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Chief of Staff

Chicago, IL (Hybrid workplace)

 

About Chicago Public Media

Chicago Public Media is one of the nation’s largest local nonprofit news organizations. Home to WBEZ 91.5FM, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Vocalo. Chicago Public Media reaches more than 3.3 million people weekly across broadcast, print, and digital platforms. As a mission-driven organization, we aspire to be the most trusted news source Chicagoans turn to for understanding the people, events, and ideas shaping our community.

Chicago Public Media is a 100% community-funded newsroom powered by nearly 97,000 members whose support makes our journalism possible. This sustained community investment helped drive nationally recognized work in 2025, including 29 awards from esteemed organizations, including the Public Media Journalists Association, the Edward R. Murrow Awards, and the National Association of Black Journalists.

We believe independent journalism is essential to a healthy democracy and that access to objective, fact-based news is a right for every citizen. We serve the public interest by creating diverse content that informs and enriches our community, supported by a dedicated staff of approximately 250 professionals.

For more information, please see the Chicago Public Media Annual Report.

 

Position Summary

As our Chief of Staff, you will serve as the "right hand" to the Editor-in-Chief (EIC), managing journalistic content alongside high-level project management, multi-platform strategic initiatives, and operational oversight.

Your primary objective will be to support the EIC at a strategic level, driving business results and organizational alignment by acting as a liaison between the editorial department in addition to the business side of the organization. In this role, you will maintain a focus on long-term projects, partnerships, and strategic goals that extend beyond daily editorial cycles.

Our ideal candidate is a research-oriented "completist" with a proven track record of launching and successfully sustaining major initiatives. This role requires high emotional intelligence, authentic communication skills, and unwavering ethical judgment. The Chief of Staff should possess a unique blend of editorial authority and experience in business, technical, and operational leadership. We are looking for an individual who has successfully managed complex, non-journalism initiatives while simultaneously overseeing editorial project management. 

 

Key Responsibilities

  • Strategic Planning & Advisory: Serves as a trusted advisor to the Editor in Chief, helping to translate editorial and organizational vision into executable priorities.
  • Operational Management: Track progress on top organizational goals and initiatives, managing daily operations, prioritizing tasks, and tracking performance metrics to ensure organizational productivity.
  • Communication & Liaison: Bridges communication between the Editor-in-Chief and content staff, ensuring alignment and acting as a sounding board on sensitive editorial, staffing, or reputational decisions.
  • Strategic Projects & Initiatives: Leads and manages critical, cross-functional, and special projects from inception to completion, ensuring proper preparation and follows up on action items.
  • Problem-Solving & Decision Support: Analyzes issues, mitigates risks, and provides recommendations to the EIC, acting as a non-judgmental sounding board.

 

Minimum Qualifications

  • Experience: 8+ years in editorial operations, leadership, consulting, or operational roles with direct experience managing editorial staff and demonstrating editorial judgment, leadership, and experience in daily and enterprise journalism.
  • Strategic Planning: Experience collaborating across digital, audio, and visual platforms translating executive visions into actionable plans and managing cross-functional initiatives with the editorial and business side of the company.
  • Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills for staff communications, newsroom logistics, report preparation, strategy management, and stakeholder relationship management.
  • Project Management: Excellent organizational skills with the proven ability to oversee multiple projects, improve operational efficiency, and drive initiatives.
  • Passion: Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in storytelling and newsroom leadership; Deep understanding of local news and public media values. Familiarity with the Chicago region is a plus.
  • Soft Skills: High emotional intelligence, discretion, adaptability, integrity and strong problem-solving abilities. 

 

Education

Bachelor’s degree in journalism, business or a related field required; Master’s degree is preferred.

 

Compensation

The expected pay range for this position is $118,100 to $147,620 per ANNUM.

Chicago Public Media provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the organization reasonably expects to pay for a position.  The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographical location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.

 

Working at Chicago Public Media

At Chicago Public Media, we care deeply about our employees as we know attracting, developing, and growing talent is key to our success and enhancing our impact.  

Our culture is one where collaboration, diversity of ideas, and innovation are encouraged.  We value colleagues who will enhance our culture by bringing new ideas, divergent experiences, and talents to our dynamic workplace.

At Chicago Public Media we believe dedication to a great workplace includes supporting our employees and their families. As a result, we provide a broad and generous benefits package for employees at hire and in the years to come.

Our benefits include a competitive salary and benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, vacation, holidays, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement savings, and a commuter benefits plan.

Chicago Public Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and we actively seek and welcome people from all backgrounds, orientations, and life experiences to join our team.


The essential functions described above are not all-inclusive and are not intended to create any contractual or other legal commitment. Chicago Public Media may change the content or format of this job at any time in its sole and exclusive discretion without notice.

 

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