I’m hiring!
I’m thrilled to share that my Innovation Team is growing! I am hiring for two positions. But before you put effort into applying for either of these jobs, read below to see if it’s a good fit for you and where you want to head next.
Then if you still have questions — Ask me! Email me or schedule a 1–1 with me.
👩💻 The jobs:
The first position is the Innovation Team Project Manager. This person will be cultivating, leading and executing our partnership projects to make useful, practical and innovative resources for journalists. They will have multiple projects at a time, which will range from larger projects that take over a year to smaller projects that just last a month or two. This job requires excellent organization, time management and attention to detail.
Read more on the official job posting by going here and searching “50903” in staff positions.
The second position is the Innovation Team Impact Producer. This person will strategize and execute plans to get our resources to those who need them. They will facilitate demos, host webinars, and help our team and partners think strategically about audience, impact and accessibility. They will create feedback loops with those who utilize our programs and resources to help us track and measure the impact of our projects so we can better serve the journalists we create these resources for.
Read more on the official job posting by going here and searching “51049” in staff positions.
Please note: these are not remote jobs and cannot become remote jobs. You will move to Columbia and work on-site at RJI.
➕ Money & benefits:
- Salary is $60k-70k
- 23 days off a year + Winter leave (Dec 25-Jan 1 off)
- Medical, dental and vision
- Retirement plan with 8% match (vests after 3 years)
- Professional development & conference support
- Moving stipend, tuition assistance and other perks (ask me! Or read more here!)
👀 Who we are looking for:
- You are excited to be a part of a team that strives to produce useful, actionable and accessible resources for community-centered journalists.
- You have a practical mindset, you do not chase shiny fads. You will drill down into whether something is useful or not for journalists, regardless of the ‘buzz’ around it.
- You are organized, understand the importance of meeting deadlines and excellent at time management.
- You have professional experience in small/medium newsrooms and/or community centered journalism — so you know the workload, budgets and resources of those we aim to serve.
- You want to keep growing, learning and take feedback seriously.
- You treat everyone with respect and kindness — whether they’re a student, an experienced journalist, a faculty member or other.
👋 Who you’re working with:
- We are a small team who believes in making every resource we build as practical and useful as possible. The team is myself and Emily Lytle, who produces our Innovation in Focus series. We are excited to add two members to the team!
- As your manager I will do my best to help you grow professionally. I will send you to training to help you build your skillsets, encourage you to teach at conferences and help you embrace other opportunities that will be beneficial to your role and future.
- We put the work first, not our egos. We strive to be true partners in our projects and programs, this means helping in whatever way our partners need — whether that’s creating social promos, conducting research interviews or emailing out calls to action. We don’t expect our partners to do anything we won’t do alongside them.
- I don’t like to micromanage. I try to hire team members who are excited to do their work, thrive with the ability to do so but know how to communicate and ask for help when they need it!
- We believe time off is time off. No email, no slack, no work. Feel free to disappear when you’re on vacation! We won’t bug you.
🏠 Where you’ll be living:
Columbia, Missouri is a college town (3 universities including Mizzou!) in a red state. This city is pretty 50/50 as far as liberal/conservative. Here are some other demographics.
- We have lots of great places to eat, listen to live music, breweries and plenty happening on weekends.
- No real traffic. Your commute from home to the office will probably be under 10 min.
- We are a big outdoors/trail city, with 81 miles of trails just in Columbia so if you like green spaces and enjoy walking, hiking and lakes — we have lots of them.
- Community here is big on supporting local businesses so most of our downtown and businesses are locally owned + farmers markets!
- It’s a reasonable cost of living, so you could plan to buy. Or you can rent pretty easily, Studios tend to be $6–800ish, 2–3 bedroom condos are available for around $1000, houses with backyards are a little more. I’m happy to suggest neighborhoods or do apt/home walkthroughs for you when you’re searching. I can also recommend trustworthy realtors if you want to buy.
- Columbia’s LGBTQ+ community: The center project is a great resource to learn more about events, businesses, healthcare and ask questions about the LGBTQ+ community in Columbia. Most of the big events tend to be during the school year to accommodate the student population (for example our pride fest is in Sept.)
- Columbia is 76% white, so I know that means that professionals of color who work and live here will face challenges, barriers and discrimination that I, as a white person, do not. I will do my best to support you, advocate for you and help you find community and avenues of support here should you decide to come here and work for me. I am happy to refer you to other people of color (who have no investment in you being hired) who can share with you their personal experiences from living here.
I grew up in Los Angeles, but I have lived in Texas, Utah, Kansas, New York, Massachusetts and now here. I’m happy to answer questions about living here in comparison to other places based on my personal experiences. If I can’t answer a question (or I’m not the best person to do so) I will put you in touch with someone who is!
Want to chat about these opportunities or Columbia or anything? Email me or schedule a 1–1 chat with me.
