Editorial Page Editor

Full Time Job
Editorial Page Editor

The San Francisco Chronicle is hiring an Editorial Page editor. But we are not looking for someone who merely wants to continue with established practices. Instead, we want an innovative leader willing to answer a key question: What is the role of an editorial page in 2021? At a time when the news industry is reconsidering everything from whether we should still do political endorsements during elections to whether there is a difference between Opinion writing in the newsroom and Opinion writing on the editorial staff, the Chronicle wants to rethink the section from the ground up.

As the Editorial Page Editor, you will be asked to come up with a vision for what a strong, vibrant regional newspaper should do in the Opinion space. San Francisco is one of the world's great cities and it has challenges to rival its majesty: climate change, income inequality, homelessness, political turmoil and the survivability of its downtown in a pandemic era. Some of these problems are chronic, having lasted for decades.

The ideal candidate should have a deep understanding of how opinion journalism is consumed in digital environments and be able to devise and implement a successful audience strategy. Experience working or living in the Bay Area is not a requirement, but an outside candidate must quickly grasp all the issues impacting the region.

The ideal candidate should be an accomplished writer and a deft editor with high-level experience in the opinion space. The ability to recruit and deploy a stable of top-level freelance opinion writers is essential as is a talent for convening top decision makers in the community to discuss key issues. As an arbiter of how public officials perform, the Editorial Page Editor should have a passion for monitoring the work of local government officials.

What it will take to be successful:
• At least three years of experience at a daily newspaper, magazine or web publication or the equivalent.
• A keen ability to see beyond a problem to which institutions or people are driving it, then offer suggestions on how to fix it.
• Experience and comfort with interviewing city leaders.
• Ability to form opinions that reflect a worldview that is appropriate for a regional publisher in a city like San Francisco.

About The San Francisco Chronicle & SFChronicle.com:

The San Francisco Chronicle is world-class journalism. With name-brand voices and a keen editorial eye, The Chronicle is an authority that still surprises. The Chronicle, one of the largest news organizations in the West, has been named California's best large newsroom for four of the past five years.

SFChronicle.com is home to the Bay Area's best journalism and has been recognized as the best large newspaper website in California. It is the Bay Area's authoritative online news source, focused on San Francisco but inclusive of all California and Western news that reflects the unique Bay Area experience.

Join our team of world-class journalists.