Deputy Managing Editor, Local and Engagement

Who We Are

The Marshall Project is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to covering the U.S. criminal justice system. 

We were awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2016 and 2021. We have also been honored with the Goldsmith Prize, multiple National Magazine Awards, and an award for General Excellence from the Online Journalism Awards. We are not advocates — we follow the facts and do not pander to any audience — but we have a declared mission: to create and sustain a sense of urgency about the criminal justice system. 

We do not generally cover breaking news, although we curate the reporting of other news outlets in our morning newsletter. Our work includes investigative and explanatory projects and shorter pieces aimed at highlighting stories that other news organizations miss, underestimate or misunderstand. To ensure our work reaches a larger audience, we partner with other media outlets; we have worked with more than 200 newspapers, magazines, broadcasters and online sites.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

The Marshall Project is looking for an experienced editor to oversee our local newsrooms and pursue investigative work informed by meaningful engagement with the local communities we cover, as well as support our engagement efforts on national investigations.

Engagement is a central pillar of The Marshall Project’s mission, focused on surfacing and covering issues that are relevant to the justice-affected community. This means the jailed and incarcerated, the formerly incarcerated, their families and friends, and the neighborhoods with high rates of incarceration and poverty. To do this, we need to be in contact with these communities, offering meaningful ways for them to “engage” with the newsmaking process.  Our goal is to build and maintain a sense of trust with the audiences we cover — without sacrificing journalistic integrity. Engagement is not something we turn to after a story is written but a strategy that starts with how we choose which stories to cover, what form those stories should take and how they should be distributed.

This editor will:

• Oversee TMP’s local news operation through an engagement lens, tapping into the local justice-affected local community to help guide our investigative work. 
• Work with a deputy to oversee a team of investigative reporters in TMP’s local newsrooms in Cleveland, Jackson and St. Louis.
• Deepen our engagement strategy in each city, working with reporters to establish relationships with members of the community and identify themes for accountability-driven stories.
• Uphold high editorial standards for our local newsrooms, helping reporters conceive and execute high-level, high-impact investigative work focused on inequities within the justice system, with the goal of driving meaningful change on the issues that matter most to our local audience.
• Identify common themes from the local newsrooms that could lend themselves to joint efforts and potentially investigations on a national scale that hold the powerful accountable. 
• Collaborate seamlessly with departments across the newsroom in the production and dissemination of locally produced work, ensuring the coordination required to produce multimedia content on several different platforms.
• Coordinate with editors and reporters across The Marshall Project newsroom on engagement efforts surrounding national investigative projects.
• Coordinate closely with the director of audience on a plan to establish TMP – and, as appropriate, individual reporters – as a brand in each city, and develop a social media plan to drive local readership.
• Travel on a regular schedule to the local newsrooms and to engage with local communities.

Required Skills and Experiences:

This editor will have experience with:

• Engagement work that can inform the journalism we produce, help readers process and understand the result through resource guides and takeaways, and ensure TMP journalism is provided on the platforms and in the manner that our audience is most likely to respond to. We are looking for a seasoned editor with 10 years of experience in journalism, including 7 years of editing and news leadership experience as well as 2 years of dedicated experience with engagement work and a demonstrated record of producing high-impact investigative work.
• Investigative work that delineates systemic problems and holds the powerful accountable, and uses granular examples to illustrate major trends. We value impact, as well as surprise, colorful writing and counter-intuitive analysis. 
• Familiarity with investigative tools including: using FOIA and state open records laws; analyzing legal and court documents, government reports, tax filings; understanding data; fact-checking and bullet-proofing the story. Experience working with databases and basic analytic techniques is a plus.
• Leading reporters and other editors to set goals, direct reporting and investigative tactics, and fine-tune the final product.
• Overseeing deadlines on both long- and shorter-term projects.
• Ensuring all content meets the highest standards of accuracy, rigor, and editorial quality.
• Producing stories in the content management system.
• Collaborating constructively with colleagues from different sectors of the news organization. You’ll work closely with colleagues from The Marshall Project – reporters, editors, data team, developers, designers, photo editors, video and audience – and partner organizations— online, print, audio, broadcast and alternate story forms.

Who You’d Be Working With

You will report to the managing editor and will oversee a group of seven, with the help of the Senior Editor, Local and Engagement. This is a remote position, with periodic travel required to Cleveland, Jackson and St. Louis.

Compensation and Benefits

This job is full-time, with a competitive salary and benefits including: 100% employer-paid medical, employer subsidized vision and dental insurance; matching traditional and Roth 401k (immediate vesting). Voluntary benefits include: Health and Dependent Care FSA, commuter benefits, pet insurance, short and long term disability insurance, employee and dependent life insurance, AFLAC accident, hospital indemnity, and critical illness coverage, legal benefits, personal excess liability insurance, and employee discount marketplace. We also observe 17 days of paid time off each year (in addition to office closure between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2), and provide paid parental leave.

Annual Salary Range: $175,000 to $185,000

A cover letter is required. Please include examples of investigations and engagement work you have led or overseen, highlighting your role in shaping strategy, managing teams, and guiding the final output.

We are headquartered in New York City, and although this position is fully remote, applicants must reside in the United States and possess the necessary authorization to work here. Remote work outside of the U.S. is not allowed under any circumstances.

 

We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity. We welcome qualified applicants of all races, ages, ethnicities, physical abilities, genders and sexual orientations, including people who have been incarcerated or otherwise involved with the criminal justice system.

We do not expect every candidate to be equally skilled in all these areas, and this is not a complete list of all relevant qualifications applicants might bring to the job. Please tell us about your other assets not mentioned here that may be valuable to this role. Reaching talent across a range of backgrounds and experiences is deeply important to us. If you do not have the exact combination of skills listed here, but are still interested in this role and/or in The Marshall Project, we'd love to hear from you.

Due to the expected volume of applications, we will follow up with the most promising candidates, but we cannot respond individually to all applicants.