JOB DESCRIPTION: EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Organizational Description

Global Integrity (https://www.globalintegrity.org) is an innovation lab that produces high-quality research and creates cutting-edge technology to advance the work of a global network of civic, public, and private reformers pursuing increased transparency and accountability in governments. In addition to our core team, we collaborate with a global network of more than 1,300 in-country contributors and partners who take our technologies, tools, and information to where they are most useful – the local level.

The organization has won an Ashoka "Changemakers" award and an “Every Human Has Rights” award from The Elders and Internews; its methodology for assessing the existence and effectiveness of anti-corruption mechanisms is described by the World Bank as "best practice."

Context and Need

As part of a strategic shift towards greater thought leadership in the transparency and accountability community of practice, Global Integrity is seeking to increase the regularity, focus, and quality of its editorial output. This editorial output will initially focus on more in-depth and intensive blogging but will also include social media and longer-form writing projects.

While we’ve achieved modest but important success to-date with our editorial output, all of it has been achieved with virtually no planning, dedicated resources, or strategy. Moving ahead, we see a high return on investment from more proactively organizing our blogging, publications, and thought leadership activities into a coherent work stream along the following lines.

First, we plan to improve and disaggregate our current blogging efforts into distinct channels. Currently, we publish a single blog with everything from corporate PR to more potent posts. We are seeking an editorial director who can develop a general web strategy, with a specific strategy for segregating and increasing our blogging into the following (or other) “channels” (these are not final names but simply descriptive placeholders for each blog):

1. An “In Our Experience” blog focused on our lessons learned from years of doing research around governance, anti-corruption, and open government issues.
2. A blog focused on our nascent Innovation Fund that tracks a) the newest state-of-the-art approaches we are discovering out in world when it comes to transparency and accountability innovations, and b) the “journey” of searching for and testing innovative ideas in the transparency and accountability field – every time we start a new Innovation Fund project, we want to introduce it to the world.
3. A curation-focused blog (and Twitter channel) tentatively entitled “Open Government Reader” that tracks, curates, and archives the full extent of blogging, tweeting, analysis, and experimentation around the world vis a vis open government. What Andy Carvin did for the Arab Spring, we want to do for open government.
4. A blog focused on more real-time Global Integrity internal project updates.
5. Corporate news/PR

(Implementing this editorial vision at a technical level will necessitate a non-trivial revamp of Global Integrity’s digital properties this fall, including the core website, a process that the new editorial director will be intimately involved with.)

Position Description

• The new editorial director will be responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of our website(s) and oversee all blogging, social media, writing, and publishing originating from Global Integrity. While we will strive for each of the new blogs to achieve a unique tone and approach (as well as unique audiences in some cases), we want to maintain a single unifying “voice” across all of our platforms and channels.
• The editorial director will also be directly responsible for curating the “Open Government Reader” blog and social media channels, a project that will entail significant ongoing time and effort.
• The new colleague will also serve as copy editor for all published Global Integrity content.
• Lastly, the new director will proactively network with other influential bloggers and writers to establish Global Integrity’s credentials as a thought leader and influencer.

Position Location

Washington, DC (at the OpenGov Hub)

Ideal Skill Set

Global Integrity attracts employees from the most distinctive professional and academic backgrounds. There is no cookie cutter ideal candidate for any position at Global Integrity.  We are instead more interested in an individual’s drive, professionalism, and entrepreneurial energy.  For this particular position, the following factors will strengthen an applicant’s candidacy:

• Extraordinarily strong writing skills: this means the ability to write a superb press release, blog post, policy summary, or op-ed with no guidance or copy editing support and the ability to speak comfortably to an expert audience or on camera.
• 6-12 years of relevant work experience in journalism or a similar editorial content creation position (whether reporting or editorial).
• Experience with copyediting.
• Experience with herding cats and successfully juggling multiple personalities and portfolios simultaneously.
• Fully proficient with web Content Management Systems such as Drupal or WordPress. Proven success in designing and maintaining Twitter and Facebook strategies. Working knowledge of other social networks and graphics design software is a plus.
• We want someone who is hyper organized and can keep to an editorial calendar with worrisome obsession.
• Precision, organization, and the ability to execute at a consistently high level with little to no micromanagement.
• Comfort in a perpetual start-up environment requiring extensive “self-starter” skills with minimal bureaucratic safety nets or backstopping.
• Familiarity with an international non-profit environment is helpful but not required. Experience working on collaborative ventures and/or multi-organization initiatives is a plus.
• Proficiency in a widely spoken second language; fluency in English is required.

Our Culture

Our office environment (now spread between Washington, New York, and Cape Town (including two unique “hub” environments in Washington and Cape Town) requires openness, collaboration and flexibility. Our staff has an uncommon diversity of responsibilities: from high-level strategy to online messaging to logistics issues (we book our own travel and fix our own computers), everyone contributes. You will develop new skills in this job; expect to learn and adapt constantly. We are very much a learning organization.

We have a “no jerks” policy; you will be supported by results-oriented yet frequently cheerful coworkers whose primary mode of social engagement is based on trust and respect. We discourage pettiness, keeping score, and other thin-skinned professional habits.

International literacy and cross-cultural sensitivity are considered core competencies.

Compensation

The position is a director-level position at Global Integrity (pay band: US$60,000 – US$74,999).

Global Integrity provides full health and disability benefits, as well as a modest life insurance policy, to all full-time employees and currently pays 100% of the premiums associated with those benefits.  Holiday and sick time are also provided.

How to Apply

We will only be accepting applications for this position via this online web form.

After reviewing submitted applications, we anticipate calling back a small number of potential candidates for individual interviews via phone or in-person, including an in-person writing test. We are happy to answer additional questions directly (see Contact Information below), but all interested applicants must use the online form to apply for the position.

Deadline for Application: October 12 2012

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to be an “open government” specialist to apply for this position?

A: Not necessarily, though familiarity with issues of governance, participation, transparency, and anti-corruption will suggest an ability to lead the editorial process associated with some of our content creation strategies described above.

Q: I am not an American citizen, nor do I have a green card or work visa, but I’m interested in applying for this position.  Will you sponsor a work visa for me?

A: Possibly.  We do not want immigration issues to stand in the way of a great match for this position.  Apply and let’s see where the discussion goes.

Q: Will I need to wear a badge every day if I work at Global Integrity?

A: The OpenGov Hub’s location does in fact require a badge to clear security.  But otherwise we try to go light on the formal trappings typical of larger institutions. “Perpetual startup” is a good way to think about what the office environment is like.

Contact Information

Nathaniel Heller, Global Integrity Executive Director

Office +1-202-449-4100

nathaniel.heller@globalintegrity.org