The posting
Who we are
Semafor is a global news platform for an increasingly complex world in which consumers are overwhelmed by too many news sources and unsure what to trust. We are building Semafor to enable world-class journalists to deliver reporting and insights with rigor in journalistic forms that ensure a new level of transparency. Our editors and reporters distill the most important stories from all over in formats that uncover the forces shaping the stories, explain the interests behind polarizing narratives, and replenish the stock of shared facts. As a global platform, Semafor recognizes that smart people can disagree and that informed readers need to understand alternative points of view from competing centers of power and culture in a multi-polar world. Want to join us? Read on.
The Role
Semafor is hiring an exceptional Lead Editor for its signature briefing, Flagship. Aimed at the core Semafor audience — senior executives, decision makers, and policymakers — Flagship distills the biggest, most important, and interesting news from across the world into tight, analytically rich, and deeply contextualized updates for sophisticated, time-poor readers. Its core strength is that it is complex, comprehensive, and completable.
The successful candidate will help run this product and infuse the Flagship sensibility across the Semafor newsroom, its products, site, and app. They will both write and edit with fluidity and should be armed in particular with strong associative intelligence — able to tie together complex ideas and seemingly disparate developments — alongside a deep understanding of the factors driving global geoeconomics, particularly when it comes to developments in technology, business, economics, finance, and trade. The Lead Editor will be skilled at making connections, implicit and explicit, across themes, geographies, and industries, while also bringing delight to readers’ daily lives. They will handle the news with sobriety and historical nuance.
The successful candidate will report to the Global Managing Editor, as part of a team of contributors worldwide, helping drive both daily editions of Flagship. They will be based in London.
Your responsibilities
- Work with Semafor journalists to shape Flagship’s tone and coverage, and write most of it on a daily basis in the UK morning.
- Support the production of the edition that publishes in the US evening with insights and ideas.
- Collaborate across the Semafor newsroom, working with all our teams and verticals, contributing broadly to coverage beyond Flagship — in particular by writing, editing, or assigning stories.
- Help lead the conception and execution of a Semafor app.
- Write smart, sophisticated, analytically hefty updates for an elite audience.
- Participate in event moderation, as well as media appearances on TV, radio, and podcasts.
What makes you qualified
- 5 to 10 years of journalism experience, with a track record of major writing roles or leadership of high-level newsletters or briefings.
- Experience and interest in global financial and business journalism.
- A strategic, sophisticated approach to identifying themes and focuses of coverage across sectors and borders.
- Bring speedy insight to big news stories, and flair and personality to writing.
- A passion for world events and issues and a broad interest in a wide range of subjects.
- Broad media consumption habits across conventional and unconventional sources.
- Eagerness to be part of a dynamic work environment demanding initiative, flexibility, and a willingness to jump in wherever needed to help the team succeed.
- Experience working with diverse teams with teammates from many different backgrounds.
- Diligence and reliability to work without hands-on supervision.
- The ability to think constantly about story distribution and audiences, across many forms of media and platforms.
Additional job details
Semafor offers a Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy to our full-time, salaried employees who may take paid time off as-needed without a prescribed limit or defined balance.
Semafor, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. Semafor, Inc. will consider all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.
