalists tell stories that matter to both people who live in the Bay Area and California at large. The Contributing News Editor will be able to edit multiple complicated stories in a week and be familiar with reporting that involves documents, lawsuits, public records, data and beyond. They will be integral to skill-building on our staff and should be eager to answer questions from young journalists seeking to develop their reporting toolkit. We want someone who will dig deep to help us cover the state in incredibly unique ways and find stories that locals didn’t even know mattered to them.

Why SFGATE?

Launched in 1994, SFGATE.com was one of the first large-market media sites in the world and served as the exclusive digital home of the San Francisco Chronicle for 19 years. In 2019, the Chronicle (which can now be found online at the paywalled sfchronicle.com) and SFGATE officially became two separately run entities with their own editorial staffs and independent newsrooms.

Today, SFGATE is a digital-only publication that reaches more than 28 million readers every month and tells the stories of the people, places and ideas that make San Francisco, and the Bay Area at large, the weird and wonderful place that it is. We help readers navigate their day, whether it’s by keeping them updated on big breaking news, guiding them to interesting local experiences or sharing a part of the Bay they haven’t seen before.

The site is home to nine verticals: Culture, offering a unique mix of the entertainment news you actually need and the underground stories from hidden corners of the Bay Area you want; Local, the premier destination for everything that life in San Francisco encompasses (from wildly expensive real estate to schools to what it’s like to live above a raucous bar); Sports, covering the intersection of sports and culture; Tech, covering the intersection of tech and culture; Travel, covering everything from flight deals and travel news to hotel hacks and under-the-radar day trips; Politics, where we keep you up to speed on all local, state and national politics that have implications on the Bay Area; Food + Drink, where we tell you the backstory of the people behind the bar and in the kitchen; Cannabis, where we cover the sprawling industry of legal weed in California, good, bad and ugly; and News. Plus, the site has a full-time editor covering Lake Tahoe as well as satellite editors covering California Parks, the Central Coast, Los Angeles, Hawaii, and Disneyland.

What you’ll do:

• Be a phenomenal editor — we need someone who can take good stories and turn them into great ones, who can work well with writers with diverse journalism backgrounds and who has a long list of writers they’ve already done this with (we’ll be talking to lots of people you’ve edited, so make sure you have actual experience and impact with this)
• Be autonomous — this position comes with a lot of trust, to juggle multiple stories, to meet deadlines, to communicate with the copy desk, photo department and illustrators
• Be consistent — this editor will be tasked with editing a handful of stories each week, but they will be ambitious ones. We need someone who can reliably manage that workload and keep stories on track for our content budget while making sure they’re airtight in both facts and prose
• Be a great teacher — we want an editor who will delight in helping journalists solve problems. This person needs to have the patience to guide young journalists, and teamwork-minded attitude to help shape a seasoned pro’s narrative — really they need to be able to establish themselves as a resource for everyone in the newsroom

Who you are:

• You have 7+ years of relevant experience in features editing at a publication or in a digital media environment
• You have a long list of reporters who will vouch for what an incredible editor you are, how you’ve turned their very good stories into great ones because of your deep understanding of the art of story writing
• You have a deep knowledge of the Bay Area, and you have an equally deep understanding of the state of California and what impacts it — this is where a lot of great stories come from
• You have a passion for journalism and telling stories
• You live in the San Francisco Bay Area or are willing to move here
• You’ve read SFGATE and understand the brand and voice

In accordance with applicable law, Hearst is required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role if hired in California. The reasonable estimate is between $45,000 and $50,000. Please note this information is specific to those hired in San Francisco. If this role is open to candidates outside of San Francisco, the salary range would be aligned to that specific location. A final decision on the successful candidate’s starting salary will be based on a number of permissible, non-discriminatory factors, including but not limited to skills and experience, training, certifications, and education.

About the San Francisco Chronicle & SFGate:

The Chronicle is world-class journalism, San Francisco style. With name-brand voices and a keen editorial eye, The Chronicle is an authority that still surprises. It’s not afraid of being controversial or of doing things that haven’t been done. It’s bolder, brighter, and fearless. It’s news that is delivered to the discerning reader through multiple platforms.

SFGate provides a 360-degree view of San Francisco, wildly reflective of right now. Provocative, energetic and unapologetic, the Gate is in constant conversation with the world's most eclectic city.

Join our world-class team!

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