Managing Editor

Company Description

Lookout Local, Inc. is a public benefit corporation with a mission to serve communities through high-quality news, information, and community engagement. Lookout operates as a network of digital-only, locally-focused media outlets that provide comprehensive and community-centered reporting. It aims to revitalize news and advertising deserts by establishing vibrant media platforms in mid-sized markets. Lookout Santa Cruz is the inaugural site in this innovative network.

Role Description

The Managing Editor is a central newsroom leader responsible for driving editorial excellence across Lookout Santa Cruz’s coverage of Santa Cruz County and, secondarily, the surrounding region. This role requires a proven editor with a track record of elevating ambitious journalism and leading teams of reporters across multiple beats to produce distinctive, high-impact work.

The ideal candidate brings exceptional news judgment, sophisticated story ideation, and rigorous line editing skills — along with a demonstrated ability to coach reporters to do their best work. Just as important, this editor thrives in a fast-paced, digital-first environment and is deeply committed to building a consistently excellent, seven-day-a-week report.

At Lookout, excellence is not occasional — it is expected throughout the day, every day. We serve readers with a mix of investigative and accountability reporting, authoritative beat coverage, breaking news, and service journalism that answers real community questions. The Managing Editor ensures that this work meets a high bar for relevance, clarity, and impact.

We prioritize reporting that connects the dots, explains complex issues, and delivers insight with authority and precision. Whether a story is 500 or 2,500 words, it should be deeply reported, well sourced, and clearly written. We embrace a range of formats — from narrative and explanatory stories to Q&As, reader-driven formats, and multimedia — always matching the format to the journalism.

Lookout Santa Cruz serves as the founding site of Lookout Local, now serving both Santa Cruz County and Lane County, Oregon, with Lookout Eugene-Springfield, launched in April, 2025.

As illustrated by a 2024 Pulitzer win, Lookout Local newsrooms focus on impactful stories, quickly becoming the go-to local news source in their communities. More up-to-date background on us, and related media coverage, here: https://lookout.co/network

Key Responsibilities

Editorial Leadership & Team Development

Work with the Executive Editor to set the daily and long-term editorial agenda.

Lead and manage a team of reporters covering a range of beats, providing clear direction from idea generation through publication.

Edit stories with rigor and precision, ensuring clarity, depth, fairness, and distinctiveness.

Coach reporters to elevate their reporting, sharpen their focus, and produce ambitious, high-impact journalism.

Foster a culture of accountability, creativity, and continuous improvement across the newsroom.

Story Ideation & Execution

Drive a strong pipeline of enterprise, investigative, and beat-driven stories.

Ensure daily coverage is urgent, relevant, and aligned with audience needs.

Elevate storytelling through structure, framing, and the use of compelling supporting elements (data, visuals, multimedia).

Maintain high standards for sourcing, reporting depth, and narrative clarity.

Community-Centered Journalism

Ensure coverage reflects and engages the full diversity of Santa Cruz County.

Work with reporters to surface community concerns, questions, and undercovered issues.

Collaborate on audience engagement efforts, using feedback and insights to inform coverage.

Standards & Trust

Uphold the highest standards of accuracy, fairness, and independence.

Ensure all content is nonpartisan, transparent, and trustworthy.

Maintain consistency in voice, tone, and editorial quality across the report.

Innovation & Digital Execution

Embrace and advance digital-first storytelling, distribution, and audience strategies.

Work closely with product and audience teams to optimize reach and impact.

Use modern tools and platforms to enhance reporting, editing, and presentation.

Experiment thoughtfully with new formats, including video and reader-driven journalism.

Qualifications

At least 7+ years of journalism experience, including 3+ years in a significant editing or newsroom leadership role.

A proven track record of journalistic excellence, particularly in editing and elevating reporters across multiple beats.

Demonstrated success leading teams to produce impactful enterprise, investigative, and beat reporting.

Exceptional news judgment, story sense, and editorial instincts.

Strong line-editing skills, with the ability to bring clarity, structure, and authority to complex stories.

Experience managing reporters, providing constructive feedback, and developing talent.

Deep understanding of — or ability to quickly immerse in — Santa Cruz County and its communities.

Fluency in digital-first journalism and content management systems (Newspack or similar).

Ability to balance speed with quality in a deadline-driven environment.

Commitment to inclusive, community-centered journalism.

Comfort working in a startup environment that values agility, collaboration, and innovation.

Strong visual and storytelling instincts, with the ability to collaborate on multimedia presentation.

Pluses:

Bilingual skills

Experience with data journalism

Audio/video production experience

Additional Details

The Managing Editor position is a full-time, on-site position based in Santa Cruz, California. We pride ourselves on our in-person, in community local news daily presence.

Application Process

Please send your resume and cover letter to jobs@lookoutlocal.com with “Santa Cruz, Managing Editor” in the subject line.

What We Offer:

Competitive salary and performance-based incentives.

Full-time benefits include 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.

• Equal Opportunity Employer: Lookout Eugene-Springfield is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.