Who we are
In our interconnected world, journalism needs to deliver common facts to divergent audiences. Our biggest stories, and greatest crises, are now global: from climate change to pandemics, rising inequality to supply chain disruption, political instability to the influence of social media. Yet global trust in the media is at an all-time low. This moment requires a new approach.
Enter Semafor. We are a team of deeply-experienced journalists and media professionals laser focused on providing a global audience with an unparalleled level of journalistic transparency; through innovative new forms, cutting through the noise of the news cycle with smart, distilled views, and exploring competing perspectives across borders.
Join us and help build a global news platform you can trust.
About the Role
We’re looking for a brilliant wordsmith, editor, and newsroom leader with outstanding news judgment, a global perspective, and a deep sense of how news spreads on the internet, to lead our web presence and grow our audience. The role will entail writing, editing, curating, and assigning, and requires a strong understanding of how to integrate and improve the multiple elements on the site — breaking news, scoops, reported analysis, our World at a Glance feature, and our innovative online story form, the Signal — to drive audience and engagement. In sum, the Semafor.com Editor will help shape our voice and personality.
The position would report to the Senior Editor, and will help lead an international team that covers timely, globally-important stories for a sophisticated audience, collaborating with journalists across Semafor’s newsroom. The role will focus on ensuring Signals are written with pace, authority, and verve, that World at a Glance items are sharp, insightful, and pithy, and that our homepage as a whole is inviting and interesting.
Ideal candidates would bring a strong track record of improving and enlivening prose, and experience in the pace and platforms of online breaking news. Experience working or living in multiple countries is a plus, as are language skills.
This position will be based in Semafor's London bureau. Candidates will be asked to complete a writing and editing exercise as part of the interview process, and must retain the right to work where they live.
Your responsibilities
- Help lead a team that jumps on breaking news stories as they develop around the world for a globally aware and sophisticated audience
- Strengthen the prose of our breaking news stories and Signals, as well as our web headlines and summaries and other content, with a focus on speedy insights
- Help maintain and update Semafor.com, with the goal of attracting sophisticated, international readers
- Collaborate closely and constantly with the audience team, and other verticals across Semafor’s global newsroom
- Think constantly about story distribution and audiences, whether on social media or key partners and platforms
- Bring confidence to editing stories ranging from US politics to global climate and energy news, and be able to identify topics of most interest and relevance to readers
- Occasionally help with the writing, editing, and production of our Flagship newsletter
What makes you qualified
- 7+ years of relevant journalism experience, including some newsroom management, leadership, or editing experience
- A track record of writing or editing pieces that convey authority, insight, and nuance.
- A proven ability to draw big online audiences, and a deep sense of how news spreads on the internet
- A strategic, sophisticated approach to identifying breaking news across different issues, storylines, and geographies
- Fluency in traffic and social media metrics
- The ability to quickly understand and concisely summarize information on a broad range of topics
- A passion for world events and issues and a broad interest in a wide range of subjects, including business and cultural news
- A broad reading list across conventional and unconventional sources
- Eagerness to be part of a dynamic work environment demanding initiative, flexibility, and a willingness to jump in wherever needed to help the team succeed
- Experience working with diverse teams with teammates from many different backgrounds
Additional job details
Comprehensive employee benefits: unlimited PTO, medical, dental, vision, short & long-term disability, flexible spending, health savings accounts, life insurance, 401(k), pre-Tax commuter benefits. (Benefits programs vary by country and are subject to eligibility requirements)
Semafor, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. Semafor, Inc. will consider all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law
