Title: Managing Editor

Department: Communications

Supervisor: Assistant Head of School for Community Engagement (Temporarily: Interim Head of School, 2022-2023)

Status: Exempt, Full-Time

Moses Brown is a 237-year-old co-educational independent day school enrolling 775 students, nursery through twelfth grade. A Friends school, MB exists to inspire children to reach their full intellectual and spiritual potential. We engage students in a rich academic curriculum, a broad offering of arts and athletics, and a daily life rooted in the Quaker values of community, equality, and service. We affirm the Quaker belief that there is an Inner Light in each person that is worthy of dignity and respect. We consider simplicity, integrity, group wisdom, and respect for differences to be paramount in helping students of all faiths and backgrounds discover their identity and mission in the world. In its hiring practices, Moses Brown does not discriminate and seeks to maximize the diversity of the school in terms of class, gender, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, abilities/disabilities, and language.

Purpose/Objective:

Moses Brown School seeks a full-time managing editor to lead our communications team, bolstering our ability to report and share stories, helping staff manage and meet deadlines, and working with members of our community on precepts of good journalism and storytelling. The ideal candidate is a mid-career journalist or communications professional with:

• varied experience in storytelling across different media,
• impeccable editing and writing skills, 
• familiarity with brand management, 
• ability to lead and inspire a team, and 
• stellar project management experience.

We hope that, as a member of Moses Brown’s staff, the new managing editor will embrace Quaker ideals and become an active member of our school community.

Major Responsibilities

1. Editorial Direction and Project Management (60%)
   As managing editor, you’ll work with school leadership, faculty, a consulting creative director, and communications staff to determine what stories need to be told about the students, faculty, and programs at Moses Brown. You’ll:

• manage a shared editorial and project calendar, balancing requests from myriad departments with the needs of our audiences (parents, students, alumni, donors, etc.);
• assign stories and larger design projects, helping staff and outside creatives determine the best focus and form (words, images, video, etc.), editing and overseeing final pieces to ensure quality; 
• track the progress of projects, reporting back regularly to stakeholders around the community, monitoring the communications team’s overall bandwidth, and ensuring that the communications office meets promised deadlines.
  
  
  

1. Leadership and Administration (30%)
   You’ll be a collaborative leader across the school community, bringing people along in our new approach to storytelling, building our new brand, managing the day-to-day of the communications office, and supporting school leadership. You’ll: 

• supervise and advocate for two full-time communications staff members, providing ongoing performance feedback, fostering collaboration among the team, and mentoring and training staff as necessary;
• manage the school’s new brand and positioning, and advertising and marketing strategy, in concert with a part-time consulting creative director;
• create and manage the school-wide communications budget, working closely with the CFO, head of school, and offices of community engagement, enrollment and advancement; and
• serve on the school’s administrative leadership team and community engagement team (focused on the experience of parents and alumni).

1. Community participation (10%)
   You’ll attend classes, practices, performances, campus events, and student-run club meetings, in order to know and understand more about our community, and to report on the innumerable goings-on around campus. (It’s also just way more fun this way.)

Education + Experience

Four-year degree preferred; will consider candidates with commensurate experience and

training.

Knowledge, Skills, + Competencies

• 5–7 years as editor in professional newsroom — or communications office with comparable editorial demands — preferably with experience assigning and trafficking stories
• Compelling portfolio of reportage that shows keen grasp of storytelling
• Fluency with digital communications tools, akin to Mailchimp, Trello, Wordpress, etc.
• Fluency with distribution channels — print, email, social, press — including how to use each strategically (and when not to use them)
• Keen eye for design, as evidenced through art direction/photo selection and/or experience managing visual identities or brands
• Ability to contribute to and guide an intensively collaborative work environment
• Ability to work efficiently on several initiatives and projects at once, often with ambiguity and varying timelines
• Proven skills in creativity, analysis, and problem-solving, and the ability to evaluate, synthesize, and incorporate ideas and feedback from multiple stakeholders
• Ability to build relationships and work effectively with diverse groups of students, colleagues, and community members

Candidates should send a statement of interest, portfolio, and resume to jobs@mosesbrown.org with “Managing Editor” in the subject line.