Innovation in Focus Editor

Reynolds Journalism Institute

The Innovation in Focus Editor at the Reynolds Journalism Institute leads short-term experiments and projects with news partners across the country to test innovative ideas, tech and methods of storytelling. In addition to focusing on innovation, this position is the central connector between students at the Missouri School of Journalism, RJI and the local news industry. The collaboration brings the experiments and projects to life and ensures that they reach their goals of providing applicable and practical guidance and how-to resources for journalists. At RJI we define innovation as anything new or experimental that can help journalists to serve their communities. Past IIF projects have included zines and pop-up events, to testing multilingual transcription tools and implementing new revenue strategies.The series format is currently a bi-weekly article with a monthly newsletter, summer student fellowship program and social first presence, but we are open to new ideas and formats that the incoming editor may want to explore.

Specific duties include:
* Meet weekly and monthly deadlines for the IIF series, which means onboarding, managing and offboarding multiple projects concurrently with various newsroom partners and students.
* Produce social-first versions of the IIF for Instagram, newsletters, training sessions and other avenues to get what we learn directly to those who need it.
* Ensure that IIF continues to be a trusted go-to resource for journalists to learn about new, free and practical ideas and resources that are useful to them and their work.
* Take a hands-on, leadership role in choosing the best innovative, industry-leading projects, overseeing the completion of those projects with students and news partners, and ensuring that the results, good or bad, get shared with the industry in a timely manner.
* Be constantly seeking new ideas and opportunities for innovative experiments to test and share with journalists.
* Run the day-to-day coordination and mentorship of the summer Student Innovation Fellowship program, whose projects are the Innovation in Focus series during the summer months.
* Create new innovation programming (workshops, panels, events) around the series that provide hands-on training based on the IIF experiments for professional journalists to address current challenges they are facing in their newsrooms and in the field.
* Write and grow the monthly newsletter for Innovation in Focus readers, sharing our experiments, findings and opportunities to collaborate with the RJI innovation team.
* Engage regularly with journalists across the country to make sure the series is serving them, whether this is through community conversations, feedback mechanisms and/or other avenues.
* Teach at the Missouri School of Journalism.

The ideal candidate for this position is a journalism professional with community centered news experience who is driven and excited to try new ideas that will be of use to journalists and small/medium newsrooms across the country. They will be immersed in the current needs of journalists and newsrooms, have a strong network of possible partners and enjoy collaborating with professional journalists and talented students. They will see innovation as not tech centric, but community engagement, product development, social-first strategies, events and the wide breadth of opportunities available to innovate with newsrooms and find solutions to their challenges and needs. They will be driven, extremely organized and excellent at meeting short and long term deadlines, time management and multitasking. This person will be joining the RJI Innovation Team which is a small, driven team of people who believe in moving journalism forward through building innovative resources, training and tools that will make our newsrooms stronger, sustainable and thrive in service to our communities.

A Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience, and at least 3 years of experience from which comparable knowledge and skills can be acquired is necessary

At least 3 years recent newsroom experience

$65,000-$75,000

Salary: $65,000 - $75,000 Annually

Grade: GGS 010

University Title: Senior Editor

Internal applicants can determine their University title by accessing the Talent Profile tile in myHR.

Resume, Cover Letter, journalism portfolio

This person will be joining the RJI Innovation Team which is a small, driven team of people who believe in moving journalism forward through building and experimenting with innovative resources, training and tools that will make our newsrooms stronger, sustainable and thrive in service to our communities.

Columbia offers small-town friendliness with big city features and a high quality of life for people of all ages and interests. Founded on education and known as an ideal college town, its location also makes it an attractive spot for businesses and travelers. Located on Interstate 70 and U.S. Highway 63, Columbia is right in the middle of the state and the nation. Just a couple hours' drive from St. Louis and Kansas City, Columbia is Boone County's largest population center offering big-city culture, activities, and resources with a low cost of living. Columbia is home to a variety of restaurants and entertainment venues and hosts more than a dozen festivals each year. If you want to grow your career, continue your education, raise a family, and retire, Columbia is a good place to be!

This position is eligible for University benefits. As part of your total compensation, the University offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental and vision plans, retirement, paid time off, short- and long-term disability, paid parental leave, paid caregiver leave, and educational fee discounts for all four UM System campuses. For additional information on University benefits, please visit the Faculty & Staff Benefits website at https://www.umsystem.edu/totalrewards/benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The University of Missouri is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

To request ADA accommodations, please call the Director of Accessibility and ADA at 573-884-7278.