The San Francisco Standard seeks an experienced reporter who is comfortable with a fast-paced digital news cycle to join our Express Desk. The Express Desk reporter will combine accuracy, speed and excellent news judgment to publish breaking news stories for the Bay Area, California and the globe. The successful candidate will identify unique story angles on breaking news and spot interesting developments ahead of the competition. Our Express Desk reporters relish not only working the phones but also getting out of the office. Although the reporters primarily focus on breaking news, they are expected to pitch original story ideas and produce occasional enterprise reporting. This position is ideal for a motivated self-starter who loves the thrill of breaking exclusive stories and beating the competition. As the express desk is staffed 15 hours a day on weekdays and 9 hours on weekends, reporters must be willing to regularly work shifts outside of standard business hours.

Express Desk reporters form the central hub of operations for big breaking news events and will work closely with other parts of the newsroom, such as video and photo, to ensure stories are the best they can be for our readers.

Responsibilities:

• Write breaking and trending news stories across a variety of subject areas, often multiple times a day.
• Find unique angles that resonate with our growing audience and are different from our competitors’ approaches.
• Write engaging headlines that work well for social media and SEO.
• Work diligently to break news first and hit tight deadlines.
• Tackle a wide variety of subject matter willingly and show an aptitude for quickly learning about subjects and industries outside your comfort zone.

Requirements:

• Proven ability to write quickly, cleanly and accurately under deadline pressure
• Demonstrated ability to monitor social media, public sources and other news outlets, making the most out of available technology to find stories, confirm facts and identify sources
• Excellent verbal communication skills
• Excellent collaboration skills
• Proficiency with AP style
• Experience developing sources in law enforcement and other public agencies
• Willingness to work shifts outside of standard business hours
• Enthusiasm for bringing fresh ideas to the way we cover news, making the best of emerging technologies and experimenting with new ways we can attract a larger audience, in keeping with the spirit of The Standard’s innovative newsroom.

This is not an entry-level position. We seek candidates with several years of digital journalism newsroom experience.

The pay range for this role is $60,000 to $110,000.