Weekend Editor

Weekend Editor

Job Description

The Houston Chronicle is seeking a seasoned editor to oversee our weekend coverage. This is a critical position that carries full-coverage responsibility and requires exceptional news judgment, as well as an ability to work under pressure and direct reporters on breaking news, trending stories and utility content. The successful candidate will make coverage decisions for our weekend operation and will work with the audience team to reach audiences through platforms including the homepage, our app, newsletters, and social media. Experience editing and making audience-informed coverage decisions is critical.

During the week, the successful candidate will work with the leadership teams in Houston to plan weekend coverage and repromotion efforts for our newsrooms’ best journalism. The Weekend Editor should have experience assigning urgent, distinct and exclusive journalism and should be comfortable editing stories from the serious to the lighthearted. The ideal candidate will have experience with live breaking news coverage, optimizing that coverage for search in order to answer reader questions in critical moments. The Weekend Editor will ideally work four 10-hour shifts (Thursday-Sunday).

The Responsibilities

• Take the lead role in coordinating breaking news coverage on the weekend, working collaboratively with other Houston Chronicle editors, weekend reporters and audience teams.
• Identify the most important and relevant angles of the day’s top stories; assign and edit stories; and coordinate promotion with the audience teams.
• Be immediately responsive to breaking news to keep the Houston Chronicle competitive on the biggest stories of the moment locally and across Texas.
• Work collaboratively across the newsroom to coordinate coverage on the weekends and for Monday.
Think creatively about unique reporting and story angles for a digital audience.

What will it take to be successful?

The successful candidate will be a collaborative team leader with an expert grasp on content planning. They will be able to deliver clear guidance to journalists and efficiently juggle tasks to create unique and impactful stories that cultivate new audiences and engage our subscribers.

• Five or more years in journalism with at least two years experience as an editor or audience lead.
• Experience leading a breaking news or trending team is preferred.
• A collaborative self-starter who can organize, prioritize and work under pressure.
• A headline master, quickly able to distill a story into its most shareable elements.
• Experience using Google Trends to inform content strategy.
• Ability to use analytics to help guide story selection and pivoting based on performance.
• Ability to work 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday (10-hour shifts) preferred.
Bachelor’s or master’s degree in journalism preferred.

About the Houston Chronicle:

The Houston Chronicle, recognized for its Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, serves its 2.3 million residents with content and marketing solutions across two of Houston’s largest websites — HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com , along with our magazine, television and newspaper brands. Our mission is to spark conversations that inspire action to create a better Houston. All our content and the innovative business solutions we provide invite Houstonians to join conversations about a community we’ve been committed to covering and helping prosper for more than 120 years. The community we all call home.

About Hearst Newspapers:

With 2,500 employees across the nation, HNP encompasses a network of 24 daily and 52 weekly publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union, several top digital-only news and lifestyle sites, marketing services businesses, and entertainment businesses such as King Features Syndicate.

At HNP, we are investing in new and innovative ways to tell stories – growing newsrooms, diversifying tools, evolving platforms – to support the millions of people who trust us each month to help them make decisions, take action and be inspired.

Be a part of something bigger – your headline awaits.

Recognizing the diverse needs of our candidates, if you are interested in applying for employment and need assistance or an accommodation to use our website or regarding the application process, please contact us by email at hnpemployment@hearst.com. Please do not use this email address to inquire about the status of applications. We will only respond to inquiries concerning requests for a reasonable accommodation through this email address.

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