SFGATE Contributing Parks Editor, Southwest

Your Impact:

Under the direction of SFGATE’s National Parks Bureau Chief, the contributing editor (20 hours a week) will be a versatile journalist with a deep understanding of the Southwest’s most loved national parks (Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, etc.) and enough intellectual curiosity to want to tell stories that matter to both the people who live there and the people who visit. The contributing editor will be able to toggle between fast-paced daily stories during big news events (natural disasters, missing persons, etc.) and well-sourced, deep-dive features that eschew the rote travel roundups the region’s national parks are normally relegated to.

Why SFGATE?

Launched in 1994, SFGATE.com was one of the first large-market media sites in the world and served as the exclusive digital home of the San Francisco Chronicle for 19 years. In 2019, the Chronicle (which can now be found online at the paywalled sfchronicle.com) and SFGATE officially became two separately run entities with their own editorial staffs and independent newsrooms.

Today, SFGATE is a digital-only publication that reaches more than 28 million readers every month and tells the stories of the people, places and ideas that make San Francisco, and the Bay Area at large, the weird and wonderful place that it is. We help readers navigate their day, whether it’s by keeping them updated on big breaking news, guiding them to interesting local experiences or sharing a part of the Bay Area they haven’t seen before. 

The site is home to nine verticals: Culture, offering a unique mix of the entertainment news you actually need and the underground stories from hidden corners of the Bay Area you want; Local, the premier destination for everything that life in San Francisco encompasses (from wildly expensive real estate to schools to what it’s like to live above a raucous bar); Sports, covering the intersection of sports and culture; Tech, covering the intersection of tech and culture; Travel, covering everything from flight deals and travel news to hotel hacks and under-the-radar day trips; Politics, where we keep you up to speed on all local, state and national politics that have implications on the Bay Area; Food + Drink, where we tell you the backstory of the people behind the bar and in the kitchen; Cannabis, where we cover the sprawling industry of legal weed in California, good, bad and ugly; and News. Plus, the site has full-time local editors covering both Lake Tahoe and the Central Coast, a SoCal bureau that focuses on Los Angeles food, culture and the outdoors, as well as Disneyland, a new National Parks bureau with editors across the West Coast covering national parks in California, the Southwest, Big Sky Country and the Pacific Northwest, as well as a satellite editor covering Hawaii and California’s North Coast.

What you’ll do:

Consistently have ideas — you’ll be given a blank canvas to tell stories that matter across a broad range of categories for a pocket of national parks that many people care deeply about. This is the first time we’re hiring a dedicated journalist to cover this region, and we want someone who can nimbly toggle between story types in response to audience interest. That means you will need to have a constant stream of ideas and be eager to experiment. Be autonomous — this is a remote position that comes with a lot of trust, to both keep an editorial calendar, meet deadlines, understand analytics and communicate with the copy and photo desks in SF. Have a fantastic network — a big part of this role is being someone who already has the network to be able to tell these stories. We want someone who has long been a part of the community they write about, who already knows which people and what places are beloved, and what topics will hit a chord with locals and visitors. Be consistent — you’ll be writing two features a week on average. We want someone who can move the audience with every single piece, and have the planning foresight to make sure they have something really great lined up for weeks to come.

Who you are:

You have 3 to 4 years of relevant experience writing and/or editing at a publication or in a digital media environment You’re based in the Southwest, ideally near one of the core National Parks in Utah or Arizona we’ll be covering (Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands) You have a deep knowledge of the area that spans beyond a single discipline You have a passion for journalism and telling stories You’ve read SFGATE and have an understanding of the brand and voice

In accordance with applicable law, Hearst is required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role if hired in California. The reasonable estimate is between $40,000 and $45,000. Please note this information is specific to those hired in San Francisco. If this role is open to candidates outside of San Francisco, the salary range would be aligned to that specific location. A final decision on the successful candidate’s starting salary will be based on a number of permissible, non-discriminatory factors, including but not limited to skills and experience, training, certifications and education.

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